Orkut is the leader amongst social networking portals in India

Orkut is the most popular social networking portal in India. The report published by comScore, Inc a leading organization which measure and monitors the digital trend indicated this in their press release. Report shows, over a one year period, Dec 2007 to Dec 2008 a healthy 51% increase in popularities of all social networking websites pooled together. The data and the trend are quite surprising as Orkut does not even figure amongst the top five social networking sites in the world. Worldwide data compiled by comScore Inc. for the month of Nov 2008 places Orkut at no. 9.

So what has catapulted Orkut to the number one position in India where it is commanding more than 2/3^rd share of the total social networking market. Facebook is at distant second position occupying close to 20% share.
We asked one of the ardent fans of Orkut about its popularity in India. The response was spontaneous. The young Orkut fan said he and his friends love its local touch and the content. He further opined that Facebook and MySpace look too sophisticated.

But Facebook has been gaining popularity amongst Indians and has recorded 150% rise in a span of one year but it is lagging behind Orkut by substantial margin. Coming year will see a stiff competition between all major social networking sites. Local social media portals like Bharatstudent and BigADDA will also give tough fight to international majors.