Data Junkie: The world map of social networks - Valleywaghttp://valleywag.com/tech/maps/the-world-map-of-social-networks-2...1 of 27/31/07 5:24 PM
Valleywag
DATA JUNKIE
The world map of social networks
Click for the full-size version, and the map notes.Let's play global domination. Here's a map of the world, showing thedominant social networks by country, according to Alexa. There are waymore players than anybody, from a vantage point in Silicon Valley, wouldexpect. In the US, the story of social networks is this: there was Friendster,which had no purpose but dating and didn't scale; then Myspace, which gavepeople freedom to make ugly personal websites; and then came along MarkZuckerberg's Facebook, which was classier.But other services, such as hi5.com, Bebo, Orkut and Friendster itself, haveestablished, and maintained, footholds outside the US. Unsurprisingly, socialnetworks, which let people share news, photographs and other content withtheir friends, benefit from network effects. A dominant local site, such as Orkutin Brazil, can hold off the competition because it's the default, and nobodywants to migrate to another site, however much more advanced, if their friendswon't follow.Some patterns from the data:
Orkut
leads in the Indian subcontinent, as well as Brazil;
Facebook
is stronger, internationally, than
Myspace
, with surprisingstrongholds in the Middle East;
hi5.com
is the most international of all the social networks, leading in Peru,Colombia, Central America, and other, scattered countries such as Mongolia,
11:49 AM ON THU JUN 28 2007BY NICK DENTON52,987 views
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Valley Wag could add Arto.dk as dominant in Denmark.
Let's play global domination? Are dice involved?