It seems the right time to connect. Virtually every Website is racing to add networking features. Social networking sites are seeing the heaviest traffic on the Internet. And as the world celebrates the twentieth anniversary of Tim Berners-Lee?s proposal that became the Internet, social networks are overtaking email in popularity. Two-thirds of the world?s Internet population now visits social networking or blogging sites, accounting for almost 10% of all the Internet time, according to the latest Nielsen report.
?Member communities? that include both blogs and social networks have overtaken email to become the fourth most popular online category after search, portals and PC software applications. According to Nielsen, one in every 11 minutes online is claimed by social networks and blogging sites.
Among the markets measured by Nielsen, visits to social networks and blogs were the highest in Brazil, where 80% of the online audience visits such sites. The share of social networks and blogs in the overall Internet time is also the highest in Brazil, where nearly one in four (23%) of minutes spent online is spent on these sites. Following Brazil was the UK, where over one in six minutes (17%) is spent on these sites.
The Nielsen study did not cover India. Though analysts estimate a strong growth in social networking, they continue to count India among shy nations online. Even within Asia-Pacific, India showed below average penetration and engagement, despite a growth of 51% in the number of Internet users visiting such sites; 19.37 million people, or 60.3 % of Internet users, visited social networking sites in December 2008, according to Internet research market company, ComScore.
?Only about 40% of the local Internet user-base connects on these networks, which is low by global standards,? agrees Hari Krishnan, country manager, MySpace India. But India is still in early stages of social networking and the industry seems to be getting ready for an exponential growth over the next two to three years. ?You will see a lot of action on the Internet. We are expecting a much bigger growth from people accessing social networking sites from their mobile handsets. This will literally blow the roof off growth,? he adds a confident note.
He has a point. India has over 350 million mobile phone users and continues to be the world?s fastest growing telecom market. Mobile phones play an important role in social networking globally, too. UK mobile Web users are the most likely to visit a social network via their handset. Nearly a quarter (23%) of UK mobile surfers or two million people visited a social network last year, compared to 19%, or 10.6 million people, in the US. This translates to a growth of 249% in the UK. Even in the US, networking through mobiles grew 156% last year.
Insiders seem confident that social networking will gather speed with mobile phone usage and are investing big in building mobile platforms for Indian users. ?As smartphones grow beyond business users, we are seeing enormous potential. Mobiles are a natural fit for social networks as consumers are used to connecting with friends via calls and text messages,? confirms Hari Krishnan. His company Myspace already boasts of about half of its users logging in via mobile phones.
Usage patterns can vary with the choice of device. For instance, it is much simpler to upload pictures from phones with cameras. Similarly, phone users are more likely to leave short messages compared to advanced social media applications emerging on the Internet.
Interestingly, online social networking is no longer restricted to the youth and is becoming more mainstream. The biggest increase in visitors during 2008 to member community Websites globally came from the 35-49 age-group and stood at 11.3 million. Indian audience too proved to be age-agnostic, according to insiders who say people in their 40s and 50s are seen at offline events of online networking portals.
Though users are only beginning to jump in, Indian online social networking arena is buzzing with activity. The large Indian social networks include Reliance?s Bigadda, Ibibo, Minglebox, Fropper, Desimartini. Indiatimes and Rediff have joined the bandwagon last year, with Itimes and Rediff Social.
But global brands dominate the Indian social media. Orkut is at the top of the popularity charts with the world?s most popular social network, Facebook, in the number two position. Orkut reigned as the most visited social networking site in December 2008 with more than 12.8 million visitors, an increase of 81% from the previous year, according to latest data from ComScore. Orkut?s audience was three times the size of its nearest competitor in the category.
Facebook, visited by three in every 10 people online across the nine markets surveyed by the recent Nielsen survey, had 4 million visitors, an increase of 150% compared to the previous year. Next was Bharatstudent, with 3.3 million visitors (up 88%). While Hi5 saw the strongest growth of 182%, the number of visitors to sites like ibibo and Fropper dropped.
?While there is certainly room for several players in the social networking space in India, the sites that have the right blend of a strong brand and cultural relevance will be best positioned for future growth,? says comScore executive vice-president Will Hodgman. He seems to be suggesting a shakeout while many others think more focused sites might be the need of the day. Many focused or niche networks have joined the fray last year. ?Indian portals need to build their unique offerings rather than copy what global portals like ours offer,? sums up Hari Krishnan of Myspace.