(2 August 2007 2:55 pm)

MUMBAI: The trend towards more social networking is global, and has seen dramatic growth during the past year as far as networking sites are concerned.

A recent comScore report showed that MySpace.com attracted more than 114 million global visitors aged 15 or more in June 2007, representing a 72 per cent increase year on year.

Facebook.com saw an even stronger growth during that same time frame, jumping 270 per cent to 52.2 million visitors. Bebo.com and Tagged.com grew by 172 per cent and 774 per cent respectively.

comScore Executive Vice President (International markets) Bob Ivins said, "In the last one year, social networking has really taken off globally. It would appear that social networking is not a fad but an activity that is being woven into the very fabric of the global Internet."

The report also noted that specific social networks have a tendency to skew in popularity in different regions. For example, both MySpace.com (62 per cent) and Facebook.com (68 per cent) attract approximately two-thirds of their respective audiences from North America.

Orkut has a huge following in Latin America (49 per cent) and Asia Pacific (43 per cent) while Bebo.com attracts nearly 63 per cent of its visitors from Europe, and Friendster gets 89 per cent of its visitors from Asia Pacific.

Ivins added, "A fundamental aspect of the success of social networking sites is cultural relevance. Those doing well in certain regions are likely doing an effective job of communicating appropriately with those regions’ specific populations. As social networking continues to evolve, it will be exciting to see if networks are able to cross cultural barriers and bring people from different corners of the globe together in fulfilling the truest ideals of social networking."