The Hindu : Front Page : Facebook No.1 social networking site in India

Facebook No.1 social networking site in India Sandeep Joshi


NEW DELHI: Facebook has dethroned Google-owned Orkut as No.1 social networking site in India. With over 2-crore visitors last month, Facebook has shown stupendous growth in the past few months, overtaking Orkut, said global research firm comScore, Inc.
“Facebook.com posted an especially strong month in July, growing 12 per cent versus June but 179 per cent up versus a year ago, to capture the top spot in the category with 2.09 crore visitors. Orkut ranked second with 1.99 crore visitors — up 16 per cent versus year ago,” it said. These two sites were followed by BharatStudent.com with 44-lakh visitors, up 3 per cent.
Interestingly, Twitter.com had the highest rate of growth among the top five social networking sites, increasing 239 percent to 33-lakh visitors, while Yahoo! owned two of the top 10 social networking sites — Yahoo! Pulse (35-lakh visitors) and Yahoo! Buzz (18-lakh) visitors, it added.
More than 3-crore Internet users aged 15 and older in India visited social networking sites in July, representing 84 per cent of the total Internet audience. India is the seventh largest market for social networking, after the U.S., China, Germany, Russian Federation, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The total Indian social networking audience grew 43 per cent in the past year, more than tripling the rate of growth of the total Internet audience in India.
“The social networking phenomenon continues to gain steam worldwide, and India represents one of the fastest growing markets at the moment,” said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region. “Though Facebook has tripled its audience in the past year to pace the growth for the category, several other social networking sites have posted their own sizeable gains,” he added.
Orkut has decided to provide its users more control over data-sharing by allowing them to define and customise group settings. “We've created this new functionality to give Orkut users more privacy and control over how they share content,” Google Product Director Victor Ribeiro said.

India to target Google, Skype messaging next - FT | Reuters

India to target Google, Skype messaging next - FT | Reuters: "Aug 13 (Reuters) - India may shut down Google (GOOG.O) and Skype Internet-based messaging services over security concerns, the Financial Times reported on Friday, as the government threatened a similar crackdown on BlackBerry services.

The Financial Times quoted from the minutes of a July 12 meeting between telecommunication ministry security officials and operator associations to look at possible solutions to 'intercept and monitor' encrypted communications.

'There was consensus that there [is] more than one type of service for which solutions are to be explored. Some of them are BlackBerry, Skype, Google etc,' according to the department's minutes. 'It was decided first to undertake the issue of BlackBerry and then the other services.'

On Thursday, the Indian government became the latest of several nations that have threatened to cut off Research In Motion's (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) encrypted BlackBerry email and instant messaging services if the Canadian company does not address national security concerns. [nSGE67B09R]

India has set an Aug 31. deadline for RIM. It wants access in a readable format to encrypted BlackBerry communication, on grounds it could be used by militants. Pakistani-based militants used mobile and satellite phones in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

India's demands follow a deal with Saudi Arabia, where a source said Research In Motion agreed to give authorities codes for BlackBerry Messenger users. The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Algeria also seek access.

Officials say RIM had proposed tracking emails without sharing encryption details, but that was not enough.

The Financial Times report said representatives from two of the telecom operator associations present confirmed the details of the meeting earlier this month.

'At the last security meeting, the agencies were talking about BlackBerry. They were also coming out heavily on Skype and Google,' said Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India.

A shutdown would affect one million users in India out of the smartphone's 41 million users. India is one of RIM's fastest growing markets.

RIM, unlike rivals Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Apple APPL.O, operates its own network through secure servers located in Canada and other countries, such as Britain.

RIM's shares ended more than 2 percent lower at C$56.44 in the Toronto market.

In a matter of a few weeks, the BlackBerry device -- long the darling of the world's CEOs and politicians, including U.S. President Barack Obama -- has become a target for its sealed email and messaging services with governments around the world. (Writing by Miral Fahmy, editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)

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