Facebook is the leading social networking website in most countries today with over 640 million users worldwide. In fact, if the Alexa site ranking is to be believed, Facebook holds the second spot globally, just behind Google. Currently, it is still 360 million short before reaching its goal of 1 billion Facebook users in 2011. Here’s an interesting graph from Pingdom that illustrates the countries Facebook has left to conquer.
Aside from Brazil, the red parts, which indicate countries where Facebook is not on top, are mostly in Asia. How important is Asia for Facebook to reach its goal exactly? According to SocialBakers, there are currently more than 147 million Facebook users from Asia. This, however, only represents a 17% penetration rate in the region. Interestingly, I found out that in the Asian countries where Facebook is not dominating, there are other social networks that hold the spot. And here’s a list of the Top 5 biggest.
1. China (470 million Internet users) – Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo is a Twitter-like microblogging site from China. The microblogging service is currently growing at around 10 million users per month, and expects to exceed 150 million users this year. It recently rolled out two new features that are unique from Twitter – voicemail weibos and direct video uploads. It is, however, only available in simplified and traditional Chinese.
Mixi was initially seen as the Japanese answer to Friendster, around the same time Facebook was starting out at Harvard. The focus of Mixi is “community entertainment”, that is, meeting new people by way of common interests. It has more than 22 million users and an 80% share of the social networking market in Japan. The word Mixi is a combination of mix and I, referring to the idea that the user, “I”, “mixes” with other users through the service. Registration requires a valid Japanese cellphone number, which bars anyone who is not a resident of Japan.
vKontakte is social networking site that is popular in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. It is very much like Facebook in the social networking sense but with a distinction of integrating torrent filesharing technology. As of February 2011, VK has around 135 million accounts. In English, В Контакте or V Kontákte translates as “In Contact” or “In Touch”.
Probably the most different among the batch is BlogFa, which is a free Persian blogging platform very much like Blogger and WordPress. Studies reveal that high levels of discussion happening in BlogFa are about news and politics. Facebook only ranks 27th in the country while BlogFa ranks 3rd.
Zing Me is a popular social networking site in Vietnam, where it has twice as much users as Facebook. It is a diverse entertainment portal which provides access to news, music, social networking services, gaming, instant messaging, and online payment. What makes it so popular is the ZingMP3, where users can listen, embed and download songs for free, and ZingPlay, a collection of over 20 mini flash games.
Of all these countries, Facebook is blocked in China and Vietnam. The global penetration rate of Facebook is at 27%, with America being the biggest contributor at 65%. We’re actually seeing efforts from the social networking company, such as the recent opening of a Facebook office in Hong Kong. Just imagine the amount of users it can amass if it manages to raise Asia’s penetration rate to at least the global average.
With that said, I have 2 key observations among the dominating Facebook counterparts. First is that they are not exactly Facebook clones. While a lot of of the essential social networking features are shared, we have vKontakte, which offers peer-to-peer file sharing and Zing Me, which focuses a lot on music and gaming. Secondly, these sites are not even available in English unless you want to torture yourself with Google Translate. This is one of the reasons why these social networks thrive in its respective local communities, especially in Japan where language is not the only barrier, but having a local cellphone number as well.
Will it be worth it for Facebook to address and cater to these different needs? We’ll save that discussion for another post. Regardless, the social networking giant can learn a thing or two from these sites about local flavor.Top Image
Ever wonder what the next big thing is? You might want to check out The Internet Wishlist, a suggestion box of ideas for apps and websites people are wishing for. Ideas range from web to mobile apps, realistic to imaginary, and helpful to humorous. The website is a brainchild of Amrit Richmond, a professional community developer and creative strategist, with a goal of inspiring entrepreneurs and startups to innovate and build the products and features that people actually want.
Next time you come up with a brilliant idea when you’re surfing around, consider sharing it to the rest of the world. Just add your breakthrough idea to the list and hope that someone actually makes it a reality. Alternatively, you can also use the Twitter hashtag #theiwl.
What’s on your wishlist? We’d love to hear them at the comments section below.
Google began rolling out Thursday a new search feature that makes finding recipes on the web a little easier.
Dubbed “Recipe View,” the feature lets users filter search results according to ingredients, cook time, calories and more. Users can search, for instance, for recipes containing brussels sprouts, devised by chef Ina Garten, that take less than an hour to make. Pictures, ingredients and one- to five-star user ratings are highlighted in the listed results, helping users quickly discover or bypass recipes.
To use Recipe View, simply select the “Recipes” link on the left-hand panel when searching for a recipe.
Google plans to enable the feature to all users in the U.S. and Japan by Thursday evening; it also plans to introduce the feature to additional countries in the future, a Google spokesperson said.
You’ve set up your social accounts and you seem to be gathering your fans online fast, but thinking about what to post online can sometimes seem as tricky as coming up with a wedding toast. We all want to be “Liked”, so what’s the secret to an irresistible to retweet update? Here are 8 Do and Don’ts for making the most out of your social media presence:
DO Be informative. According to research conducted by emarketer, consumers expect more than entertainment when connecting with a brand online; they expect incentives, like offers and coupons. A great number of consumers though (46%), replied that they look for something more substantial than offers just targeted to online fans, such as tips and information about product and services. Posting simple to follow how-tos and useful tips can prove much more effective than posting a link to a specific product or service. Ask your customers to share their tips and personal experience with your products or services in the comments or through tweets marked with a specific hashtag.
DON’T Be a parrot. Information overload and repetitive content are two of the top reasons a consumer chooses to stop following a brand online. Frequent “one note” updates can be a major turn off for your fans. Facebook users are more intolerant to frequent updates than repetitive content, with 44% of them unliking brands because they post too often, while Twitter users seem to be more forgiving of highly frequent tweets but more strict with boring tweets with 52% naming repetition as a deal breaker. Try to mix it up and even if you need to repeat an update to promote a current offer or call to action for a project, make sure you put a new twist each time.
DO Make a tradition. Families bond over holiday traditions and big family dinners, so bond with your customers by establishing little online traditions you’ll share on specific days. For DKNY the tradition is its weekly appointment with its followers to watch Gossip Girl. Build your tradition around a theme relevant to your product or service and invite your customers to participate via tweets, comments or photo sharing.
DON’T neglect replies. Social media is not about broadcasting, but about conversation. Connect with your fans and engage in conversations, if you feel it is not an issue you can resolve though tweets or Facebook comments, don’t hesitate to transfer the conversation to a private space by providing the customer with the right telephone number or by requesting his/her contact details.
DO call for action. Ask your fans to Like your pics, prompt them to share your content and thank them when they do. Popular YouTube star Michael Buckley never hesitates to remind his viewers for a “thumbs up” and thank them afterwards. The key lies in asking in a clear way yet in a conversational tone, highlighting that the important thing is the feedback you get not the number of “Likes”.
DON’T rely on text alone. Keep some variety and spark up conversation with the help of images and videos. Glamour Greece produces weekly videos titled “Star Therapy” on Animoto, while hosting a weekly Astrology Q&A with Glamour’s Star Therapist via text.
DO have a crisis plan. Online backlashes seem to be difficult to avoid, so it’s best to read other brands’ lessons and be prepared. Try to be pro-active addressing quickly whatever isolated complaints come to your attention and think about the way you will handle negative comments and replies.
DON’T be impolite. Introduce the person that represents the brand online and always showcase your contact information along with a telephone number. Make it personal to get personal, there is no other way.
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What are your biggest Do and Don’ts? What kind of updates can make you follow or unfollow a brand?Image Credit
iPad apps like Sketchbook Pro and Brushes, have both helped artists produce amazing works of art on Apple’s tablet.
