Marketing research company comScore with headquarters in Reston, Virginia, a leader in measuring the digital world, has just released results from a study of the state of the Internet in Brazil, which includes a focus on social networking, one of the country's most popular Internet categories.
comScore's data show that 85% of Brazilians age 15 and older who accessed the Internet from home or work computers in September 2008 visited a social networking site, up from 76% in September 2007.
Compared to other countries with Internet populations of at least 10 million monthly unique visitors, Brazil had the second highest percent reach in the social networking category, slightly behind Canada with 87%.
These findings, as well as additional industry insights, will be presented during a complimentary Portuguese-language Webinar, entitled State of the Internet in Brazil, on Wednesday, November 26 at 3 p.m. Brazil time.
 Percent Reach for Social Networking Category in Selected Countries*
 September 2008 vs. September 2007
 Total Worldwide, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations**
 Source: comScore World Metrix
   Country                                    Percent Reach
                                  Sep-2007       Sep-2008   Point Change
 Canada                            83.9           86.5          2.6
 Brazil                            76.0           85.3          9.3
 United Kingdom                    78.7           78.4         -0.3
 Mexico                            67.3           73.0          5.7
 Spain                             63.9           70.7          6.8
 United States                     65.8           70.2          4.5
 Australia                         56.5           67.5         11.1
 Germany                           45.9           65.5         19.6
 Italy                             53.0           62.2          9.1
 Netherlands                       55.7           61.3          5.6
 Russian Federation                36.3           60.7         24.4
 India                             50.9           60.3          9.4
 France                            51.4           59.1          7.7
 South Korea                       52.3           58.3          6.0
 Japan                             56.4           55.7         -0.7
 China                             44.7           50.3          5.6
 Taiwan                            48.1           42.9         -5.2
 * Includes countries with a total Internet population of at least
    10 million unique visitors in September 2008.
 ** Excludes traffic from public computers, such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones/PDAs.
"For Internet users in Brazil, social networking continues to flourish as a hugely popular activity," said Alex Banks, managing director of Latin America for comScore. "One likely reason for social networking's success in Brazil is that its concept of online community closely aligns with the culture in Brazil, which is also centered on a strong sense of community and social activity."
In addition to Brazil, social networking is a popular Internet pastime across much of Latin America. Nearly 9 out of 10 people in the region visited a social networking site in September 2008, up 9 percentage points from September 2007.
While social networking among Latin American nations had the highest reach in Brazil, comScore data show that Chile and Colombia were not far behind with 80% reach. Though Puerto Rico had the lowest penetration (71%) for the social networking category, it saw the largest gain versus year ago with a 10-percentage point increase.
 Percent Reach for Social Networking Category in Latin America
 September 2008 vs. September 2007
 Total Latin America, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations*
 Source: comScore World Metrix
   Country                                    Percent Reach
                                  Sep-2007       Sep-2008   Point Change
 Latin America                     78.0           87.2          9.3
 Brazil                            76.0           85.3          9.3
 Chile                             74.0           80.1          6.1
 Colombia                          69.9           79.6          9.7
 Argentina                         70.4           77.1          6.7
 Venezuela                         69.1           77.1          8.0
 Mexico                            67.3           73.0          5.7
 Puerto Rico                       60.5           70.5         10.0
 * Excludes traffic from public computers, such as Internet cafes or
    access from mobile phones/PDAs.
Orkut Rocks
With 21 million unique visitors in September 2008, Google-owned Orkut was by far the most visited social network site in Brazil. Visitors spent an average of 496 minutes on the site during the month, with an average of 28 visits per visitor, ranking Orkut as the social networking site with the highest engagement also.
 Visitation and Engagement for Selected Social Networking Sites in Brazil
 September 2008
 Total Brazil, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations*
 Source: comScore World Metrix
                                Total Unique      Average       Average
 Selected Social Networking      Visitors        Minutes     Visits per
  Sites                            (000)       per Visitor     Visitor
 Total Internet : Total Audience  26,221        1,608.1         47.5
 Orkut                            20,752          496.1         28.3
 Yahoo! Geocities                  3,916            2.8          1.8
 SONICO.COM                        2,978           10.1          2.7
 MINGLEBOX.COM                     1,677            1.6          2.4
 FOTOLOG.COM                       1,606           22.1          5.3
 8P.COM.BR                         1,463           11.2          1.9
 MULTIPLY.COM                      1,189            4.4          1.5
 HI5.COM                           1,142           10.6          2.0
 Lycos Tripod                      1,115            1.8          1.4
 MYSPACE.COM                         893           13.2          2.3
 LIMEALL.COM                         387            0.6          1.7
 DEVIANTART.COM                      386            7.3          1.8
 FACEBOOK.COM                        360           14.2          2.7
* comScore Media Metrix monitors the online activities of individuals in Brazil within a universe defined as those aged 15+ who have accessed the Internet from either a home or a work computer in the past 30 days. It excludes traffic from public computers, such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones/PDAs. Since a significant number of consumers in Brazil access the Internet from outside this universe definition, comScore has developed an Extended Universe for the online population in Brazil, which is computed differently from comScore's Total Internet estimate. comScore estimates Brazil's Extended Universe to be 56.2 million.
"With more than five times the number of unique visitors as any other social networking site in Brazil, Orkut has a commanding position in the marketplace," said Banks. "The site is a particularly attractive venue for advertisers because it is able to deliver both a large and highly engaged audience."
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