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In Brazil 85% of Internet Users Do Social Networking. Google’s Orkut Is King

A community page in the Brazilian Orkut 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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www.comscore.com/brazil

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