

How can Google beat Facebook with one checkbox? - nreece
http://www.nilkanth.com/archives/2007/09/07/how-can-google-beat-facebook-with-one-checkbox/

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karzeem
The answer is almost certainly no. To my mind, Facebook dominates for three
things: basic personal info (looking up someone's phone number, seeing where
they work, etc.), photos, and events. I don't know Orkut well, but if beating
Facebook includes becoming dominant in the U.S., they'll have to do something
truly fresh, not just play catch-up.

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nreece
"I don't know Orkut well"

The review is based on personal hands-on use on both the mentioned social
networking utilities.

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pg
I don't trust Alexa as a measure of Orkut vs Facebook. All those users in
other countries don't have the Alexa toolbar installed.

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nreece
Do you think all those users in Brazil and India have the Alexa toolbar
installed? Most of them are not even aware of Alexa. Which other global
traffic analyzer do you recommend for this comparison? If any.

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pg
That was my point: Orkut does disproportionately badly in Alexa because the
Brazilian and Indian users don't have the toolbar installed.

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nreece
For the record, Google Trends paints the very same picture:
[http://www.google.com/trends?q=orkut%2C+facebook&ctab=0&...](http://www.google.com/trends?q=orkut%2C+facebook&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2007&sort=1)

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adamdoupe
"Facebook on the other hand is the leader in the US, Canada and UK."

This statement isn't true. Like it or not, MySpace is the leader in the US.

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nreece
I don't quite consider MySpace as a "social networking" site in the same
league as Facebook or Orkut. How many people actually use MySpace for business
networking? MySpace is a teen station.

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adamdoupe
If we're talking about business networking, I thought LinkedIn was the winner.
MySpace and Facebook are both "social networking" in my book, Facebook even
moreso, because I only friend people I actually know (However this could be
just because I use it in the college context, not the business context).

I'd be interesting if there are different usage patterns based on the main use
of the network. I see it as keeping in touch with my friends rather than
"networking" in the business sense.

