(Oct 2008 Update) World map of social networks around the world
Here is this months map showing the most popular social networks around the world. Facebook continues to make noises around the World but it’s clear that Asia is a no go area for it so it looks as if it’s going for the Caribbean.
This month we also see a few neighbourly battles happening around the world and in the centre of them all are Facebook and Hi5.
A small skirmish in the Caribbean as Facebook gains both Bahamas and Cuba from Hi5. Could this be the start of the Facebook assault in Central America?
Across the waters, in the Mediterranean, Hi5 snatches Cyprus away from Facebook. Nearby, Syria and Iran is still the only country in the Middle East that hasn’t fallen for the charms of Facebook.
Facebook makes a dent in the French speaking part of Europe as it gains Belgium from the French social network Skyrock and for equal measure, Hi5 takes Belgium’s neighbour Luxembourg from Facebook.
Update: Thanks to “ps” I have changed Latvia’s most popular social network to draugiem.lv (from one.lv).
Update 2: I’ve added a little zoomed in image of Central and Eastern Europe as the predominant social networks do vary a lot - helped by the higher number of varying languages spoken in the areas. Maybe that’s why Facebook and Hi5 are so keen on localisation?
Update 3: Vancouver Island has been given back to Canada. Hurrah! Thanks Diggers 
View world map of top social networks (48KB)
Tell others:
October 20th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Hi!
I still think you make a large mistake in Belgium. The most popular SNS here is Netlog and not Facebook. Perhaps you should revise your methodology, because there are some flaws in it.
But in general: nice maps and interesting work!
Regards.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Hi Davy,
Thanks for the comments and I’m glad you like the map, hopefully I’ll have a more interactive version ready for next month.
You’re right that the methodology should be revised (or rather it isn’t perfect) but there are very few other options I have beyond going by traffic which from experience is a key indicator to general popularity.
The disclaimer I put in the graph is that it is created with traffic data from Alexa.com and doesn’t go by number of users for example.
As for Belgium, for a long time it was SkyRock which was most popular in Belgium (again by traffic!) and a few places below that is Netlog so at present I will stick with Facebook which was one position above. However I’m going to keep an eye out for Netlog to see how it’s doing in Belgium.
If you do know of any interesting articles about Netlog in Belgium, let me know.
Thanks,
Nadim
October 21st, 2008 at 2:23 pm
[...] world map courtesy Oxyweb should help you visualize the popularity of various social networks across different parts of the [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 3:06 pm
[...] has posted a chart of the largest social networks throughout the world. The chart is a world map with the each [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
[...] the Oxyweb blog nesen publicēja saistošu rakstu, kas sevī apkopo datus par pasaulē vispopulārākajiem sociālajiem portāliem. To visu var ļoti skaisti aplūkot šajā kartē, bet karte šobrīd nebūtu nemaz tik svarīga, ja vien tajā neatklātos One.lv pārsvars pār Draugiem.lv [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 11:15 pm
[...] Oxyweb propone una mappa mondiale aggiornata della diffusione e della popolarità delle reti sociali: Social Network Map Of The World. [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:32 am
[...] even list other properties like Orkut. Which, according to a great global map of social networks by Oxyweb (hat tip to Nick O’Neil) is still ruling the roost in India and Brazil. Click to see the [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:18 am
hi,
nice work.
I am from Malaysia.and from your map Malaysian love Friendster more.
I think it will not last for long since Facebook will gain the number 1 spot
lankapo
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:18 am
[...] 今天在Oxyweb看到這張圖，在世界地圖上把各區域熱門的社交網站標示出來。 [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 am
It would be much easier to read if you were able to hover your mouse over a country and the associated glyph was hightlighted. (maybe in flash?)
otherwise looks good
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
hej nadim,
you have one.lv as Latvia’s most popular network, well…that’s wrong. draugiem.lv is easily bigger, alexa has one.lv at rank 3164 and draugiem.lv at 2264. (btw, draugiem.lv has 2.4m users in a country of 2.4m people…what??)
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
@ps
Hi ps,
Thanks very much for letting me know of this error, silly mistake on my part. I’ve now updated the map as well the archive maps for August and Sept (as it was Draugiem then too).
As for number of users being the same as the population, as expected, they are taking data from their localised Russian and English versions.
@slash
Hi slash,
glad you like the map and you’re right in the future the map will be more interactive. I do have a few plans in the pipeline so keep an eye out for them.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
[...] map showing the popularity of social networks Check this link for complete [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
[...] even list other properties like Orkut. Which, according to a great global map of social networks by Oxyweb (hat tip to Nick O’Neil) is still ruling the roost in India and [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Wich one is the most used in spain?
Thnx
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
[...] Karte von Oxyweb blog veranschaulicht die Verbreitung der größten und beliebtesten Social Networks im weltweiten [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 2:02 am
[...] World map of social networks around the world This month's map shows the most popular social networks around the world. Facebook continues to make noises around the World but it’s clear that Asia is a no go area for it so it looks as if it’s going for the Caribbean. (tags: visualization trends stats statistics socialnetworks socialnetworking socialnetwork map social) [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 2:05 am
[...] world map courtesy Oxyweb should help you visualize the popularity of various social networks across different parts of the [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 7:33 am
[...] Oxyweb nos llega el mapa mundial con la distribución de las redes sociales de internet según su [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
[...] mapa mundial nos llega vía Labnol, por cortesía de Oxyweb donde se nos muestran las redes sociales más rankeadas diferenciadas por colores. Se puede ver por [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
[...] y a quelques jours, ce fut le cas pour la carte mondiale des réseaux sociaux dans le monde (”World Map of social networks around the world - Oct 2008 update“). Cette carte émane d’une entreprise britannique (Oxyweb) qui a sûrement décidé de [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Excellent!! But Alexa is not the best source about!
October 25th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
A gapminder-like motion chart would be interesting for this, check how to build it in GoogleDocs.
October 26th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
[...] Noticia original: (Oct 2008 Update) World map of social networks around the world [...]
October 27th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
[...] Oxyweb любезно предоставила нам возможность окинуть весь мир одним взглядом и определить в каких странах какие социальные сети пользуются самой большой популярностью. Как видим, Украина, Россия, Беларусь и остальные страны СНГ сидят на “В Контакте“. “Одноклассники” отдыхают. [...]
October 29th, 2008 at 12:10 am
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October 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
[...] más rankeadas Oct.29, 2008 in Noticias Este mapa mundial nos llega vía Labnol, por cortesía de Oxyweb donde se nos muestran las redes sociales más rankeadas diferenciadas por colores. Se puede ver por [...]
November 1st, 2008 at 11:14 pm
[...] 1, 2008 World map of social networks around the world This month’s map shows the most popular social networks around the world. Facebook continues [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 am
[...] 100 - 500 ล้าน, เปิดแผนที่โลกของ Social Network มาดูกันว่าประเทศไหนใช้ Social Network [...]
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
[...] Oxyweb aggiorna la sua mappa dei social network più popolari ad Ottobre 2008. [...]
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
Hi,
This map has been really helpful. By any chance, can I lay my hands on some data. I mean Social Networks by Geography Demographics
November 10th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
[...] sobre las redes sociales y su implantación por países, he descubierto un interesante artículo en Oxyweb sobre el uso de las Redes Sociales por países basado en las estadísticas de [...]
November 24th, 2008 at 1:37 am
[...] Facebook is the most widely used social network within Australia according to a recent study, but if you’re trying to market internationally, then there are more popular ones. View the map within the article to find out what’s used where. [...]
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 am
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