The Orkut Social Network, Google's Unwanted Child, Is Still Strong in Brazil and India

Social networking has taken over the web, that much is for sure. Most people are at least aware of this type of sites and many have set up profiles. Unsurprisingly, the most popular social network, globally, is Facebook, but there are other popular names as well.

A study by InSites Consulting focused on social networking and interactions around the world. It found that much of the world is well aware of the social networking phenomenon and that many people are active users.

For example, 98 percent of internet-using Europeans, including Russians, and 95 percent of Americans have heard of at least one social network. The number is also high in Australia, 96 percent, and in emerging markets such as Brazil, 97 percent, and India, 98 percent.

Quite a lot of them are also using a social network, most of the time Facebook. 73 percent of Europeans have set up a social networking profile and 76 percent of Americans have done the same.

The numbers are even more impressive in Brazil, where 86 percent of internet users have a social networking profile, and India with 88 percent.

62 percent of Europeans have set up a Facebook profile, but only 16 percent have a Twitter account. 12 percent of them though use Vkontakte, the Russian language social network.

The study bundles the data from all European countries it surveyed together, however, this is not representative of the individual countries.

Vkontakte is the most popular social network in Russian speaking countries, but is essentially, unheard of elsewhere in Europe. This makes the 12 percent number rather meaningless.

In the US, Facebook is still king, with 70 percent of internet users having a profile. The second most popular social network there is LinkedIn, used by 22 percent, followed by Twitter with a 20 percent market share.

In the emerging markets though, Orkut still has a large presence, it's used by 67 percent of web users in Brazil, ahead of Facebook's 59 percent, and by 65 percent of those in India, where Facebook leads with a 77 percent market share.