Orkut Brazil
Wednesday, April 12, 2006According to the New York Times, “about 11 million of Orkut’s more than 15 million users are registered as living in Brazil — a remarkable figure given that studies have estimated that only about 12 million Brazilians use the Internet from home. ”
Hmmmm…
Most people I speak to don’t know about Google’s social networking site, Orkut. (Most users are in Brazil, and I haven’t been there in a very long, long time). Assuming that 11/12 (or 92%) of Brazilian Internet users actually use the tool, that would be a phenomenal adoption rate. Surprisingly, when I check the reporting on a few social network sites we’re tracking, and look at just search queries originating in Brazil, here’s the market leaders:
1 Google-BR 66.93%
2 Google 15.91%
3 Google Local 7.95%
4 Google Maps 4.03%
So I guess 92% penetration is possible…
That said, why would Orkut have taken off that well in Brazil, and yet no where else? As it’s an invitation only network, I’ve never really looked into it, perhaps a reader can tell me why Orkut is that much more addictive than other excellent social networking sites like Insider Pages, (which if it ever entered the Brazilian market would undoubtably do well), Tribe, Judy’s Book, or Craigslist?
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