State of the Mobile Web, December 2009
January 26, 2010
Welcome to the first State of the Mobile Web Report in 2010. January is a special
month for Opera Mini. It was four years ago this month, we made our browser
available all over the globe.
Opera Mini officially debuted in November of 2005. At that time, we limited
distribution to Sweden and Norway. A limited trial was necessary. We were not sure
what the bandwidth costs would be. We were not sure if it would even be a success.
Downloading ringtones was one thing; downloading a Web browser to a phone was
something else entirely.
During the four years Opera Mini has been available, things have changed. People are accustomed to
downloading all manner of applications to their phones. People want the Web on their phones, not its
distant cousin, WAP.
Even though these four years have brought many changes, what pleases me more than any statistic or
growth figure is that we have remained committed to our original vision for the product. We wanted a
browser that could run on almost every phone. We wanted it to display the content people want, and get it
to them quickly. Throughout these years, our principles have not wavered.
And the same will be true four years from now.
Thanks for reading,
Jon S. von Tetzchner
Co-founder, Opera Software
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
1
Highlights
■ As shown in Part 1 of the report, Opera Mini saw increases in all three categories of growth in December
2009: unique users, pages viewed and data consumed. Over 46.3 million people use Opera Mini each
month, matching the number of Opera’s desktop users for the first time. Over 20 billion pages were
served, and we are closing in on 3 petabytes of operator data that Opera Mini compresses for users on a
monthly basis.
■ Looking at the top 10 countries according to Opera Mini usage (in Part 2 of the report), Ukraine overtook
China in December, Vietnam continues its ascent (at the expense of the United Kingdom) and Nigeria is
back on the list after a 3-month absence, pushing Poland out of the top 10 for the first time.
■ For Part 3 of this month’s report, we looked at countries in Southeast Asia. The top 9 countries using
Opera Mini in Southeast Asia are: Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore,
Cambodia and Laos.
■ Some numbers: From December 2008 to December 2009, page views in the top 9 countries of Southeast
Asia increased by 599%, unique users increased by 385%, and data transferred increased by 587%.
■ Since our last spotlight on Southeast Asia, Malaysia jumped from #4 to #3 and Thailand jumped from #5
to #4.
■ Growth rates in Southeast Asia: Vietnam and Indonesia lead the top 9 Southeast Asian countries in terms
of page-view growth (1,316.4% and 641.9%, respectively). Vietnam and Indonesia also lead the top 9
Southeast Asian countries in growth of unique users (846.9% and 419.7%, respectively). Brunei leads the
top 9 Southeast Asian countries in page views per user, with each user browsing 987 pages on average
each month.
■ In Southeast Asia among mobile Web users, Google is at the top of the rankings for numerous countries,
with the very significant exception of Indonesia where Google is only at #6 and Yahoo! is at #2. This is
notable because the vast majority of Opera Mini users in Southeast Asia are in Indonesia.
■ Facebook is now the dominant player in Southeast Asia among mobile-Web users, both in Indonesia —
where Friendster has fallen to #5 — and the rest of the region, where Facebook is among the top visited
sites in numerous countries.
■ By far, Opera Mini users in Southeast Asia prefer Nokia handsets.
■ Part 4 of this month's report lists the most popular social-networking sites around the world visited by
mobile Web users. Both global and country-specific site rankings are presented.
■ Given the popularity of Opera in Russian-speaking countries, VKontakte used to be in the top position
(based on unique users), but it was overtaken by Facebook in 2009.
■ Twitter was the other big winner in terms of growth in 2009.
■ All of the listed social-networking sites, except for Friendster, showed significant user growth (via Opera
Mini) in 2009.
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
2
Part 1: Growth
Number of users
In December 2009, Opera Mini had over 46.3 million users, an 11.0% increase from November 2009 and
more than 159% compared to December 2008.
Pages transcoded
Opera Mini users viewed over 20.7 billion pages in December 2009. Since November, page views have
gone up 10.1%. Since December 2008, page views have increased 223%.
Pages transcoded per month (billions)
Data consumed
In December 2009, Opera Mini users generated over 315 million MB of data for operators worldwide. Since
November, the data consumed went up by 10.5%. Data in Opera Mini is compressed up to 90%. If this
data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed over 2.9 PB of data in December. Since
December 2008, data traffic is up 206%.
Total data consumed per month (millions of megabytes)
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
3
Part 2: Country snapshots for December 2009
Snapshot: Russia
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 94.1%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 78.7%
■ Page views per user: 425
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 9
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 21
■ The top 10 sites in Russia remain unchanged from November.
Snapshot: Indonesia
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 641.9%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 419.7%
■ Page views per user: 645
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 6
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 9
■ Detik.com jumped four places to number 4, displacing Friendster, Google, YouTube and GetJar in the
process.
■ Twitter moved up to ninth position from 10th.
Top 10 sites in Russia (unique users)
1. vkontakte.ru
2. odnoklassniki.ru
3. yandex.ru
4. mail.ru
5. wikipedia.org
6. google.com
7. spaces.ru
8. my.opera.com
9. wapos.ru
10. seclub.org
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 6300
2. Nokia N73
3. Sony Ericsson K790i
4. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
5. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
6. Nokia 6233
7. Sony Ericsson W910i
8. Sony Ericsson K550i
9. Sony Ericsson K750i
10. Nokia 5800d
Top 10 sites in Indonesia (unique users)
1. facebook.com
2. yahoo.com
3. waptrick.com (4)
4. detik.com (8)
5. friendster.com (3)
6. google.com (5)
7. youtube.com (6)
8. getjar.com (7)
9. twitter.com (10)
10. wikipedia.org (9)
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
2. Nokia 6300
3. Nokia N73
4. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
5. Nokia E63
6. Nokia 2330c
7. Nokia 3120c
8. Nokia N73
9. Nokia 6600
10. Nokia 2700c
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
4
Snapshot: India
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 263.3%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 244.8%
■ Page views per user: 339
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 7
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 20
■ Gmail fell off the top 10 list, allowing Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, and YouTube to move up the list.
■ Cricinfo is a new addition to the top 10 list.
Snapshot: Ukraine
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 275.8%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 140.6%
■ Page views per user: 700
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 13
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 19
■ Yahoo! returns to the list after a one-month absence, displacing YouTube.
Top 10 sites in India (unique users)
1. google.com
2. orkut.com
3. facebook.com (4)
4. wikipedia.org (5)
5. yahoo.com (8)
6. youtube.com (7)
7. songs.pk (6)
8. zedge.net (10)
9. cricinfo.com (new)
10. wap.in (9)
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
2. Nokia 2700c
3. Nokia N70
4. Nokia 3110c
5. Nokia N73
6. Nokia 6300
7. Nokia 7210
8. Nokia N72
9. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
10. Nokia 3500c
Top 10 sites in Ukraine (unique users)
1. vkontakte.ru
2. yandex.ru
3. spaces.ru (3)
4. mail.ru (4)
5. my.opera.com
6. wapos.ru
7. depositfiles.com
8. seclub.org
9. yahoo.com (back on the list)
10. youtube.com (9)
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 6300
2. Nokia 6233
3. Nokia 5130
4. Nokia N73
5. Sony Ericsson K800i
6. Sony Ericsson K550i
7. Sony Ericsson K750i
8. Nokia 5310
9. Nokia N70
10. Sony Ericsson W200i
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
5
Snapshot: China
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 201.1%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 132.8%
■ Page views per user: 248
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 3
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 11
■ Google.cn and Kong.net traded places this month, as did Hao123 and Sohu.
■ Soso made its debut in the top 10 list.
Snapshot: South Africa
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 443.1%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 241.4%
■ Page views per user: 337
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 4
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 12
■ Mxit returns after a two-month absence to claim the third spot.
■ Wikipedia, My Opera, Yahoo! and Twitter all made way for the return of Mxit.
Top 10 sites in China (unique users)
1. baidu.com
2. google.cn (3)
3. kong.net (2)
4. sina.com.cn
5. renren.com
6. qq.com
7. soso.com (new)
8. taobao.com
9. hao123.com (10)
10. sohu.com (9)
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 5000
2. Nokia 5130
3. Nokia 7100
4. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
5. Nokia 5220
6. Nokia 2700c
7. Nokia 7610s
8. Nokia 7310
9. Nokia 6300
10. Nokia 6303c
Top 10 sites in South Africa (unique users)
1. facebook.com
2. google.com
3. mxit.com (back on the list)
4. wikipedia.org (3)
5. my.opera.com (4)
6. yahoo.com
7. zamob.com
8. getjar.com
9. yahoo.com (6)
10. twitter.com (9)
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Samsung SGH-E250
2. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
3. Nokia 5000d
4. LG KS360
5. Samsung SGH-D900i
6. Samsung SGH-M620
7. Nokia 6300
8. Sony Ericsson W910i
9. Nokia N70
10. Samsung GT-S5233A
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
6
Snapshot: United States
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 228.1%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 128.5%
■ Page views per user: 276
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 6
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 24
■ Wikipedia and Myspace traded places this month, as did My Opera and YouTube.
■ Accuweather returns to the top 10 after a one-month absence.
Snapshot: Vietnam
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 1,316.4%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 846.9%
■ Page views per user: 222
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 6
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 28
■ Vatgia fell off the list, as Wikipedia makes its top 10 debut.
Top 10 sites in the United States (unique users)
1. google.com
2. facebook.com
3. yahoo.com
4. wikipedia.org (5)
5. myspace.com (4)
6. my.opera.com (7)
7. youtube.com (6)
8. cnn.com
9. espn.go.com
10. accuweather.com (back on the list)
Top handsets for December 2009
11. BlackBerry 8330 (“Curve”)
12. LG LX600 (“Lotus”)
13. Samsung SPH M810 (“Instinct s30”)
14. Samsung SPH M800 (“Instinct”)
15. LG CU920 (“Vu”)
16. BlackBerry 9530 (“Storm 2”)
17. BlackBerry 9000 (“Bold”)
18. Nokia 3110c
19. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
20. BlackBerry 8310 (“Curve”)
Top 10 sites in Vietnam (unique users)
1. google.com
2. dantri.com.vn
3. vnexpress.net
4. my.opera.com
5. diemtin.com (7)
6. vietbao.vn
7. zing.vn (10)
8. vietnamnet.vn
9. yahoo.com
10. wikipedia.org (new)
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 6300
2. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
3. Nokia 2700c
4. Nokia 3110c
5. Nokia 6500s
6. Nokia N70
7. Nokia 5610d
8. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
9. Nokia 7100s
10. Nokia 5300
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
7
Snapshot: Nigeria
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 524.5%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 315.3%
■ Page views per user: 408
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 6
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 14
■ Nigeria returns to the top 10 country list after a three-month absence.
Snapshot: United Kingdom
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 50.1%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 19.3%
■ Page views per user: 262
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 5
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 21
■ Amazon.co.uk debuted in the top 10 list in time for holiday shopping.
■ My Opera and Bebo also moved up as Vkontakte.ru fell off the list.
Top 10 sites in Nigeria (unique users)
1. facebook.com
2. yahoo.com
3. google.com
4. bbc.co.uk
5. wikipedia.org
6. cnnmobile.com
7. sharemobile.ro
8. goal.com
9. myspace.com
10. mjoy.com
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 3110c
2. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
3. Nokia N70
4. Nokia 2700c
5. Nokia 2600c
6. Nokia N72
7. Sony Ericsson K750i
8. Nokia 6300
9. Sony Ericsson K800i
10. Nokia 2330c
Top 10 sites in the United Kingdom (unique users)
1. facebook.com
2. google.com
3. bbc.co.uk
4. yahoo.com
5. wikipedia.org
6. live.com
7. youtube.com
8. my.opera.com (9)
9. bebo.com (10)
10. amazon.co.uk (new)
Top handsets for December 2009
1. LG KC910 (“Renior”)
2. Nokia 6300
3. Sony Ericsson W395
4. Nokia 6700c
5. LG KE970 (“Shine”)
6. Nokia 2330c
7. Nokia 5800d
8. Nokia E71
9. Nokia 6600s
10. Sony Ericsson S312
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
8
Part 3: Spotlight on Southeast Asia
Highlights
■ The top 9 countries using Opera Mini in Southeast Asia are: Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand,
Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia and Laos.
■ Some numbers: From December 2008 to December 2009, page views in the top 9 countries of Southeast
Asia increased by 599%, unique users increased by 385%, and data transferred increased by 587%.
■ Since our last spotlight on Southeast Asia, Malaysia jumped from #4 to #3 and Thailand jumped from #5
to #4.
■ Growth rates in Southeast Asia: Vietnam and Indonesia lead the top 9 Southeast Asian countries in terms
of page-view growth (1,316.4% and 641.9%, respectively). Vietnam and Indonesia also lead the top 9
Southeast Asian countries in growth of unique users (846.9% and 419.7%, respectively). Brunei leads the
top 9 Southeast Asian countries in page views per user, with each user browsing 987 pages on average
each month.
■ In Southeast Asia among mobile Web users, Google is at the top of the rankings for numerous countries,
with the very significant exception of Indonesia where Google is only at #6 and Yahoo! is at #2. This is
notable because the vast majority of Opera Mini users in Southeast Asia are in Indonesia.
■ Facebook is now the dominant player in Southeast Asia among mobile-Web users, both in Indonesia —
where Friendster has fallen to #5 — and the rest of the region, where Facebook is among the top visited
sites in numerous countries.
■ By far, Opera Mini users in Southeast Asia prefer Nokia handsets.
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
9
Snapshot: Indonesia
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 641.9%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 419.7%
■ Page views per user: 645
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 6
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 9
Snapshot: Vietnam
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 1,316.4%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 846.9%
■ Page views per user: 222
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 6
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 28
Top 10 sites in Indonesia (unique users)
1. facebook.com
2. yahoo.com
3. waptrick.com
4. detik.com
5. friendster.com
6. google.com
7. youtube.com
8. getjar.com
9. twitter.com
10. wikipedia.org
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
2. Nokia 6300
3. Nokia N73
4. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
5. Nokia E63
6. Nokia 2330c
7. Nokia 3120c
8. Nokia N73
9. Nokia 6600
10. Nokia 2700c
Top 10 sites in Vietnam (unique users)
1. google.com
2. dantri.com.vn
3. vnexpress.net
4. my.opera.com
5. diemtin.com
6. vietbao.vn
7. zing.vn
8. vietnamnet.vn
9. yahoo.com
10. wikipedia.org
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 6300
2. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
3. Nokia 2700c
4. Nokia 3110c
5. Nokia 6500s
6. Nokia N70
7. Nokia 5610d
8. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
9. Nokia 7100s
10. Nokia 5300
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
10
Snapshot: Malaysia
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 280.7%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 139.3%
■ Page views per user: 322
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 7
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 21
Snapshot: Thailand
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 172.2%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 136.6%
■ Page views per user: 291
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 9
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 33
Top 10 sites in Malaysia (unique users)
1. google.com
2. facebook.com
3. youtube.com
4. yahoo.com
5. myspace.com
6. friendster.com
7. my.opera.com
8. wikipedia.org
9. myspace.com
10. tagged.com
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
2. Nokia 2700c
3. Nokia 2330c
4. Sony Ericsson W910i
5. Nokia 3120c
6. Nokia 5610d
7. Sony Ericsson K770i
8. Sony Ericsson K800i
9. Nokia 2730c
10. Nokia 5800d
Top 10 sites in Thailand (unique users)
1. google.com
2. hi5.com
3. live.com
4. facebook.com
5. hotmail.com
6. youtube.com
7. my.opera.com
8. livescore.com
9. pantip.com
10. sanook.com
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
2. Nokia 6300
3. Nokia 2700c
4. Nokia N70
5. Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
6. Nokia 2330c
7. Nokia N73
8. Nokia 3110c
9. Nokia 5800d
10. Nokia 5000d
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
11
Snapshot: Philippines
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 63.0%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 76.6%
■ Page views per user: 437
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 7
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 17
Snapshot: Brunei
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 436.8%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 89.3%
■ Page views per user: 987
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 11
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 11
Top 10 sites in Philippines (unique users)
1. facebook.com
2. google.com
3. friendster.com
4. yahoo.com
5. youtube.com
6. wikipedia.org
7. symbianize.com
8. zedge.net
9. wikipedia.org
10. pinoywap.net
Top handsets for December 2009
11. Nokia N70
12. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
13. Nokia N73
14. Nokia 2330c
15. Nokia 6630
16. Nokia 2700c
17. Nokia 6300
18. Nokia 3120c
19. Nokia 6680
20. Nokia 5000d
Top 10 sites in Brunei (unique users)
1. facebook.com
2. friendster.com
3. live.com
4. waptrick.com
5. hotmail.com
6. wikipedia.org
7. youtube.com
8. ebuddy.com
9. twitter.com
10. getjar.com
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia N70
2. Huawei U120
3. Huawei U526
4. Nokia 6680
5. Nokia 6630
6. Nokia 6120c
7. Huawei U3300
8. Sony Ericsson W910i
9. Nokia E63
10. Nokia N73
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
12
Snapshot: Singapore
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 426.2%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 197.6%
■ Page views per user: 257
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 6
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 22
Snapshot: Cambodia
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 86.0%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: 89.3%
■ Page views per user: 259
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 5
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 21
Top 10 sites in Singapore (unique users)
1. google.com
2. facebook.com
3. wikipedia.org
4. yahoo.com
5. youtube.com
6. my.opera.com
7. bbc.co.uk
8. gmail.com
9. channelnewsasia.com
10. hardwarezone.com.sg
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
2. Sony Ericsson W800
3. Nokia E71
4. Nokia 6500s
5. Nokia E63
6. Nokia 2730c
7. Nokia 5800d
8. Nokia N97
9. Nokia 2700c
10. Nokia 3120c
Top 10 sites in Cambodia (unique users)
1. google.com
2. yahoo.com
3. facebook.com
4. livescore.com
5. wikipedia.org
6. youtube.com
7. my.opera.com
8. hi5.com
9. a28i.com
10. waptrick.com
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia 6300
2. Nokia 6500s
3. Nokia N70
4. Nokia N73
5. Nokia N95
6. Sony Ericsson W595
7. Sony Ericsson W910i
8. Nokia 5800d
9. Nokia E71
10. Nokia N81
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
13
Snapshot: Laos
■ Page-view growth since December 2008: 74.2%
■ Unique-user growth since December 2008: -39.3%
■ Page views per user: 323
■ Data transferred per user (MB): 7
■ Data transferred per page view (KB): 22
Top 10 sites in Laos (unique users)
1. google.com
2. hi5.com
3. waptrick.com
4. facebook.com
5. live.com
6. ownskin.com
7. sanook.com
8. teenee.com
9. youtube.com
10. mobango.com
Top handsets for December 2009
1. Nokia N70
2. Nokia 5130 XpressMusic
3. Nokia N72
4. Nokia N73
5. Nokia 5800d
6. Nokia 2700c
7. Samsung SGH E250
8. Nokia N81
9. Nokia 7610
10. Nokia 6681
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
14
Part 4: Top social networks in 2009
In this month’s report, we list the most popular social networking sites around the world, visited by mobile
Web users. Both global and country-specific site rankings are presented.
Global
■ Given the popularity of Opera in Russian-speaking countries, VKontakte used to be at position one
(based on unique users), but it was overtaken by Facebook in 2009.
■ Twitter was the other big winner in terms of growth in 2009.
■ All of the listed social networking sites, except for Friendster, showed significant user growth (via Opera
Mini) in 2009.
Russia
Vkontakte is the preferred Social networking site in Russia, but spaces.ru had the most growth in 2009.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
vkontakte.ru 82%
odnoklassniki 103%
my.mail.ru 69%
spaces.ru 231%
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
15
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
facebook.com (1) 619%
vkontakte.ru (1) 107%
odnoklassniki.ru (2) 117%
my.opera.com (new) 127%
orkut.com (1) 173%
friendster.com (3) -29%
spaces.ru (new) 271%
twitter.com (new) 2,86%
myspace.com (1) 84%
Indonesia
In Indonesia, Facebook and Twitter were the big winners of 2009.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
facebook.com 1,63%
friendster.com -41%
twitter.com new
peperonity.com 78%
India
Orkut and Facebook are the social networking leaders in India, but the smaller players showed considerable
growth in 2009.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
orkut.com 189%
facebook.com 431%
peperonity.com 453%
mocospace.com 85,35%
Ukraine
Spaces.ru showed the biggest growth in Ukraine.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
vkontakte.ru 150%
spaces.ru 4,71%
my.opera.com 100%
my.mail.ru 91%
China
In China, Opera Mini users in 2009 preferred homegrown Social networking sites.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
renren.com 106%
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
16
South Africa
In 2009, the Twitter phenomenon hit South Africa in a big way.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
facebook.com 207%
my.opera.com 213%
twitter.com new
peperonity.com 157%
United States
Facebook had another strong year in the United States.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
facebook.com 194%
myspace.com 25%
twitter.com -21%
mocospace.com 58%
peperonity.com 39%
Vietnam
In Vietnam, My Opera is still the leader, but Facebook made impressive gains in 2009.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
my.opera.com 847%
facebook.com 2,10%
hi5.com 596%
Nigeria
All of the Social networking sites listed below gained users in 2009.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
facebook.com 1,08%
myspace.com 853%
hi5.com 122%
twitter.com new
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
17
United Kingdom
While others slipped a little, Facebook maintained its dominance in 2009, and Twitter made its presence
known in a big way.
Social networking site Growth rate in 2009 (users)
facebook.com 90%
bebo.com -32%
mocospace.com -3%
peperonity.com 1%
twitter.com 595%
Methodology
To adjust for tracking inaccuracies in late 2008, the US numbers used in this month’s report are estimates
based on data points interpolated between October 2008 and January 2009 (assuming linear growth).
© Copyright 2010, Opera Software ASA, All rights Reserved.
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