In This Country, Facebook Is Not The Number One
Facebook has many users around the world and was mentioned as the number one social network site was not so popular in the following five countries. Facebook’s popularity was defeated by local products in five countries including Russia, China, Vietnam, Iran, and Latvia.
Zing me - Vietnam Social Networking Site
In Russia there are VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social network site. VKontakte (VK) is a Russian social network service popular in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Belarus. One distinction of VK is its integration with torrent filesharing technology which allows users to share larger files. While Odnoklassniki is a social network service for classmates and old friends reunion popular in Russia and other former Soviet Republics.
In China there is QZone, created by Tencent in 2005. It permits users to write blogs, keep diaries, send photos, and listen to music. Users can set their Qzone background and select accessories based on their preferences so that every Qzone is customized to the individual member’s taste. However, most Qzone services are not free; only after buying the “Canary Diamond” can users access every service without paying extra.
In Vietnam there is Zing Me. Zing with its various products and services is very much dominating the entertainment space in Vietnam. Only for movies, it is surpassed by YouTube. Zing me, the new competitor that opened in 2009, caught up quickly and has already become the second most popular social network after Facebook.
In Iran there is also social networking website which using Persian-language, it is Cloob. Its main page contains the title Iranian Virtual Society and states that all content is controlled in accordance with Iranian law, a policy intended to lower the risk of government censorship. It has an invite-only registration system.
And in Latvia there is Draugiem. Draugiem is a social networking website launched on 2004. It is currently the largest social networking website in Latvia with approx. 2.6 million registered users. Website plays important part in everyday life of internet users of Latvia and is frequently used as a tool of communication instead of e-mail.