Facebook vs Orkut. Which one of these do you have an account in? Chances are, both. Orkut was an early entrant into the Indian Social Networking Scenario. Facebook, which arrived much later, however seems to grabbed quite some attention. Though both were launched at the same time, Facebook was initially not very popular in India.

Facebook has already generated waves across the world by becoming the No. 1 Social Networking site in the USA overtaking one-time market leader, Myspace and becoming THE most popular site in Indonesia

Well, just to go over the Orkut and the Facebook battle for the grater number of users in india, Orkut still leads. Orkut leads with 13 million users, while Facebook has just 3.2 million users in India. Moreover, the traffic ranks of these social networking sites also reflect the dominance of Orkut over Facebook in India. Orkut has a traffic rank of 4 whereas Facebook has come up to the 8th spot in the overall Alexa traffic rank for India.

So, as per Alexa rankings, it’s clearly visible that Orkut is more prominent than Facebook in India.But the question is, for how long?

Facebook has been growing slowly in India but for the past 3 months since its growth began accelerating rapidly. Its popularity started increasing somewhere near the start of this year and since then the growth has been very productive for Facebook. The result being, the number of users joining Facebook almost doubled in the month of May and June. While Facebook has been growing slowly and steadily in India for the last couple of years, Facebook exploded in May and June, doubling from 1.6 million to 3.2 million monthly active users in the country in the last 60 days.
days.

Orkut has been trying to capitalise on its already large audience base in India, but Facebook is trying its best to woo audiences over. So, Facebook is definitely gaining momentum in the social networking race, with frequent improvements and increased customisation. But will it surpass Orkut in the race for the best social networking site in India ?

America On Line (AOL) is set to launch Bebo – the social networking site it acquired a year ago - in India’s already crowded social media space dominated by Orkut and Facebok amongst others, with a focus on openness and the ability to share content from across networking sites.

It must also face domestically strong sites like Desimartini.com, part of the Hindustan Times Group, and Bigadda, part of the Reliance ADAG tribe.

AOL’s Bebo also has a tie-up with Real Entertainment, which launched the TV channel Real this month.

According to industry researcher comScore, Orkut topped the list of most popular social networking site in India at the end of December 2008 with about 12.8 million visitors, followed by Facebook with close to 4 million visitors.

“Our experience in the market combined with the market potential and increased broadband and mobile connectivity, will allow us to reach Indian users,” Nicole Vanderbilt, vice president International, Bebo told Hindustan Times.

In an advertising campaign that borrows from the low-cost philosophy of the product being advertised, Tata Motors Ltd has used a digital marketing campaign to rustle up interest for the Nano, the ultra inexpensive car.
And so, after spending Rs24 lakh, which can buy someone a little less than three-quarters an entry-level Mercedes, India’s biggest auto maker by revenue has been deluged by enquiries by the thousands from far and wide.
Online drive: The Tata Nano. Ramesh Pathania / Mint
Online drive: The Tata Nano. Ramesh Pathania / Mint
Through an eponymous portal, www.tatanano.com, which has been up since January last year, Tata Motors has been spreading the message of the Nano, and extended this to online, high-traffic properties such as Facebook and Orkut.
To be sure, this is not the first time that an Indian firm has used online techniques to market wares and ideas. Indeed, the likes of Microsoft India Pvt. Ltd, organizers of the Indian Premier League cricket tourney and, even, political parties such as the Congress party have done so, some beginning as early as 2006. And, even auto makers such as General Motors India Ltd (GM) or Yamaha Motors Ltd took to social networking in their marketing overdrive.
But the scale and scope of expectations worldwide is different this time. At the Nano page on Facebook, the response is gushy, almost. And so you have Darlene who says: “Please bring this car to Toronto, Canada!!!”
Also Read Tata’s JLR to scout Indian companies for sourcing components
Then, there is some gratuitous advice for the future in case the Tata company planned a manufacturing beachhead in Americas. “You guys should make the Nano in Colombia since it would be a good place to produce them; we are in the middle of the American continent so it can be easily transported anywhere from Canada to Argentina at a lower cost; we have ports in the two oceans and many international cargo airports; we also happen to already have auto maker plants in Colombia too,” says Luis.
Tata Motors, in reply, said it had no immediate plans to export or manufacture Nano— described by The New York Times last year as a product of “Gandhian engineering”—in overseas markets.
On its own website, Tata’s marketers also discuss sales strategies for what the firm bills the people’s car. “Conventional automobile wisdom says that if a car dealer is any way required to complete the transaction, a Web-based option is a mere information window. It can never really be an alternative to a ‘brick-and-mortar’ dealer,” writes Subodh Marathe, head (marketing services) at Tata Motors.
“But in this age of e-commerce where you can even buy a house online, selling a car online cannot be ruled out. The option of online car sales is certainly worth exploring,” Marathe concludes on a blog with a thread focused on online sales of the car with some 70 comments.
Tata Motors’ sales push on social networking sites makes for smart marketing even with India’s low levels of Internet penetration, says Sandeep Singh, business director at Quasar Media Pvt. Ltd, given that half of India’s online population of some 50 million users are touched by social media platforms.
Demographic overlaps make it even more compelling, another expert says. “The average age profile of a car buyer (between 25 and 46) matches with the members logging in to the social networking sites. It hence becomes an appropriate medium for car manufacturer to build brand,” says Pankaj Patel, chief executive of car portal Carazoo.com. If the campaign is successful, Tata Motors stands to benefit from a “strong word of mouth” that swings car buying decisions, he adds.
Such buzz on social media could help Tata Motors save money in the otherwise cash-strapped times. “Tata Nano is relying on social media heavily which is why their digital advertising budget will not run into crores,” says Sidharth Rao, founder and chief executive, Webchutney Studio Pvt. Ltd, the agency handling Tata Nano’s online account.
A Tata Motors spokesman declined specific comment on the firm’s exact targets through the online push. “As a company it only makes sense to have the communities’ link on our website.” At www.tatanano.com, the company is running a contest where visitors are asked to guess the price of different Nano models. The prize: an invite to the Nano launch function on Monday.
Between now and then, Quasar’s Singh says that the company would do well to monitor its online presence. “Social networking sites are sort of word-of-mouth advertising and like messages can be misconstrued—so can online activities. You have to monitor it well otherwise it could lead to a vicious circle of negative perception especially for brands that are yet-to-be launched.”
“Information on prices and features of the product if miscommunicated could kill the product itself.”

Orkut - the social network everyone appears to have forgotten about - is now compatible with S60 devices. Google has been tinkering behind the scenes and the new mobile version is now optimised for S60 phones - maybe it’s enough to draw some users back.

Facebook may be stomping all over MySpace, but Orkut is still holding its own in Brazil, where it’s the most visited website and it holds the number two spot in India. It's a good thing for India.

The mobile version at http://m.orkut.com has been out since April, but it’s now been specifically tweaked for S60 handsets. Google has also thrown in a range of new features such as photo uploads, picture galleries, click-to-call and quick friend searches too, so you can now make the most of that all-you-can-eat data plan.

It competes pretty much head on with Facebook mobile at http://m.facebook.com and MySpace mobile at http://m.myspace.com/. Is it enough to claw back some ground or has Google missed the boat on this one?