BANGALORE, INDIA: Though 70 by means of cent of social media users in India identify Orkut as their preferred conversable media site, Facebook is gaining market share with 50 per cent of companionable media users claiming to use Facebook most often, compared to 38 for cent for Orkut, market researcher Nielsen’s inaugural Asia Pacific Social Media Report said.

Facebook is also planning to strengthen its India operations by initiatory a centre in Hyderabad. 

The report, released today, also said that Twitter has enjoyed exponential bourgeoning in popularity in India, with more than half of Twitter users (57 for cent) having signed up in the past year. Close to undivided third of India’s social media users (32 per cent) use microblogging sites such as Twitter at least once a day, the inspection said.

The most common reasons for switching social networking sites contain friends moving sites, preferring the look and feel of the situation, and offering more features.

However, social media usage has seen exceptional growth in Asia Pacific in the past year and is since one of the most critical trends in the online sector, the Nielsen ~ing report said.

“Social media is having a larger and larger predominance on purchasing decisions,” according to Charles Buchwalter, chairman and chief executory of Nielsen Online Japan. “Everyone understands that social media is burning, it’s growing quickly and in very unpredictable ways everywhere in the terraqueous globe,” he said.

Nielson also said online product reviews are increasing their ascendency on purchases in India, particularly for consumer electronics. 55 per cent of Indians that know fully online product reviews have purchased products based on feedback. Consumer durables/electronics are the chiefly common products purchased based on reviews, with 64 per cent of purchases.  

“The findings we’ve uncovered in this social media report highlight, beyond a symbolize of a doubt, that social media is here to stay and of necessity to be taken seriously by the broader business community, from the CMO to the CEO,” siad Megan Clarken, prudent director of Nielsen’s online business in Asia Pacific.

“With three entertainment of the global Internet population now participating in some form of civic media, businesses can no longer afford to simply observe the familiar media phenomenon, they need to embrace it.”

Nielsen’s social media discharge also said that three of the seven biggest global online brands are sociable media sites – Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube. Close to three quarters of the cosmos’s Internet population (74 per cent) have now visited a familiar networking/blogging site, and Internet users are spending an average of well-nigh six hours per month on social media sites.

It also uttered Japan Internet users are the most avid bloggers globally, posting immersing one million blogs per month, significantly more than any other rough.

Also, Japan’s adoption of Twitter continues to grow, with unique critic numbers having increased from less than 200,000 to more than 10 very great number in the year to April 2010. Sixteen percent of Japanese Internet users after this use Twitter, which compares to 10 per cent in the US.