Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

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July 18, 2006

Friendster still dominates in Singapore

According to the Hitwise Singapore service, Friendster is the top social networking website visited by Singapore Internet users. While the rise of MySpace has been observed in global online markets, Friendster retains its loyal following in Singapore.

Friendster ranked at the top position for social networking websites, with 56.3% market share for the week ending July 15, 2006. Friendster has held on to this top position for more than a year, although its market share at the same time last year was 70.35% for the week ending July 16, 2005.

The entrance of MySpace has had a significant impact on the Singapore market. MySpace ranked at 2nd position with 10.6% market share in social networking websites for the week ending July 15, 2006. Video sharing website, YouTube has also had a strong impact on the total share of Singaporeans' online activity, increasing its market share dramatically by 529% from the start of 2006 in all categories. YouTube accounted for 1.6% of Friendster's upstream traffic for the week ending July 15, 2006.

Hitwise Search Intelligence which reports on the search terms Singaporeans use to navigate the web across search engines, further reveals that Friendster still holds significant mind share amongst Singapore Internet users. The search term 'friendster' was the second most popular search term for all categories, following only 'yahoo', for the 24 weeks ending July 15, 2006. The term 'youtube' trailed closely at #13 position.

Friendster's new "Watch Video" feature which allows users to share media files and their recently awarded social networking technology patent will contribute towards buffering the competition posed by YouTube. As visitors to social networking websites can be fickle, demonstrated by the intense competition between MySpace and Bebo in the UK and NZ markets, Friendster will need to continue to innovate to keep its brand alive amongst its network of users.

Top 10 Social Networking Websites in Singapore, week ending July 15, 2006