The Top 10 Global Social Networking Sites

Ok you probably can guess who the top dog is currently, but with Google+ soon to come, let’s look at who Google has to beat to get to the top of the tree.

1. Facebook – 750m users

By far the biggest social network in the western world, Facebook is set to go public next year with a reported value of $100 billion.

2. Qzone – 480m users
This social network allows users to keep a diary, share photos and listen to music, but many parts of the site charge a fee. It is primarily used in China and is growing rapidly.

3. Twitter – 200m users
While some social networks offer a host of services, Twitter is pared down to short, 140-character messages which can include links to content elsewhere online. It has attracted a host of celebrity users and it has been suggested the site could be worth $10 billion.

4. Renren – 160m users
Sometimes called “the Facebook of China”, Renren is very popular with students. Some 32,000 universities, 56,000 high schools and 85,000 companies are listed on the site.

5. VKontakte – 135m users
As with Renren, VKontakte offers similar functions to Facebook, but is mostly used by Russian internet users.

6. Badoo – 124m users
A truly global operation, the site is managed and run from London, owned by a Cypriot company – itself owned by a Russian entrepreneur – and most of its users are based in Latin America, Spain, Italy and France.

7. Bebo – 117m users
Bought by AOL for $850m, Bebo was sold to Criterion Capital Partners last year for less than $10m and relaunched in February with a new design.

8. LinkedIn – 115m users
The business-based social network was floated on the US stock market in April, when its share price doubled in the first day.

9. Orkut – 100m users
Another Google-owned site, Orkut is very popular in India and Brazil, but has failed to make much impact elsewhere.

10. MySpace – 50m users
News Coropration’s MySpace once dominated the social networking market, but declined steadily from 2008, and was sold to advertising agency Specific Media and Justin Timberlake for $35 million in June.