August 25, 2009: Google India today announced its first ever Orkut Zeitgeist in India. Zeitgeist means the “spirit of the times”. Social networking sites being the single largest generators of Indian web traffic are the best place to check out what India’s youth are up to online…and turns out they are all on Orkut! People are using Orkut like never before: to forge bonds, to express themselves, to come together around causes and topics that excite them or simply to share their creative pursuits with a wider audience. The wandering mind knows no bounds!
Are you a fan of cricket? Rajnikanth? Vada Pav? Tom and Jerry? Do you fanatically follow the stock market updates? Do you obsessively miss your home-town? Whatever your passion, there’s probably a community around it on Orkut. A community is the ultimate hangout for those on Orkut with a specific interest. People meet, discuss, share and learn from others on these communities. And these communities are what we looked at to compile the Orkut Zeitgeist. We looked at millions of communities and usage trends to finally arrive at the ten most popular communities. The trends are based on an anonymised and aggregated study of the behaviour of Indian users over the past seven days. The analysis was repeated over several seven day periods, to confirm the accuracy of results and to rule out episodic variations. We scoured through lists on a national level and then dug deeper into city trends. The results are fascinating!
“Orkut is the number one web property in India with over 17 million* active users that comprise 48% of India’s online population. Therefore it is no surprise when everyone refers to orkut to comprehend the dominant trends in the Indian way of life. While different people find different things to do on the web, the list of the top Orkut communities (based on popularity) is the best representation of the unique ways in which Indian users are mining the Internet and social networks.” said Rahul Kulkarni, Product Manager, Google India.
While young India remains patriotic, being ‘stylish’ is a growing priority too! ‘Chocolate’ is still the first crave and ‘MTV’ the youngistan’s loved space. The stock market is growing in appeal for the young traders while football catches up with cricket. And while Bollywood seems to be losing to Tollywood. Discrimination is increasingly a thing of the past between men and women as both groups actively engage in discussions. Everyone loves to ‘chat’ but ‘photo’ sharing and comments are the new fad. At a city level, the love for the land rules with the exception of Bangalore which has emerged as the new ‘True blue’ Metropolis in India. Delhi tops the list as the style capital while Hyderabad proclaims great love for their hero Pawan Kalyan with zeal. More interesting trivia is given below:
Orkut Zeitgeist Results
Top National Communities List:
“StYlIsH PeOpLe”
“India”
“Chocolate”
“MTV & still more MTV!”
“TCS 2009 Batch……….!!!!!!”
“Tom and Jerry – Cartoon”
“Boys VS Girls (Who Is d Best?)”
“India Stock Market (BSE NSE)”
“Tamil Cinema”
“I hate to wake up early”
“Friends”"
Inferences:
Indian alarms snooze the maximum
Tom congratulates Jerry as they still manage to tickle the young
Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the most stylish of the lot
Battle of the sexes continue even as none win
A peep into regional trends:
India is a vast nation and trends vary from city to city. Given below are highlights of the top-most communities in various cities across India
Delhi
“Stylish People” – The fashion hub of the country also boasts of style online
“Chocolate” – The national capital is also the sweet centre of India
Mumbai
Only “Marathi girls rock” for Mumbai
“India” and “Marathi” – Mumbai defines the spirit of unity in diversity
Bangalore
“India” “vokkaliga gowdas” and “Naruto” are amongst the top three
With Bengalis, Malayalees, and Kanndaigas, Tamilians- Bangalore is the ‘true blue metropolis’- atleast online
Pune
“Muktapeeth” – Responsibility drives the Pune youth, citizen journalism comes calling
“Marathi girls rock” – Marathi girls find fan following yet again
Hyderabad
“Powerstar Pawan Kalyan” and “Telugu Movie World” – Its Tollywood all the way for Hyderabad
Kolkata
“Proud to be Bengali” and “Orkut’s Most Koolest Bengalis” – Ami Bengal ke bhalo bhaasi, Kolkata defines the love for Bengal
Chandigarh
With “StYlIsH PeOpLe”and “MTV & still more MTV!” – Fashion ka hai yeh jalwa
“Chandigarh Geri Route Sec 11″- the world revolves around this hang-out!
Here are some more trends:
Beyond communities we looked at aggregated usage pattern:
Photo uploads are the new ‘scraps’: while millions of scraps are exchanged everyday, photo uploads have increased many fold
Rahul and Neha are the most popular names on orkut
Women and Men meet half way for ‘chats’. Women care more for Horoscopes
Marketers are using a combination of communities, ads and apps to keep their audiences engaged. Film “Love Aajkal” drives over 200 communities and 100000 users
Orkut is accessed from everywhere: more and more users logging from their mobiles
Source: Company Release
