Argentina Ranks First in Worldwide Desktop Social Networking Engagement at Nearly 10 Hours per Visitor Each Month

Analysis of Social Networking in Latin America Shows LinkedIn Grabbing #2 Position with35 Million Monthly Visitors

Santiago, Chile, December 20, 2012 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an analysis of social networking activity in Latin America, which found that Argentina and Brazil led as the most engaged social networking markets worldwide with visitors spending an average of near 10 hours on social networking sites in November 2012. The study also found that LinkedIn, which has grown strongly in the past year due to both organic growth and the acquisition of Slideshare.net, is now the second most visited social network in Latin America.

“The social networking landscape continues to evolve in Latin America, and while Facebook remains the strong leader in the market there are several other noteworthy players,” said Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president of Latin America. “Because Latin Americans tend to be very social in nature and active with digital communication, it is perhaps no surprise that we spend significantly more time on social networking sites than average. This high level of engagement means that there is room for many companies to succeed in the market.”

Latin America Spends 56 Percent More Time on Social Networking Sites than Worldwide Average

The analysis revealed that 5 of the top 10 most highly engaged social networking markets worldwide are located in Latin America and that Latin Americans spend 56 percent more time on these sites (8.1 hours per visitor in November) than the worldwide average (5.2 hours per visitor). Argentina led all countries with an average of 9.8 hours on social networking sites in November, while Brazil ranked second at 9.7 hours. Peru (7.9 hours), Chile (7.7 hours) and Mexico (7.5 hours) also ranked within the top ten markets.

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Emerging Social Networks Shake Up Landscape in Latin America

Facebook.com continues to reign as the leading social network in Latin America by a wide margin with 115.5 million visitors in November, but other players in the sector have also begun climbing in the rankings. With help from its May acquisition of Slideshare, LinkedIn.com has now assumed the #2 position in the market with 35.3 million visitors, displacing Twitter.com into the #3 spot with 24.1 million visitors. The ask-and-answer social network Ask.fm also made a splash in the past year with a growth rate of more than 5,000 percent to secure the #5 spot with 12.9 million visitors, while Tumblr.com has grown 86 percent to nearly 11 million visitors. Pinterest.com is also among the top-gaining social networking sites with a year-over-year growth rate of more than 2,500 percent to 2 million visitors in November.

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
**Includes Slideshare.net in November 2012 data, but not in November 2011.

*Source: comScore