How Do Top Social Networks Rank Across Continents?

I have often wondered if it's possible to actually develop more business contacts through social networks with better precision and speed than I currently do. The criteria here is - more contacts, better targeting, and faster results.

I came across this cool graphic chart on this french site which uses Datamonitor ranks for the top social networking sites across different continents. What's interesting here is NOT the rank itself , but the very important thing we normally miss while signing up with every second social network - And, that's "where do I want to develop my network?"

Even though Facebook is among the top social network, if I want to develop my business contacts/ social network in Asia - it's not the best option! In fact, Facebook is NOT even in the top 5 social networks in Asia by usage. The chart shows me that Friendster or Orkut would offer much more traffic and users in Asia. Similarly, if I'm looking at Europe or North America, my first stop must be Bebo and Myspace. That was cool to know!

See how Datamonitor ranked the social networking sites across continents:

North America:

1. Myspace
2. Facebook
3. Bebo
4. GaiaOnline
5. Nexopia
   

Latin America:

1. Orkut
2. Hi5
3. MetroFlog
4. Myspace
5. LiveSpaces
   

Asia Pacific:

1. Friendster
2. Cyworld
3. Orkut
4. Mixi
5. Myspace
   

Europe:

1. Bebo
2. Myspace
3. Skyblog
4. Facebook
5. Netlog
   

Africa:

1. Facebook
2. Hi5
3. Netlog
4. Yonja
5. Skyblog
   

Now this is the kind of information which one can use and get targeted growth in contacts at much faster rate than blindly going with the top social network. Go forth and multiply your contacts where you really want to!