Social Networking Explodes Worldwide However, the phenomenon is still growing rapidly in other regions around the world – especially as the established American brands turn their focus to developing markets. ” During the past year, many of the top social networking sites have demonstrated rapid growth in their global user bases. Facebook. com, which took over the global leader among social networking sites in April 2008, has made a concerted effort to become more culturally relevant in markets outside the U. S.Its introduction of natural language interfaces in several markets has helped propel the site to 153-percent growth during the past year. Meanwhile, the emphasis Hi5. Facebook’s recent ascension to become the top global social networking site has been spurred by its substantial growth across worldwide regions. Though its largest visitor base is still in North America (49 million), Facebook’s growth in the region is a relatively modest 38-percent. In every other worldwide region, Facebook’s audience has more than quadrupled. Europe is quickly catching up with North America as Facebook’s largest visitor base with 35 million visitors in June, a 303percent increase, and net addition of nearly 27 million monthly visitors versus a year ago. Other worldwide regions have seen even more dramatic growth on a percentage basis. By increasing the site’s relevance to local markets through local language interface translation, the site is now competing strongly or even capturing the lead in several markets where it had a relatively minor presence just a year ago.