Social networks and the language/cultural barrier

Matthijs van den Broek pointed me to a press release by Comscore about the usage of Social networks in Germany and France (German Social Networking Community Reaches 14.8Mln). MySpace seems to be a clear winner here, and Facebook only reaches a 4th place. There is a good post by Nicole Simon which provides doubts about the comscore figures as they do not seem to cross check with local measurement.

One thing that I noted in the comscore analysis was their explanation why MySpace did a good job. It was due to their local presence and ability to present local pages in the local language. It supports the theory that culture and language are strong factors to be dealt with in marketing and advertisement. To me it also supports my personal beliefs that in the end not the number of friends in a social network is important, but the quality of the interactions you get out of it. See my earlier posts on this topic (Internet doesn’t evolve around you). I am convinced that in the end a social network that supports my interactions with my true friends will be more valuable than one in which I get interaction with someone across the globe that I don’t really know. Discovering new people is fun, intensifying the relations with my best friends is even better. If you’re not convinced, look at the video of a Facebook and MySpace user that is getting a little fed up with all the unwanted interactions here! Lots more of them to be found at YouTube. Maybe, this factor will in the end make Social Networks that have a strong local presence more successful. What’s your opinion on this?