{"id":6159,"date":"2009-02-18T21:22:29","date_gmt":"2009-02-18T15:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=6159"},"modified":"2026-10-12T13:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:05:05","slug":"top-social-networking-sites-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Social Networking Sites in India (2026 Update)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Which are the top social networking sites in India? In 2009 the answer surprised many: it wasn&#8217;t Facebook, it was Orkut. Comscore data we covered then showed Orkut with 12.8 million Indian visitors, three times Facebook. Today the picture is completely different. Here&#8217;s the updated list of the <strong>top social networking sites in India<\/strong> in 2026, with the latest numbers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-64496\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/top-social-networking-sites-india-2026-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"Top social networking sites in India 2026\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/top-social-networking-sites-india-2026-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/top-social-networking-sites-india-2026-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/top-social-networking-sites-india-2026-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/top-social-networking-sites-india-2026-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/top-social-networking-sites-india-2026.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> The top social networking sites in India are YouTube (about 500 million ad reach), Instagram (481 million), Facebook (403 million), Snapchat (213 million) and LinkedIn (170 million members), according to DataReportal&#8217;s Digital 2026 India report. WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app. Orkut, the 2009 leader, shut down in 2014.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_88 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6accc8d3c60a8\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6accc8d3c60a8\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#Top_social_networking_sites_in_India_2026\" >Top social networking sites in India (2026)<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#Messaging_and_Indian_apps\" >Messaging and Indian apps<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#Then_vs_now_Indias_social_networks_in_2009\" >Then vs now: India&#8217;s social networks in 2009<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#Which_platform_should_you_use\" >Which platform should you use?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#Which_is_the_most_used_social_media_in_India\" >Which is the most used social media in India?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#How_many_social_media_users_are_there_in_India\" >How many social media users are there in India?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/02\/top-social-networking-sites-india\/#Is_Orkut_still_available_in_India\" >Is Orkut still available in India?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Top_social_networking_sites_in_India_2026\"><\/span>Top social networking sites in India (2026)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Figures are advertising reach estimates from late 2025, as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/datareportal.com\/reports\/digital-2026-india\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DataReportal<\/a>. They aren&#8217;t the same as monthly active users and may include duplicate accounts.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>YouTube<\/strong> &#8211; about 500 million. India is one of YouTube&#8217;s biggest audiences, from music and cricket to tutorials and Shorts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Instagram<\/strong> &#8211; about 481 million. Reels made it hugely popular, especially after TikTok was banned in India in 2020.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Facebook<\/strong> &#8211; about 403 million. Still big for groups, Marketplace and news, though younger users prefer Instagram.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Snapchat<\/strong> &#8211; about 213 million, popular with teens and young adults.<\/li>\n<li><strong>LinkedIn<\/strong> &#8211; about 170 million registered members, the top professional network in India.<\/li>\n<li><strong>X (Twitter)<\/strong> &#8211; about 22 million, smaller but influential for news, politics and cricket.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Overall, DataReportal counts about 500 million social media user identities in India, around 34% of the population, so there&#8217;s still a lot of room to grow.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Messaging_and_Indian_apps\"><\/span>Messaging and Indian apps<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>WhatsApp is India&#8217;s most widely used messaging app, and Telegram is popular for channels and groups. Indian apps like ShareChat and Moj serve users in regional languages, while Koo, the Indian Twitter alternative, shut down in 2024.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Then_vs_now_Indias_social_networks_in_2009\"><\/span>Then vs now: India&#8217;s social networks in 2009<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In December 2008 Comscore ranked Orkut first in India with 12.8 million visitors, followed by Facebook (4 million), Bharatstudent (3.3 million) and hi5 (2 million). Ibibo, MySpace, LinkedIn, PerfSpot, BigAdda and Fropper rounded out the list. Earlier, we had covered a report suggesting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/08\/linkedin-networks-india\/\">LinkedIn might be the most popular network in India<\/a>, but QOT readers Quakeboy and Rajesh pointed out in the comments that Orkut was the real leader.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Orkut<\/strong> &#8211; closed by Google in 2014.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Facebook<\/strong> &#8211; grew from 4 million to hundreds of millions of Indian users.<\/li>\n<li><strong>hi5, MySpace, BigAdda, Fropper, PerfSpot<\/strong> &#8211; faded away or shut down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>LinkedIn<\/strong> &#8211; the only other network from the 2009 list still growing strongly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Which_platform_should_you_use\"><\/span>Which platform should you use?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Reaching the widest audience: YouTube and Instagram.<\/li>\n<li>Local communities and buying\/selling: Facebook groups and Marketplace.<\/li>\n<li>Careers and B2B: LinkedIn.<\/li>\n<li>Regional-language audiences: ShareChat and Moj.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Which_is_the_most_used_social_media_in_India\"><\/span>Which is the most used social media in India?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>YouTube has the largest reach, followed closely by Instagram, then Facebook.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_many_social_media_users_are_there_in_India\"><\/span>How many social media users are there in India?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>About 500 million social media user identities as of late 2025, according to DataReportal.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Orkut_still_available_in_India\"><\/span>Is Orkut still available in India?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No. Google shut down Orkut in 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which are the top social networking sites in India? In 2009 the answer surprised many: it wasn&#8217;t Facebook, it was&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,111],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-6159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","category-social-media","tag-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64497,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6159\/revisions\/64497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}