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back to article Countries where Facebook is not, yet, king

Facebook has conquered western Europe, Australia and the US, but it is not king of the castle everywhere. A study from Pingdom looked at 130 countries to find where Facebook is not in the top five most visited websites – from sixth place downwards there is normally a sharp drop-off. Facebook is blocked in China – so that's …

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  1. Nick Kew

    From the time machine

    One direction: Look, there are still countries Second Life hasn't conquered.

    Other direction: What was that site that was all the rage around 2011? Facecall? Facetoface? No, facebook, I think. Let's see what wikipedia thinks.

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    1. Eddie Edwards
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Bad memory

      It was called Friendface.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mixi

    And mixi in Japan (people actually pay for it! and Nicovideo) nice plain websites.

    Out of the 30 or so Japanese acquaintances I have, only 2 or 3 have face book where as they all have mixi accounts and most have an ameblo or that other blog site ~~~ >.< i forget which.

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    1. wim
      Reply Icon

      mixi = free

      you don't have to pay to use mixi.

      I sure don't. Facebook on the other hand is gaining in Japan. More and more friends start using facebook alongside mixi just to make international friends. (translate this as target practice for their English)

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        true

        You don't need to pay to be able to use mixi unless you want the array of extra features, I too have a free account. Just like you can use nicovideo for free but you get bonus features for paying.

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  3. Cameron Colley

    A sad sign of the times.

    When the majority of internet users in some countries will give their information to a guy who falls them "dumb fucks" and "bitches" in order to fit into "the social norm".

    I mourn for the pathetic bunch of saps the human race has become.

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  4. Mark Broadhurst
    FAIL

    765 / 2 = ?

    "The missing pieces of the jigsaw equate to 765 million users – half of that number would give the site another 382 million members."

    Basic Maths FTW!

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    1. frank ly
      Reply Icon

      Be Reasonable Mark

      His slide rule can only give three significant figures.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Coat

        And why bother anyway.

        Or if he must, then why not carry on, and give us 1/4, 1/8th ...

        <-- mine's the one with the nit-pickers' handbook in the pocket. Please see page 43: do not waste time stating the obvious, especially when it is irrelevant, and especially especially when it is inaccurate.

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  5. Avatar of They
    Thumb Up

    title

    Look a nice little map of countries that still see sense. Good reason to emigrate there then.

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    1. turnip handler
      Reply Icon

      Possibly filter the list a little more...

      Emigrating to China or Russia probably a bit extreme to avoid facebook.

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      1. John 62
        Reply Icon

        extreme?

        I know, in Russia Facebook is 10th! How about Iran? Much more freedom there! Just don't go to the mountains with as much natural radiation as Chernobyl.

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  6. Matthew 25
    Badgers

    How I wish

    That the UK was red on this map.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Facebook? Why?

    Would someone please explain why anyone would want to use this POS?

    Answers on a postcard please.

    Seriously, there are some of us who do not and will never ever use sites like FaceBook, LinkedIn and twitter. We really do have more interesting things to do with our lives.

    So the map is wrong. Facebook has not conquered my world. Since when did it declare war on me anyway.

    Yours,

    Grump old man.

    Now for a pint of grog.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Face Book = Global Sleaze Machine.

    Once upon a time I USED to have a Face Book Account.....

    But when I saw what a totally revisionist scam their "open door" security settings were - I got REALLY angry at the imposition of such a mind fuck head game, that the managers of Face Book were imposing.....

    I am most sorely vexed and my temper waxes hot at the people who set up such a scam - and the unquestioning "sheep" who hand over all their info to such a ethically lax scumbag service.

    The UNKNOWING, in acting upon the presumption of GOOD FAITH and FAIR DEALING - meaning TRUST AND RESPECT - do not deserve to get shafted by Face Book; but they ought to grow a brain and "put 2 and 2 together" and LOOK CLOSELY at the security settings, and the sites fine print - rather than vacantly living in vacuous denial and a blinkered reality.

    But the people who do know what a "Hang your bare bum out of a tree" service Corporation Face Book provides - no sympathy for them.

    Ages Ago...

    When I CLOSED and DELETED my Face Book account - which means "erase, close, cease, extinction, snuff out etc.," they gave me a neat good bye message.....

    "If you ever want to resume using your Face Book account - just re-enter your email address and it will all come back to life".....

    That is NOT delete.

    Face Book = Totally SLEAZY management.

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    1. Knowledge
      Reply Icon
      Go

      Oh

      Geek.

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    2. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Permanent deletion is possible

      See for example:

      http://www.wikihow.com/Permanently-Delete-a-Facebook-Account

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    3. Mark 65
      Reply Icon

      @Tool of Lucifer

      The funniest bit I find is when you try explaining things to them in simple terms and they respond with.....

      "You just don't get it"

      Indeed.

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  9. Graham 15
    Stop

    My, my, Reg readers do seem to reserve an awful lot of hate for facebook

    Dear AC 13:37 and all the others bitching about the very existence of a site which they have no obligation to use:

    You seem to be under the impression that people use facebook: so they can waste the time of themselves and others; to fit in; and/or because it is interesting in and of itself. It is my sad duty to inform you that facebook allows me to:

    - keep in touch with and up to date with friends

    - easily organise social occasions, see who is going, etc

    - hear about things I am interested in, whether through friends' links of from facebook pages

    - keep (or at least see) a photographic record of things without having to source those pictures from whoever took them (yes, I know this has no guarantee of permanence and it does bother me a bit)

    - amongst other things.

    Several of these functions are not provided by services other than social networks, and social networks are the only place they are all colocated. The fact that some of these services are already available elsewhere ("why don't you just use your PHONE, idiot") is not an argument; why would I use multiple services when one site can provide them all adequately for me? The fact that these services tend to come and go in waves of popularity does not reflect on the usefulness of the predominant service at any one time, merely that if a better service comes along people tend to switch to it. Yes, privacy is an issue and facebook's attitude to it bothers me but doesn't outweigh the benefits of it for me. Yes, the account deletion option is still cumbersome but is possible now at least. Yes, sometimes the content is inane - fortunately there you can block or unfriend annoying people.

    Anything I have failed to address?

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    1. Mark 65
      Reply Icon

      @Graham 15

      "The fact that some of these services are already available elsewhere ("why don't you just use your PHONE, idiot") is not an argument; why would I use multiple services when one site can provide them all adequately for me?"

      Are we to presume therefore that you do not have a phone as you wouldn't use multiple services and only communicate through the f-word from a PC/Laptop/etc? No need to respond - I'm being facetious.

      "Yes, privacy is an issue and facebook's attitude to it bothers me but doesn't outweigh the benefits of it for me."

      Trouble is that when it does outweigh it it'll be too late to do anything about it. Account deletion becomes irrelevant if the troublesome private bits are cached/stored all around the web by then.

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      1. Graham 15
        Reply Icon

        @Mark 65

        Facetious or not, I'm going to respond anyway: You're right - of course I have and use a phone, and it was a poor example for that point. That question originally referred to a list of other services I don't use, which I later cut from the comment. For example, I don't use flickr for photos, and frequently use facebook chat, messages or wall posts when the same thing could have been achieved with a text or email - facebook is just less effort than either.

        Privacy concerns are a perfectly legitimate reason not to use facebook - and the possibility remains that at some point in the future I will come to regret giving Zuckerberg such information as I have, but for the moment my position hasn't changed. Perhaps I'm just naive.

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    2. Cameron Colley
      Reply Icon

      Well, Graham,

      congratulations on being a dumb fuck* who decided that being a content creator and promoter, as well as giving some personal details, in return for a little convenience.

      The problem here is that bitches* like you have decided your personal information isn't that important -- so the rest of us are expected to join in, or are treated like we're strange because we don't want to help Mr Zuckerberg make his billions.

      *not my words, the words of the guy whose site you're working on.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    My case is worse...

    Some dumb 15 year-old punt * accidentally* used my yahoo mail, which resembles too closely to his own yahoo-mail to open a facebook account.

    Guess what. Can you tell the diference between a legitimate mistake and some dork stealing your ID to misbehave inside Facebook? Neither do I.

    So, I changed the password, removed his friends, deleted everything, removed HIS e-mail from the contact list reply and commanded Farcebook to shut down that account. It told me it would be get ridden of in 15 days. 15 days later, the dumbass kid managed to open a facebook AGAIN, and made the same mistake AGAIN, so I am receiving his facebook warnings. All again.

    Some sort of reverse privacy you do not want, too much liability.

    So, I'm stuck receiving friend invites from some 15 year-old with dubious sexual preferences. Go figure. I'm actually sorry for this kid lack of brains. Or attempt to steal any info.

    I guess I will erase the yahoo mail instead. Such FAIL.

    ANONYMOUS for obvious reasons.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Make a controversial Statement

      He'll soon learn if you post a *convincing* admission to something

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        re: Make a controversial Statement

        I could... but no.

        Google philosophy applies. Besides, to a kid that likes Justin Bieber, twilight, and girly stuff, nothing would sound controversial enough. I had a hard time just deleting the stuff. Yyisshh..

        Not a single redeeming picture or link like "How to disassemble a V8 and put it back on" or "Hey man, Iron Maiden is up next month" to a save throw.

        Which btw, Iron Maiden will be around here in near future. You gotta respect a man that can fly his own 757. And has a Sherman tank.

        That's enough reason for me to ditch Farcebook.

        Pub o'clock I'm outta here.

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    2. TakeTheSkyRoad
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      You missed something

      You can actually change the email address the account is tied to.

      Also something a little more constructive like posting on their wall letting them know of the problem MIGHT have a happier ending for both of you.

      The fail is yours sir...

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        re: You missed something

        1- "You can actually change the email address the account is tied to."

        Which I did the 2nd time around. and I removed my mail from his Farcebook. And asked Farcebook to mail him a pw change request, thus cutting myself out of the loop.

        2- "Also something a little more constructive like posting on their wall letting them know of the problem MIGHT have a happier ending for both of you"

        Hmmm, no. If you try to create a Farcebook with ANY e-mail that you know of, it will succeed. They have no other method of authenticity. He just happened to have more than one email attached to his Fbook, which btw was mine, and it gave me full access over it.

        You control the means to your privacy. If you misspell your e-mail, you are stuffed when the misspelled e-mail belongs to someone.

        Pretty much like this kid having bought a motorcycle and mailed me a copy of its keys with the address stamped on it. If it is stolen, I'm in for the jump too, so I returned it and got rid of it.

        I let the kid know of his f*up, because, after all, both our emails were there, he already had that information about me. Then I deleted my yahoo mail, and now he doesn't.

        Sad episode, really.

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  11. James 5
    Thumb Down

    Cherry picking ....?

    "The human race has susceptibility to harm but Mr. Zuckerberg has attained an unenviable record: he has done more harm to the human race than anybody else his age." - Eben Moglen - reported in El Reg yesterday.

    From the Scotsman (17 Feb)

    "Research by psychologists at Edinburgh Napier University found interacting with people on the social network site (Facebook) is a major source of stress.

    Despite being intended as a tool to help people stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues, the psychologists concluded that, for a significant number of the site's more than 500 million users worldwide, the negative effects of Facebook outweighed the benefits.

    It found those who used the site the most were those most likely to suffer from Facebook-related anxiety."

    So, in fact, those countries where it is NOT used are showing a degree of common sense.

    And now I see the smiling, toadying little gremlin Zuckerberg is sucking up to Obama - any remaining respect I had for Mr Obama has just gone out the window.

    Now where's the Mark Zuckerberg delete button ...?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      OH NOES - FACEBOOK CAUSES CANCER!!1!11

      Get a fucking grip.

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    2. John 62
      Reply Icon
      Megaphone

      facebook stress?

      or you could just moderate your usage. I used to feel under pressure to use FB instant messenger. Then I turned it off. Much better. But then I don't like instant messenger tools in general. I don't play Mafiawars or Farmville (or use any apps) and I get a perverse pleasure from clicking the block button if updates from any of my friends come up (over 200 apps blocked now!).

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  12. Tron Silver badge

    U mad?

    I use FB. I block the crap and the apps and turn the privacy settings up to full. It's useful and keeps me in touch with friends. The messaging tends to be more reliable than e-mail. I get no spam from it and post nothing on it that may cause any issues for me if it escaped on to the net, because I'm not an idiot. I don't trust FB because no sane person trusts a large corporate. I don't rely on it, because no tech can be relied upon.

    If you don't like it, don't use it. How hard is that?

    If FB causes you stress then either you aren't doing it right or you need to spend some time in anger management, because it's just a website.

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  13. zen1
    Pirate

    While I loathe facebook

    If it weren't for the rampant stupidity, sites like failbook wouldn't have ALL the evidence that's needed to prevent the truly clueless from being exposed.

    Armed with that information, I would like to make a couple of suggestions:

    1) Being given a finite number of "fails" before an idividual MUST be licensed to go near a computer.

    2) Seriously consider using this evidence to to ascertain whether or not the induhvidual should be allowed to breed.

    Let's face it, secondary sites that point out the general cluelessness of the average FB user are a great resource for the statistics to help humanity clean up the gene pool.

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    1. Sil_W
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      @ zen1

      Ability to use and/or understand Facebook as a determining factor in eugenics? That's some impressive disproportionality, there.

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  14. Danny 2

    Being able to keep in touch my friends

    I have the telephone. My friends know how to use it, pseudo friends don't know my number, and it doesn't rate me in some sort of fake popularity contest like some needy wannabe. The fact most people are so moronic that an asshole like Zuckerberg is Times 'Man of the Year' only illustrates that most people are so brainwashed that Simon Cowell would be rated higher than Alexander Graham Bell in any current poll. It is especially sad to see any support for ShameBook on El Reg. Yeuch!

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  15. Mos Eisley Spaceport
    WTF?

    Facebook?

    What is this Facebook thing and how does one catch it?

    Concerned, of Internet-Land

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  16. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    ahh

    Ah generic nerd rage, about the evils of something, largely trying to cover their shame that no one would be their friends on Facebook.

    "Oh, the gene pool would be better of if we got rid of these Facebook users". Flipping Moron.

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