Here’s some interesting data on search trends for blogging platforms in India using Google Insights for Search data for 2008.
Apart from the three main blogging platforms Blogger/ Blogspot, WordPress and LiveJournal, I have also looked at social networking sites Ibibo and BigAdda that are promoting themselves as blogging platforms.
The data from 2004 to 2008 shows that the top three blogging platforms have shown consistent growth: Blogspot since 2004, WordPress since 2005 and Ibibo since 2006, even as Both BigAdda and LiveJournal have failed to grow. So, Sampad‘s assertion that blogging is on a decline in India isn’t really substantiated.
In the last twelve months, Blogger and WordPress have shown slow but consistent growth, LiveJournal has stayed stagnant, while the search traffic for Ibibo and BigAdda has fluctuated significantly, probably based on whether these platforms were running big ad campaigns at the time.
In terms of relative search rankings, Blogspot is at #1, Ibibo and WordPress are close together at #2 and #3, BigAdda is #4 and LiveJournal is a distant #5.
This data is inconsistent with the Alexa traffic data for India which ranks Blogger/ Blogspot at #7, WordPress at #16, Ibibo at #58, BigAdda at #274 and LiveJournal at #282.
It seems that WordPress/ Blogger users either don’t search for these websites (which is reasonable) or they are more likely to install the Alexa toolbar (which is also likely).
In terms of statewise interest, Blogspot and Ibibo have penetrated almost the entire country, although interest for Blogspot is stronger in the more prosperous Western and Southern states. WordPress is still to break through into the Hindi heartland of India. BigAdda has interest only in NCR, apart from the Western and Southern States. Interest in LiveJournal is limited to NCR and Maharashtra.
Also see my analysis of search trends for group SMS and microblogging services and social networking sites in India using Google Insights for Search data.
