In Google Trends, tool which compares search volume for given queries, you can see that Facebook has now caught Odnoklassniki by Google search queries numbers in Kazakhstan.
As you can see on the graph Odnoklassniki queries emerged in the country in November 2007 since then it boomed until middle 2008. Facebook raised in October 2008 and started to catch up with Russian social network in September 2009.
Link:
Google Trends - Facebook vs Odnoklassniki in KazakhstanTop cities in Kazakhstan where Odnoklassniki is more popular:
1. Kustanay*
2. Koshetau*
3. Karaganda*
4. Pavlodar*
5. Astana
6. Chimkent*
7. Almaty*
8. Atyrau
* - more queries than Facebook
Top languages for Odnoklassniki queries:
1. Russian
2. Kazakh
3. English
Top cities in Kazakhstan where Facebook is more popular:
1. Atyrau*
2. Astana*
3. Chimkent
4. Almaty
* - more queries than Odnoklassniki
Top languages for Facebook queries:
1. Turkish
2. Italian
3. English
4. Kazakh
5. Russian
From language data possible guess could be that Turkish expats are ones of the heaviest Facebook users in Kazakhstan. What is your opinion on that? Why do you think Italian is also so high? Please add your comments below.
What about other Central Asian countries? Unfortunately there is not enough search volume for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. There is some data for 2009 for Uzbekistan though. Odnoklassniki seem to dominate for now.
Link:
Google Trends - Facebook vs Odnoklassniki in UzbekistanAt a glance:
Odnoklassniki
Launched: 2006/03
Registered users: 30'000'000 (2009/02)
http://blog.quintura.com/2009/02/26/odnoklassnikiru-hits-30-million-registered-users/?owa_from=feed&owa_sid=
Facebook
Launched: 2004/02/04
Registered users: 100'000'000 (2008/08)
Active users: 150'000'000 (2009/01)
