Baidu News & Articles

China is the one place where Google doesn't necessarily dominate in terms of search and mobile. But with Android espousing an open platform, companies like Dell and Baidu have developed their own derivative operating system meant for the Chinese market. Will the country's 1 billion users be a reason for other platform owners to worry?

China is known for its tight security when it comes to online services and content. Dubbed the "Great Firewall of China," the country's data filters prevent access to any domain or service deemed to potentially contain illegal or subversive content. Computer scientists have, however, found a way to get past China's data filters by embedding censored data within approved traffic.

Search is big business in China, with a 470 million-strong Internet userbase. While Google has shied away from servicing China due to strict censoring laws, Microsoft (news, site) has found a partner in the country's biggest search company, Baidu (news, site).

Baidu (news, site) has the biggest search market share in China. With Baidu currently working out a strategic search partnership with Microsoft, the company is reportedly challenging Google's search dominance elsewhere.

Social Media moves so fast, it’s hard to keep up. Here’s the week’s top stories, in scan-friendly format.

This week:

• Orkut is India’s Most Popular Social Network -- comScore
• Yammer Launches Downloadable Version
• Facebook Climbs Down in TOS Row
• One in Ten Internet Users now on Twitter
• Twitter launches Integrated Search and Trends
• Baidu Bearish on Revenues

Orkut is India’s Most Popular Social Network -- comScore

If we think of social network start-ups as social experiments, and why wouldn’t we, then if Facebook is Athenian democracy (admittedly a stretch), and if MySpace is the Enlightenment (stretchier yet), then we might liken Google Orkut to Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

By which we mean that we’ve always thought of it as a bloody and gruesome Social disaster, just in case you didn’t get that subtle analogy.

But we may have to revise that view, because the vast and growing Indian market can’t get enough of Orkut, and comScore’s latest figures state that it is in fact the most-visited social network in India, in a market that drew 18m viewers in December 2008 alone.

comScore’s report on India’s 2008 figures is arresting. Internet audience as a whole rose by a fifth, while social network audience grew by 50%. Facebook, BharatStudent, Hi5 and ibibo make up the rest of India’s top five social networking  sites. MySpace and Linkedin limp in at numbers 6 and 7.