StudiVZ is not impressed by German Facebook

 The American community network Facebook has announced that it will soon be greatly expanding its activities in the form of local language versions. According to the latest surveys, however, German competitor networks such as StudiVZ have nothing to fear from this. 46 percent of the 1000 participants in a survey conducted by the online word-of-mouth network TRND stated that they were not interested in a German version of Facebook. Instead, they stated that they would remain loyal to the German online community even after the launch, Pressetext reports. The German student portal Studivz.net already has 3.45 million unique users, making it the number one social community website in Germany. The creators have already launched further projects with Schülervz.net and a network that is neither aimed at pupils nor students. There is no sign of fear of the American competitor. "We have realized: Once you have decided to join us, you generally stay with us," StudiVZ spokesman Dirk Hansen told Pressetext. Above all, it is important to maintain direct contact with German users.
Facebook now has more users abroad than in the USA. Whereas in September 2006, 93 percent of users came from the USA, the figure is currently only 37 percent. According to its own figures, the Facebook community has around 61 million members worldwide, with 600,000 in Germany and a good 100,000 in Switzerland.
The launch of the local language versions is expected soon. How it will ultimately affect the development of the other community websites remains unclear.