On August 14, 2009 ComScore released a study on social network usage in Australia. ComScore found that more then 70% of internet users visited social networking websites as compare to previous year only 29% of total internet users visited social networking websites. Facebook is most visited social networking websites followed by MySpace, Windows Live , Bebo and Twitter.

Nearly 9 million Australians visited a social networking site in June, making it one of the most popular content categories on the Web. Facebook led as the most visited social networking destination with more than 6 million visitors and growing 95 percent from the previous year. MySpace Sites ranked second with 3.5 million visitors, up 5 percent, followed by Windows Live Profile with nearly 2 million visitors. Twitter witnessed the most substantial growth, surging to 800,000 visitors in June, up from just 13,000 visitors a year ago. Orkut also achieved significant growth reaching 252,000 visitors, up 607 percent.

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region Said,

Social networking continues to grow in popularity both across Australia and throughout the world.Social networking is now an essential part of peoples’ daily online routine, providing a level of engagement and reach that far exceeds most other content categories. Understanding how to leverage this audience successfully is both a challenge and significant opportunity for most digital marketers today.

Microsoft has announced that they are opening three new search research centers in London, Munich, and Paris. These three new "centers of excellence" will all be part of a larger European machine. Microsoft has not disclose how much dollars they are going to invest in these research centers but the money will be huge. Microsoft datacenter in Dublin has a price tag of $500 Million.

Steve Ballmer, Said

Investing in anything at this time can be a tough sell," Ballmer said. "But when economic times are tough, we have to keep our faith in the promise that technology holds to transform the future.We are the challenger, not the leader. But search is in its infancy, and there is so much room for innovation. The European research centers would focus on new kinds of searches, including queries from mobile devices and searches involving pictures and video.

Google captures more then 80% of search market share in Europe and it’s more then the search shares from the United States of America where Google have around 75% of search share,according to ComScore. As compare to Google Microsoft has only 1% search share in Europe, according to ComScore. Spending on Internet search ads will generate $28.3 billion worldwide this year, 57 percent of the total spending on Internet advertising, according to eMarketer, a research company.