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Homegrown European Brands Fight Facebook

Written by Sandeep Kalsi

Over the years, established European brands have fallen by the wayside as dominant US brands have swept the continent. Irrespective of the industry, whether it is Starbucks gobbling up traditional coffee shops or the once mighty European PC maker Olivetti being made extinct by the likes of HP and Dell, the latest battleground is the being fought By Europe’s social media sites who are readying themselves for a major scuffle with Facebook.

According to the Financial Times, despite showing signs of profitability albeit on a small scale, all the homegrown sites which includes Skyrock (France), StudiVIZ (Germany), Hyves (The Netherlands) and Tuenti (Spain) are all feeling the ‘ill-wind’ of Facebook translating into local languages. It is estimated that 30% of users have migrated to the US company over recent months.

Naturally, the Europeans are not lying down but fighting with innovative local services and tie-ups. Hyves is currently working with a major Dutch Bank to develop an in-site payment system; sponsors the National Football team and incorporates a host of media events, TV shows and surveys on its platform. Tuenti in Spain has an invitation only approach to growth and cannot be indexed by search engines, making the experience private and secure. Google is not number one everywhere, so perhaps the same could be true for European social media networks? Let the battle begin.

Written by Sandeep Kalsi
Sandeep Kalsi is Managing Director of AtomicPR Europe

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