Facebook may be the largest social networking platform, but it’s Google which Indians believe is the most trusted Internet brand, says The Brand Trust Report, India Study 2013. Google has been rated the top trusted Internet brand in India, now for the third year in a row, though this year it managed to surpass Facebook by just 3 percent.
According to the analysis of the All India Most Trusted ranks, Google slumped 13 ranks (from All India Rank 31 to 44) while Facebook gained 17 (from All India Rank 65 to 48) to bridge the gap. Despite the massive popularity of Google and Facebook, Yahoo has held the ground as the third most trusted Internet brand. But it’s noteworthy it slumped 62 ranks in All India Brand Trust rankings. Orkut’s the fourth most trusted Internet Brand followed by Ebay at the 5th position.
Speaking on the trend, N. Chandramouli, CEO, Trust Research Advisory says, “Two reasons online brands rely significantly on trust more than any other. Firstly, the exchanges are without any physical interface, and secondly, the online world is cluttered with choices that make loyalty ephemeral. With most of the new brands entering the Most Trusted list this year being from Online Shopping or Internet Services, there will be no stopping this sub-category from seeing accelerated growth over the next 12 months.”
The report also reveals leaders in the various sub-categories. Naukri leads in the Internet Services, while YouTube in online sharing. Ebay leads in online shopping, Google in Internet tools and Facebook in social networking.
A study of the number of brands in each sub-categories shows that Internet Tools is represented by nine brands, Online Shopping by eight brands, Social Networking by four brands and Online sharing and Online Services by two brands each.
The report notes a significant change that the number of brands represented in the Internet category this year has gone up from just 14 in 2012 to 25 this year, showing a direct increase in the trust Internet-based exchanges have begun to garner.
The Brand Trust Report, India Study – 2013, is the third in its series researched and published by Trust Research Advisory. This year’s research was conducted in 16 cities generating 19,000 unique brands across 211 categories. Trust Research Advisory is a part of the Comniscient Group, a group of India’s largest non-advertising based communication businesses.