Which social network should you use if you want to keep up with friends from other countries? This map, developed by Vincenzo Cosenza from Italy, shows which networks are most popular in different countries around the world.

You probably guessed that the green colour dominating the Anglophone world as well as Europe and many other countries represents Facebook.

In fact Facebook has made impressive moves towards world domination in the last 8 months - compare with this map from November 2008 to see how much progress it has made since then.

Other areas are more divided, often along language lines:

- China prefers QQ

- Several other Asian countries are equally independent in their choices: Mixi is number one in Japan, Hi5 in Mongolia and Thailand and Friendster in the Philippines.

- Russian speakers in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan choose to use V Kontakte

- Indians and Brazilians like Orkut

- Most of the Arab world uses Facebook, apart from Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Oman where Maktoob is the favourite. How long before Facebook dominates?

- Facebook is also popular in Latin America, although in some countries Hi5 has the number one spot

So what about Africa? According to this map, many sub-Saharan African countries do not yet have a favourite social networking site. Probably because many parts of Africa still do not have easy internet access. Let’s hope that projects such as this one will help to change that.

(Via ReadWriteWeb )

Where are you from and what social networks do you use?

Read more:
Wired Africa? Africa prepares for its surge online
Is there an easy way to blog in a different language?
Top 20 Languages of the World: which second language will get you talking to the most people?
Which are the most religious countries?

Tea drinking in Russia was traditionally a luxury which only rich people could afford. This is because tea was introduced into Russia from China, and the trade route was difficult and dangerous. This made the tea very expensive.

Russians soon developed special rituals for tea drinking, and a special pot, called a Samovar, for brewing tea. Russian Life magazine explains all about it.

Feel like trying some? The Lower East Side Restoration Project has some interesting recipes for Russian teas and traditional teatime cakes.

Afternoon tea in Russia, around 1905 from The Lower East Side Restoration Project

Have you ever tried Russian tea? What did you think?

Read more:
Russian blogs featured on Blogs of the World
Drinking cappuccino the Italian way

Russia’s economy is booming, helped partly by its $1bn a day in energy exports.

This economic success is propelling a new revival in Russian film making, subsidised by the government or private investors, with demand supplied by young working Russians with money to spend.

The International Herald Tribune explains that the tastes of the domestic audience are quite different to those of the international markets. Whilst its art house films are more popular on the international stage, Russians at home like patriotic films covering topics like Soviet-era wars or historical events.

Multicultural.co.uk is a website written for UK businesses, to help them work better with multicultural employees and customers. However if you’re just interested in learning more about how people of different cultures and religions think and behave, you will also find some useful information here.

In particular, you can follow short online courses to learn about the major faiths (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism) and country-specific courses on China, Russia and India. At the end of each course there is a downloadable pdf guide.

The country courses contain many cultural tips such as:

• Chinese people may find it difficult to say ‘no’ even if they mean it. It’s unlikely you’ll ever hear a Chinese person saying something like ‘speak your mind’
• Indian names often do not follow the same pattern as western names. Some Indians use their occupation, caste or even ancestral village as a sort of surname
• Russians prefer to eat a hot and substantial meal at lunchtime

An interesting read if you want to learn more about any of these cultures or religions, and will also come in useful for anyone planning to visit or do business in Russia, India or China.