The BBC has produced an attractive visual display on the rise and fall of social networks using metrics from market researcher Nielsen in June as its source.

As the chart here on the top five social networks by country shows, Facebook dominates in six of the seven countries the BBC highlights – USA, Australia, Germany, UK, Spain and Italy. The difference in Brazil, where Orkut is the leader with Facebook a distant second.

Yet even as Facebook is king, and not even well liked in some countries, look at the other social networks. In Germany, for instance, 8.5 million people are members of VZNet Netzwerke which includes StudiVZ, the big network for young people. In Spain, 6.6 million are with Tuenti. Brazil, too, where 5.9 million are in iG Comunidades. And let’s not forget MySpace (which recently underwent a facelift) – it’s in second place in the USA, UK, Australia and Italy and third in Spain.

My point is simply a reminder that, from a business perspective in particular – notably, if you’re planning any kind of outreach or engagement activity in these countries – recognize that the dominant social network isn’t necessarily the only place where your engagees spend their time and exercise their influence – sizeable niche communities are elsewhere too.

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A former StudiVZ executive says Facebook had been negotiating for months to buy the social network.

"Facebook may have the superior technology, but it doesn’t have the users in Germany," the former executive told the International Herald Tribune on the condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential. "That is what Facebook wants with StudiVZ."

StudiVZ had 12.2 million German members in June, compared to Facebook’s 1.2 million members according to comScore.

StudiVZ’s owner, the Holtzbrinck Gruppe, reportedly paid $134 million for the site in January 2007, and would only consider selling the social networking site for several times that amount, according to the former executive. The executive says the lawsuit is an attempt to get Holtzbrinck to sell StudiVZ.

Another source said Facebook negotiated with Holtzbrinck to purchase StudiVZ last year. A Facebook employee, speaking on condition of anonymity said the companies had been in discussions but they were focused on copying issues.

Facebook has seen rapid growth in Germany, going from 125,000 members in June 2007 to 1.2 million in June of this year, but is still just in ninth place among German social networks, according to comScore.

A comScore analyst said once a social network builds a big advantage it is difficult to lure users away, but would never discount Facebook.

Facebook filed a complaint in California federal court on Friday against studiVZ for copying its look, feel, features and services of Facebook.

StudiVZ said it had not been serviced with the complaint and cannot comment in detail about the content of the claims. StudiVZ said the Facebook claims were without merit.

The name is an abbreviation of the German expression, which means student’s directory. StudiVZ is a social network for students based in Berlin.

In its complaint Facebook says,"As with any counterfeit product, StudiVZ uncontrolled quality standards for service, features and privacy negatively impact the genuine article."

StudiVZ claims Facebook is suing it because it has not had much success in the German market. "Now that Facebook, despite trying hard, has not been successful in the German market, the company seeks to obstruct studiVZ through court action," said Marcus Riecke, CEO of studiVZ Ltd. Their strategy appears to be: If you can’t beat them, sue them."

"There are numerous social networks. Facebook was not the first and certainly isn’t the only one," said Rieke. By attempting to harm studiVZ through a meritless California lawsuit, Facebook is arrogantly laying claim to an international monopoly over social networking sites that the facts show it does not deserve."

StudiVZ filed for a judgment in District Court in Stuttgart, Germany to have the court declare that the claims made by Facebook are without merit.