Like so many things on the internet, the answer to the enduring question of popularity depends on how you measure. While few people in the U.S. associate Google with social networking, the internet giant may have eclipsed Facebook by at least one measurement.

According to a recent analysis by comScore Media Metrix, Google's Orkut social network, which many had written off as dead on arrival, now draws 38.2 billion pages views per month worldwide. Facebook totals about 7.8 billion worldwide page views.

While the numbers skew to a global market, they also measure a statistic -- page views -- that many social networks shy away from, preferring instead to count active members to better quantify engagement.

Popularity aside, Orkut, which tends to fly under the radar as far as Google product's go, does seem to be giving the company an advantage in the growing international ad game. In the last quarter, Google reported $1.24 billion in foreign ad revenue, nearly double the amount it reported for the same period in 2006.

According to a report in Forbes.com, Google is looking to better leverage Orkut in the U.S. by giving the site a redesign that ads flavor and sex appeal to an otherwise blank template.

"Until now, Orkut has been an also-ran in the U.S. because it's been neglected by Google," Greg Sterling, a consultant with Sterling Market Research told Forbes. "But with just a few tweaks and redesigns, and in combination with all of Google's services, it has the potential to really differentiate itself from MySpace and Facebook."