OK, so Google has their domain registered on about every single relevant domain, as do Badoo - but not, for example Bebo or Facebook. My question is really this - if I'm launching a project, should I go global or stay local? Will a domain in - say .de or .fr get me better results in Google.de or Google.fr even if my site is available in both German and French? Thanks - and apologies if I put this in the wrong topic
You could do both. Have domain name for each site as long as they are in that language they are unique. You will get more traffic with domain name for each country.