Facebook becomes most visited website in the US

Mar 17 2010 02:45:25 PM Posted By : Arun
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Analyst firm Hitwise reported that Facebook has overtaken Google to become the #1 website in the US. According to Hitwise, Facebook surpassed Google in terms of traffic for the week ending March 13, 2010.



Although FaceBook and Google serve two different purposes, this is a significant development in the Internet world. For quite a long time, Google was, without a doubt, the most visited site around the world. It still continues to attract humongous traffic. However, with more and more people flocking to social networking sites such as Facebook, we are witnessing a shift in the average web user’s usage patterns.

Even Google acknowledged this recently. Here is an excerpt from the 'Competition' section of Google’s latest SEC filing:

Social networks, such as Facebook, Yelp, or Twitter. Some users are relying more on social networks for product or service referrals, rather than seeking information through traditional search engines

So it is true that a percentage of traffic to search engines is getting diverted to social networks. If you are searching for information on the net, you are more likely to visit a site which your friend or follower has recommended rather than rely on search engines. We have seen customers finding us through our Twitter account, for example.

Another contributing factor behind FaceBook’s growth could be the ultra-popular Farmville series of social games. I personally know many people who are addicted to Farmville and other social games on Facebook.

Will Facebook continue to rank over Google in terms of traffic? With Google coming up with Google Buzz to take on Facebook, it should be an interesting few months ahead of us.

Myspace updates go live on Google search

Feb 19 2010 01:31:46 PM Posted By : Arun
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MySpace, the social networking site, has been lying low for a while. Once the top social networking site in the world, MySpace has seen Facebook and later Twitter overtake them in terms of popularity and number of users. While there may be many reasons for the downfall of Myspace, they are certainly trying to be back in the reckoning now. This can be evidenced from MySpace's co-president Mike Jones's recent blog post that Myspace results will appear as part of Google search results.

Here are a few excerpts from the blog :

In December, Google announced plans to implement the MySpace Real-Time Search API, which would push publicly available updates from our users to Google in real-time. The implementation is now LIVE on Google and we couldn't be more excited to be the first social networking platform to light up real-time integration with Google.

Beginning today, when you search for anything on Google, as part of your search results you will see live updates from MySpace users, including news, photos, and blog posts that they have chosen to publically publish. Further, all of these updates will be ranked to reflect the freshest, most relevant results, making it easier to find the latest information on anything you're searching for on Google, including the music and artists you enjoy most.

This could well be the stimulus that MySpace so desperately needed to fight against the Facebooks and the Twitters of the world. Will they regain their lost glory? It should be an interesting few months ahead of us.