Facebook Now The King Of Internet, Tops Google In Number Of Visits

In another clear indication of Facebook‘s ever-increasing growth in the internet arena, Facebook surpassed Google last week as the most visited site in the United States. According to a report by Hitwise Intelligence, Facebook surpassed Google for the week ending 13th March. According to the report, Facebook last week accounted for 7.07% of the US market share, which is just a shade above that enjoyed by Google (7.03%). Even more impressively, Facebook’s traffic was up 185% this year as compared to the same week last year. The corresponding figure for Google, on the other hand, was a mere 9%.

While Facebook has achieved the number 1 ranking for standalone days in the past, notably Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, this is the first time that it has achieved it for a complete week. In fact, it is the first time since the week ending Sept. 15, 2007 that Google has come in second.

Coming, as it does, in the wake up of the failure of many of Google’s recent initiatives, notably Wave and Buzz and the gradual loss of market for Orkut in India and to some extent Brazil, the going seems to be getting harder for Google.

While the web has been abuzz with the news of Facebook’s demise with the emergence of Twitter, these statistics clearly show otherwise. Google, in its quest to be a balance between Facebook and Twitter, has ended up being neither. Facebook, on the other hand, has grown from strength to strength.

This report confirms what has been conjectured for long. People are now more likely to be spending time on Facebook than Google. This will lead to a marked shift in the advertising policies of many companies. Companies are now more likely to spend on advertising on Facebook, rather than Google. Also, this report may further boost traffic to Facebook, as people are more likely to be wanting to be a part of a popular venture.

What remains to be seen is whether this was a one-time blip on Google or Facebook’s domination is here to stay.

PS: Please note these are US statistics and in India Google pretty much rules the roost!