Times are tough for social media skeptics -- and today they got tougher.
Hitwise, a web analytics firm, announced today that in the week ending March, 13, 2010,
Facebook surpassed Google to become the most visited website in the U.S
.
Yes, you read it right: Google, the monolithic search engine that spreads traffic across the web like Congress spreads stimulus funds, now gets less traffic than that stupid website you joined so you could see what your kids are doing when they're not home.
Of course,
smart marketers know
that neither of those characterization is correct anymore.
Google is still a huge source of traffic , but the web is now bigger than just Google. And while Facebook may have started on college campuses it long since graduated .
Hitwise's numbers reflect this change. According to their report, the market share of visits to Facebook.com increased 185% last week from the same week in 2009. And Google? Well, they grew, but only 9%.
Marketers, ignore Facebook at your own peril.
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Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Mark Mathson 10:12 PM on March 15, 2010
Thanks for bringing this to my attention HubSpot. I knew it was coming but didn't know it has happened.
Interesting times we live in!
Andy Cook 10:15 PM on March 15, 2010
Wow! I never thought I'd see the day...I wonder how long Facebook can keep up that growth rate though?
Deb DiBiasie 10:24 PM on March 15, 2010
And in many cases Facebook is a better, more targeted and less expensive place to advertise as well. Saw it coming...Thanks for the breaking news.
Matthew Nelson 10:36 PM on March 15, 2010
It's an interesting shift to see how the internet is continuing to evolve into a more "real" space that is being propagated and realized through the recommendations and sharing practices of the public through their connections. When you think about it that way you can really see why Facebook is on such a tear because they are delivering the internet in a way that makes searching for solutions on the internet more like talking to real people and getting their recommendations from actual people that they know first and the computer bots second. Keep up the good work Facebook!
Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion 11:19 PM on March 15, 2010
These stats are all well and good, but if most small businesses put all their chips in Facebook versus blogging and Google, they'll lose badly to their competitors. I only hope these stats don't screw up proper marketing strategies.
Dennis Cook 12:18 AM on March 16, 2010
Interesting and useful stats indeed, and useful for Internet marketers; but one must put this into correct perspective. The traffic to Facebok is looking for something quite different from Google's traffic. Nevertheless, we should not ignore the opportunity.
Syed Hyder Ali 12:39 AM on March 16, 2010
Not only Facebook but the Social Networking became a source of generating traffic to the website.
From total traffic to my website I get 75% traffic from Social Networking and remaining 25% from search engines and email campaigns.
Hyder
http://www.winwinmantra.com
Jill Fratianne 9:11 AM on March 16, 2010
This is unreal. Mind blowing. I went to dinner last week from a Facebook update on a fan page for free dollar oysters, read a blog article that will get me free back up for my computer, and got in touch with a long lost friend. Quite a few accomplishments in five minutes.
Jessica Ojeda 9:24 AM on March 16, 2010
That's incredible. I can hardly believe it. I see all of you "saw" it coming, but still!!! WOW! And people think we aren't social.
Although, I personally use Google more, but I know many people who think the internet is Facebook. lol. My uncle on gets on the internet to check his Facebook and I swear every time I turn around my husband is on Facebook just "fooling" around with his buddies.
Dawood Mirza 11:41 AM on March 16, 2010
Nice article, I agree marketeers cannot ignore Facebook. I have two questions. 1- However how does one increase facebook fans for company page. 2- How do I find facebook groups that are local in a specific area/city.
DragolinDesign 1:55 PM on March 16, 2010
very interesting news indeed :) thx for sharing!
Andy 2:13 PM on March 16, 2010
I'm wondering if this is going to affect the ad rates on Facebook? We've tried both AdWords and Facebook ads and have gotten WAY more out of Facebook for way less...
Libardo Lambrano 2:48 PM on March 16, 2010
Please keep in mind that the study didn't include other Google properties such as Gmail, or youtube, not even section within the same Google such as Google news and Google products, Even tough the grow of Facebook is amazing, Google still by far much larger with all its properties and subdomains combined.
Liam Lally 6:09 AM on March 18, 2010
Are there any statistics regarding what type of business flourishes on Facebook? My experience tells me it leads more towards tourism (e.g. hotels, restaurants etc) but I would be interested to hear of other business types that had been successful.
Dennis Cook 6:19 AM on March 18, 2010
I don't know of any statistics Liam but I would not have thought FB leans toward tourism ( I am in the tourism industry) I thought that it favours innovative consumer products; everyone spreads the word and you have true viral marketing