For the first time, Facebook overtook Google as the most visited website in the United States last week, according to the Web analytics firm Hitwise.
Heather Dougherty, Hitwise’s director of research, said that Facebook had ‘reached an important milestone” with the weekly figures.
According to the firm’s weekly figures on March 13, the two sites accounted for 14% of all US internet visits last week. Facebook’s home page recorded 7.07% of traffic and Google’s 7.03%.
Though the lead is slim, it is really an important milestone for Facebook who’s popularity has seen an enormous growth over past year – from just 2% visits a year ago to 7.07%.
The number of Facebook’s users have also increased dramatically from 200 Million last April to 400 Million in February.
One reason for the ever increasing popularity of Facebook can be attributed to Facebook’s games. Zynga’s FarmVille game alone boasts more than 83 Million monthly users.
Social networking sites have fallen in the past and Google had been leading since September 2007, when it overtook News Corp’s MySpace.com. However, the tremendous growth enjoyed by Facebook over the past year have led to an increase in popularity of social networking.
According to Nielsen Company research firm, internet users around the world spent more than five and half hours a month on social networking sites on an average. US leads country wise with an average of six and half hours on Facebook.
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