Facebook tops website visits, dethrones Google

Last week, in U.S., Facebook recorded 7.07 percent of weekly visits, compared to 7.03 percent of Google.

The world's largest social networking site achieved the same status in August 2009 as well. However, that was for Canada.

Hitwise spokesman Matt Tatham said in a telephone interview, “Canadians adopted Facebook a lot faster than in the U.S.”

Facebook and Google accounted for 14 percent of all Internet visits in the U.S. for last week. The site's visits have almost tripled from a year ago.

Facebook dethrones Google
Used for chatting, uploading photos, giving comments, and staying in touch with people around the globe, Facebook has appealed to wide variety of audience worldwide.

Even though the latest data of Hitwise did not take into account visits to Google services like YouTube and Gmail, Facebook still increased its popularity.

According to Tatham, in Canada especially, Facebook is popular due to the long cold winters and geography of the region.

Not only this, Facebook is liked worldwide due to its homepage, which is simple and easy to use.

The site has targeted almost all consumers, increasing its cash flows considerably. Having more than 400 million users, Facebook has also been equally attractive to advertisers around the globe.

Facebook vs. Google
Even though the latest data of Hitwise did not take into account visits to other Google services like YouTube and Gmail, Facebook still increased its popularity.

“It shows content sharing has become a huge driving force online. People want information from friends they trust, versus the anonymity of a search engine,” said Tatham.

Latest rumors doing the round is that Facebook is planning to challenge Google in the pay-per-click marketing platform as well.

Launched in 2004 in California, among other factors, Facebook has increased traffic due to the addition of various games like Farmville, Café World, Mafia Wars, and Sorority Life etc.