Whither We Surf

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The BBC online recently posted a fairly comprehensive (and interactive) article on current Internet traffic--the busiest portals, search engines, sites, etc.; reflecting traffic for the month of January 2010, as reported by Nielsen Company.

Here is a snapshot:

Search Engines/Portals

a)   Google leads the pack - 7.35% of all users

b)   MSN Windows Live/Bing - 5.71%

c)   Yahoo! - 4.9%

d)   AOL - 2.69%

e)   Ask - 2.12%

No surprises there, unless you consider the not so very significant gap between MSN and Google (1.64 percentage points, which actually took me a little by surprise, I had expected Google to be WAY out in front).

Social Networks

a)   Facebook - 4.6%

b)   Twitter - 0.89%

c)   Orkut - 0.60%

d)   LinkedIn - 0.51%

e)   Classmates Online - 0.47%

f)    Meebo - 0.46%

I had suspected Twitter to be closing in on Facebook, but it's still a ratio of 1:5, FaceBook the 1,000-pound gorilla here.

Retail Sites

a)   eBay - 2.56%

b)   Amazon - 2.35%

c)   Wal-Mart - 0.75%

d)   Craigslist - 0.75%

e)   Shopzilla - 0.53%

f)    Target - 0.49%

g)   Shopping.com - 0.47%

h)   NexTag - 0.43%

i)     Best Buy - 0.42%

j)    Priceline Network - 0.40%

k)   Free - 0.37%

l)     Sears - 0.36%

eBay and Amazon jockeying for position, with eBay leading; not much of a surprise there.

Media Sites

a)   Fox Interactive - 1.95%

b)   Glam Media - 0.98%

c)   CNN - 0.93%

d)   CBS - 0.81%

e)   BBC - 0.74%

f)    ESPN - 0.56%

g)   Comcast - 0.53%

h)   Globo - 0.49%

i)     Scripps - 0.49%

j)    NY Times - 0.48%

k)   Turner Sports - 0.44%

l)     Comcast Entertainment - 0.44%

m) NBC Universal - 0.43%

n)   RTL Network - 0.41%

o)   Fox News - 0.38%

p)   Reed Business - 0.37%

q)   Tribune Newspapers - 0.36%

Biggest surprise here, for me, is that Guardian Online didn't make it on the list--in my opinion the best news site on the internet.

Overall

a)   Google - 7.35%

b)   MSN Windows Live/Bing - 5.71%

c)   Yahoo! - 4.9%

Again, no surprise. If you don't have your site saved as a favorite, and if you don't know precisely, where you want to go, chances are that you will reach for a search engine/portal first.

It all stands to digital reason.

 

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