Dayton
Business Journal...
Google, Facebook
battle for top Web site
by DBJ Staff
Monday, May 9, 2011
A new report reveals that Facebook and Google Inc. are battling it out
in a tough race for the top Web site.
Facebook had 10.4 percent of all Web visits for the first week of May,
with Google coming in just shy of 8 percent, according to Experian
Hitwise. However the tech tracking firm said Google’s YouTube site had
3.1 percent, which would give Google’s combined Web presence an 11
percent share of all Web visits and put it ahead of Facebook by less
than one percentage point.
Yahoo Inc.’s mail service was fourth on the list with 2.9 percent of
all visits, and Yahoo’s main site was fifth with slightly fewer than
2.5 percent. Microsoft Corp.’s Bing site came in at sixth on the list
with 1.5 percent of all Web visits for the week, while its Windows Live
Mail and msn sites tied for 9th/10th with 0.98 percent each.
AOL was 12 and 14th, with eBay coming in at 13th. No other site had
more than half of one percent share of the visits. Amazon.com came in
at 16th with 0.38 percent and 20th was Ask.com.
Google continued to dominate the search engine race though, with just
shy of 68 percent of all Web searches. Yahoo was second with 14.6
percent, Bing had 12.3 percent, ask had 2.9 percnt and AOL had 1.6
percent to round out the top five search engines by volume for the
month of April.
Google was the top visited Web site of 2009, but was overtaken by
Facebook in 2010 when it had 8.93 percent of all U.S. visit compared
with Google’s 7.19 percent. Google’s YouTube unit was fifth for 2010
with 2.65 percent, giving Google a combined 9.84 percent of visits for
last year.
The most recent results indicate both Google and Facebook have been
growing their searches.
Both companies are giants in the Internet and social media sector, and
generate a significant amount of revenue from online display ads.
Facebook is the leader in online ads and accounted for 346 billion
impressions, from January through March, according to a new report from
comScore.
Facebook has become a business tool used by companies throughout the
Dayton region for everything from recruiting to marketing.
Kendall Goodrich, assistant professor at the Wright State University
Raj Soin College of Business, recently told the Dayton Business Journal
that companies taking advantage of Facebook should see rewards.
As companies — both large and small — look to expand their presence
online, Facebook, given its 600 million users, is an obvious resource,
Goodrich said.
He added that companies can make a name for themselves both by using
Facebook and by utilizing Facebook’s strategy. By amassing “friends,” a
site is effectively increasing its influence on the Web and creating a
soft metric by which potential investors can assess its value.
“The opportunity to them is that almost anyone can get out there and
potentially become influential on Facebook,” Goodrich said.
Also, social media in general, including Google’s Android apps for
smartphones and mobile tablets, are giving another potential marketing
tool to businesses.
Most restaurants are starting to use social media to help drive
business, with many of them being lauded recently for their efforts.
Promotions on such sites as Facebook are becoming common, and Twitter
is being used to get the marketing message out as well. With many
people using smartphones or mobile tablets, many restaurants are
launching their own apps for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad, or Google
Inc.’s Android devices.
In fact, the majority of businesses, including those in Dayton, now use
some form of social media to help connect with customers and boost
their business. Even government agencies and municipalities, such as
the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, are using the social media
tools such as Facebook.
Read it with links at Dayton Business Journal
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