Tocquigny - A Measured Approach

Facebook Ousts Yahoo as the Second Most Visited Site in the U.S.

Posted 02.18.2010 by Colin Gilligan

Facebook’s rise to Internet preeminence received another boost today, as new data from web analytics group compete.com shows that the popular social networking site ousted Yahoo as the second most visited site in the U.S. for the month of January.

In the end, it’s a tight race.  From December to January, Yahoo only dropped 1.09% from 133.45 million unique visitors to 132 million, and Facebook only jumped 1.13% from 132.13 million unique visitors to 133.62 million.  While we’re talking about a difference of 1.62 million unique visitors, Facebook’s January numbers are merely 1.23% higher than Yahoo’s January numbers.

All the same, this move underscores the paramount importance of company, brand, and individual involvement in social media (especially Facebook).  No matter if you’re a B2C or B2B company, social media is where everyone lives – so you need to learn how to best live there, too.

Facebook’s ousting of Yahoo is significant in other ways as well.  As compete.com reminds us, it’s been two full years since there’s been a shakeup at the top: Back in February 2008, Google ousted Yahoo as the number one visited site in the U.S.

If Facebook’s unique visitor numbers continue rising, Google may have a formidable competitor for the number one spot.  No wonder both companies are taking proactive and precautionary measures to preserve their positions: Google just released Buzz to make the channel more social, and Facebook just released a re-design to make the channel more search-focused (not to mention the rumors about Facebook’s potential move into webmail).

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