Google and Facebook prove a hit with internet users

 

The two most visited sites for UK internet users in June were Google and Facebook, according to Hitwise figures. The social networking site has seen a considerable boost in traffic from the UK over recent months, leading the research site to suggest that it may well be reaching saturation point.

Robin Goad, who analysed the statistics, noted that Facebook is way ahead of the search engine in terms of page views, whereas it lags behind Google in terms of visits. One in six of the pages viewed online throughout June was on Facebook, suggesting that internet advertisers have a wide consumer base to target.

"Facebook's market share of UK page views has trebled over the last five years, but growth has slowed significantly over the last six months," Mr Goad pointed out. He also revealed that the average session time for a user accessing the site stands at nearly half an hour, but this, too, has stabilised over the course of the past six months.

The site is estimated to have around 26 million users in the UK, with similar success also seen overseas. Its market share of page views has increased threefold over the past five years, the Hitwise figures stated, with its success seemingly being maintained.

In terms of internet advertising opportunities, recent Gartner statistics suggested that people's purchasing decisions are increasingly being impacted by social networking sites. "Companies attempting to use social networks should develop relationships with key customers over a period of time and progressively refine the social network profiles of those individuals," advised Nick Ingelbrecht, research director at Gartner.

The group suggested that different people react in different ways to how they recommend products or services to friends, so firms need to expose these and work out how to target them.

Living Streams "Improving clients' profitability through better use of the internet".