Facebook Claims Top Spot in Search

[Brett_Tabke]

The Facebook juggernaut just keeps on rolling, passing Google and Yahoo in search last summer, and by the end of the year running up a commanding lead that seems unsurpassable, according to Experian Hitwise's report on Internet searches for 2010.

The online market research firm found that Facebook Web sites captured four of the top 10 most-searched terms in 2010. Another online metric service, ComScore, reported earlier that Facebook passed Yahoo for the first time in July and overtook Google later that summer.

"When combined, common search terms -- e.g., facebook and facebook.com -- for Facebook accounted for 3.48% of all searches in the U.S. among the top 50 terms, which represents a 207% increase versus 2009," said an Experian Hitwise report released Wednesday. Four Facebook variations were listed in the top 10 rankings including Facebook (generic site), Facebook login, Facebook.com, and www.Facebook.com.

[informationweek.com...]

[wildbest]

"When combined, common search terms -- e.g., facebook and facebook.com -- for Facebook accounted for 3.48% of all searches in the U.S. among the top 50 terms

When will those 'experts' understand that this is not a search. This is actually a bookmark. Most of facebook's users don't even know what the browser address bar is for or how to bookmark a website. They simply start their browser with Google as a start page. Then they type 'face....' in the search box and then click 'facebook' on drop down list. They do this every time they visit facebook pages.

[maximillianos]

Google makes money off ads when folks are searching for FB. It is a win-win.

I wonder if back in the old days when someone searched for facebook on Google they showed Buzz ads up top. ;-)

[BillyS]

Is this a joke? I guess history repeats itself, we're back to the dot com hype.

[maximillianos]

I find Fb interesting since I was a member for a year or so and then closed my account. With google I never stop or even want to stop using it. With Fb, I want to get away from it all the time. You'd think something that intrusive in our lives has a shelf life. I think more folks will grow tired of it as I did. Or perhaps I'm just an exception to the rule.

[zdgn]

I wouldn't be surprised if the juggernaut keeps marching on and renders any resistance futile.

Unlike myself who tried-facebook/wasted-time/closed-account, Everyone I know and her dog (and the dog's pet and pet's friends too) is on FB.

But I do have many "Facebook Pages" for different websites. Some do send good traffic too.

Oh and a million "Like" buttons don't hurt too much either.

[dailypress]

Or perhaps I'm just an exception to the rule.

I know many people who deleted their account and then reactivated it. But as you said more and more people are getting tired of the BS of FB: testimonials, photo tagging, and pretending to be happy or social behind a computer.

[walrus]

I still prefer phonebook, not as high tech, but you can just push 10 buttons and hear people through wires,its pretty neat. No more having to check back to see what they have to say, and you only talk to people you really want to.

[moTi]

Everyone I know and her dog (and the dog's pet and pet's friends too) is on FB.

americans are totally crazy about facebook. i don't exactly know why, maybe it's because americans are rather talkative people or because of the long distances between the residencies of their friends?

anyhow, facebook for sure is the biggest "social network", but it has to be noted that it is not in the least as important in most other parts of the world. for example, the adoption rate in my area and my age group (central europe, 30-40) stays below a third of all internet users with only slight increases. btw, twitter is at one percent..

[wildbest]

anyhow, facebook for sure is the biggest "social network"

No, the World Wide Web is the biggest "social network". Facebook is an excellent place for people that find all other communication channels on the Web too complicated.

[moTi]

concerning adoption rate.. i think it's the crucial point for facebook. will they manage to take over and retain peoples' minds in the rest of the world? undisputably they have reached the necessary critical user mass in north america by now. critical mass for me is, when most of all people socially or economically simply can't afford to not be a facebook member. i.e. you will be regarded as some kind of freaky outsider by your social environment or you are dependent on facebook networking one way or another.

i think the critical mass is not yet achieved in most other countries, or better in most social groups. as long as facebook adoption is somewhere well below half of the internet users of a certain sample or half of the people you know, there's a high chance that it peaks at that percentage - as concurrently, people keep on leaving facebook for different reasons. if a medium gains the critical mass, it's more comfortable to stay on top. but once the peak is reached at a certain level below the critical mass, the trend is destined to go nothing but downwards from there.

the point is, will facebook really manage to occupy the largest part of internet users like google or windows? or will it be more like aol 2.0 or a bigger myspace? if it doesn't manage to reach critical mass in the respective social environments, they can not be regarded as mass medium. instead they will face a long-term struggle against user decrease and will consequently lose.

[J_RaD]

critical mass for me is, when most of all people socially or economically simply can't afford to not be a facebook member. i.e. you will be regarded as some kind of freaky outsider by your social environment

im not a user and its not hurting me one single bit.

or will it be more like aol 2.0

this is my view, these people are like the new AOL users.

[Staffa]

freaky outsider by your social environment

I'm not a user, haven't even been near it yet but I prefer to be called eccentric it's much quainter ;o)

[annej]

"because of the long distances between the residencies of their friends"

I think that is the biggest reason people use it. It's also why it will be hard for someone else to take over. If most of your family and friends are on Facebook why would you change to something else?

I'm not sure that the fact that Facebook was in top search terms means much to marketing though.

[wildbest]

americans are totally crazy about facebook. i don't exactly know why, maybe it's because americans are rather talkative people or because of the long distances between the residencies of their friends?

Tip:
1. Find out how many people per 1000 visit their mental health counselor on regular basis.
2. Compare to other 'talkative' and 'long-distance' nations.

[brotherhood of LAN]

I think for those that use it/them, it's hard to imagine life without it.

Facebook is handy for if you're out of your hometown or want to catch up with people from your past, for catching up or letting a social circle know what you're up to... take Facebook and it's equivalents away, take the net and e-mail away and you're back to the 1980's and contacting people individually or having lots of mobile phone numbers.

There are lots of social reasons for using Facebook, it's fortunate enough to have the critical mass where people will sign up to that knowing that people they want to catch up with are more likely to be on it than something like myspace.

[tangor]

Read title of this thread: "Facebook Claims Top Spot in Search Facebook Marketing"

Easy to claim #1 if only one is being counted.

Grip up your undies, kiddies, Facebook is not the next financial juggernaut.

That said, don't ignore, like that old feller said once before: "There's gold in them thar hills..."

[300m]

Facebook has potential to be the next financial Juggernaut, but not as a search engine. They are sitting on a wealth of data. They can profile all of their accounts, sell names, email addresses, phone numbers, etc...the possibilities are endless.

If they play their cards right they can sell that data in a way that wont make their core base angry. Even if they used an opt out deal, they would still be sitting on millions of records freely available for them to sell.

Facebook= godlike data acquisition