Facebook Now More Popular Than Google

Posted by Richard Kastelein in Breaking News on September 13, 2010  |  0 Comments More from this author  |    |  Follow Richard Kastelein on: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

A new report released last week by researchers at comScore.com, has noted that Americans are spending more time socializing on Facebook than searching with Google. Social Media is winning the online game. And how will it segue into TV is the next great question in broadcasting. Widgets, Apps, Dumbed Down TV, True Web TV, Single Screen, Two Screen Experience... it's going to be an interesting convergence.

And very likely,  Google is concerned about Facebook's ability not only to keep users, but to target ads.

In August, people spent a total of 41.1 million minutes on Facebook, comScore said last, about 9.9% of their Web-surfing minutes for the month. That just barely surpassed the 39.8 million minutes, or 9.6%, people spent on all of Google sites combined, including YouTube, the free Gmail e-mail program, Google news and other content sites.

“Facebook continues to grow its user base and grow engagement among its users,” said Andrew Lipsman, senior director of industry analysis at comScore. “A year ago Facebook accounted for less than 5% of overall time spent online in the U.S. and today it accounts for 10%. … This continued growth presents more opportunity for advertising now, and also more potential to engage its network for new revenue possibilities in the future.”

As Facebook usage continues to go through the roof, Google has still failed at getting a grip on social media. Orkut went through the roof - but only in Brazil, Google Wave failed for being too complex and Google Buzz has fizzled. Now, according to reports, Google is now preparing a game-centric Facebook challenger coined Google Me. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is in discussions over the new service with Playdom Inc. (recently purchased by Disney), Electronic Arts's Playfish, and the Facebook-centric Zynga Game Network.

Facebook’s top-ranking position comes a month after the social networking site reached 500 million users and back in March, Facebook hit another cap when they pushed over Google as the most popular website in the U.S. for a full week. The Google vs. Facebook war has been heating up last month with the launch of Facebook Places.