You know how the Neilsen ratings have long-been the main source of data on TV viewership? Well, Neilsen also ranks website activities. They can tell you which websites are getting the most traffic on any given day, week, or month.
And new information from Neilsen suggests that social networking has completely taken over as the primary way that people spend their time online. In fact, Neilsen says that the three most popular websites in the entire world are:
- Youtube
- Wikipedia
Is there a pattern here? Yes! All of those sites are populated by user-generated content. It’s Web 2.0, which seems to make every website writer and editor cringe.
But there’s more to it than just that. Do you notice what’s missing from that list? It’s Google! What was once the “hub” of all of the internet now sits below some social networking sites on this list. In fact, the Internet and Marketing Report says that Neilen’s ratings shows Facebook getting four times more traffic than Google. Get that? Four times more!
Now this doesn’t mean that authors should ditch their websites and their search engine optimization projects for Facebook. But it does mean that keeping a regular presence on Facebook can make a huge difference in terms of self-promotion and book sales. If that’s where the people are spending their time, then you’d better not miss the boat!