Facebook passes Google as top site in Brazil, for now
Remember when Facebook finally overtook Google Orkut in Brazil earlier this year? Forget that. Facebook just overtook Google to become the most visited site by Internet users in Brazil, according to competitive intelligence service Hitwise.
The above chart shows Facebook's crazy growth in Brazil over the last six months, but it may be hard to see what happened this past weekend. Facebook saw 10.86 percent of visits on Saturday (May 14) and 10.98 percent of visits on Sunday (May 15), compared with Google's 10.85 percent and 10.55 percent, respectively.
In total, Facebook has been the most popular destination ranking in Brazil for five days this year. The other three times were all this month: April 1 (a Sunday), April 6 (Good Friday), and April 8 (Easter Sunday). Traffic to social networks (and forums) tends to peak on weekends and holidays, so these days aren't too surprising.
This trend reminds me of when Google Chrome surpassed Internet Explorer for a day over the weekend last month. Although you can argue both cases are just a temporary swap over a small timeframe, they are also a demonstration of a general trend in the technology industry. Facebook is nipping at Google's heels much like Chrome is eating away at Internet Explorer.
While it's obvious more people spend more time on Facebook than on Google, the search giant is still visited more than the social networking giant overall. This likely won't change for quite some time, but if this blip in the South American country is any indication, Facebook could one day overtake Google in Brazil, and then eventually in other countries around the world as well.
See also:
- 10.5 billion minutes spent on Facebook daily, excluding mobile
- Facebook is killing top social networks worldwide
- Facebook accounts for 1 in every 5 pageviews
- Facebook accounts for 1 in every 7 online minutes
- Facebook to pass 1 billion users in August
- Facebook is destroying Google in time spent online (chart)