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Source: Washington Post |
While the growth of all leading websites is slowing down, blogs, virtual social networks, and local information sites are experiencing rapid growth.
The remarkable and swift success of these types of websites has been quantified and detailed by the latest research from ComScore Media Metrix, following their analysis and monitoring of the top 50 websites over the past year.
The top-growing sites include Blogger.com, a platform specializing in personal blogs; MySpace.com – a virtual social network where young people gather, chat, and share their interests; Wikipedia – a massive online encyclopedia; and Citysearch, a local information directory for cities across the United States.
The number of visitors each month to these sites is increasing at an astonishing rate: from 185% (Citysearch) to 528% (Blogger.com) between February 2005 and February 2006. This growth rate far exceeds the average of 4% for the entire Internet in the United States.
Clearly, the Internet remains a fertile space where new names like MySpace can suddenly rise, and old brands like Citysearch can be revitalized after years of decline. Even established companies like Google can significantly benefit from acquiring or “copying” services pioneered by smaller, lesser-known firms.
New Trends
For instance, Google acquired Blogger.com in 2003, causing the number of readers or posts on this site to soar to 15.6 million (up from 2.5 million a year prior).
Another noteworthy trend is the increasing popularity of sites that help users find local information. In addition to Citysearch, which specializes in local commerce and entertainment information, two similar directory sites, WhitePages.com and Superpages.com from Verizon, made it into the top 50 last month. Analysts predict that advertising revenue from these sites will reach $6.1 billion within the next five years.
After years of lagging behind national yellow pages competitors, local information websites are becoming powerful. Firstly, they have genuinely improved, and more importantly, users have begun to recognize the utility of these sites. They contain all the information necessary for daily life.
Among the top giants of the Internet, Yahoo still maintains the largest audience, although their visitor growth rate is only about 5%. Google is the only giant to break this stagnation trend, with their user base increasing by 21% last year. Google is not only growing steadily in its stronghold of search but also attracting many new users by expanding into other services like email, maps, and blogs.
On the other hand, despite many efforts to improve their services, the number of users visiting AOL and MSN has hardly increased.
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