Top Tech Sites of 2011
Google is still the king of the Internet as it edged out Facebook to claim the number one spot on Nielsen's Top Ten Web Brands in 2011.
The research firm released its list of top online destinations, social media sites and smartphone devices for 2011. Google led the pack as the top online destination with 153.4 million average unique visitors per month. FaceBook was a close second with 137.6 million unique visitors per month. Yahoo was the third most visited site with 130.1 million. Microsoft's MSN/WindowsLive/Bing was at fourth with 115.8 million while YouTube filled out the top five with 106.6 million average unique visitors.
While Google was at the top of list for most visited sites in 2011 FaceBook is still the top honcho in social media. FaceBook was ranked number one on the list of top social networks and blogs with 137.6 million average unique visitors per month. Blogger was a distant second with 45.7 million average monthly unique visitors. Twitter was at third place with 23.5 million visitors. Wordpress was the number four most visited social network. After a blistering start, Google's six-month-old social network Google+ was only ranked number eight with 8.2 million average unique visitors.
The battered MySpace which was sold at a discount price of $35 million held strong at number five with 17.9 million unique visitors. The aging social network beat out newcomers LinkedIn at number six and Tumblr at number seven.
Unsurprisingly YouTube was at number one for top online video destinations. The video sharing site had 111 million unique visitors per month. Second place Vevo only had 34.5 million unique visitors. FaceBook was at number three with 29.3 million users preferring to get their video content through the social media site. Yahoo and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing were at number four and five respectively. Netflix squeezed through at number ten with 7.4 million unique visitors.
Another non-shocker was the list of top five smartphone manufacturers. Apple took the top spot with nearly a third of the market with 29% followed by HTC with 21%, Research in Motion with 17%, Samsung with 11% and Motorola with 11%. This list could change in the next year especially with the surge of Android phones and Microsoft being a dark horse. For now Apple reigns supreme over the smartphone market.