On today’s Business Beat, Jeff Sloan talks about how the ability to look up anything we want, anytime we want, all in the palm of our hands, has made Google the top-visited website globally over the last year, according to new data from SimilarWeb.
Tune in to the Business Beat, below, to find out what we’re using the Internet for and whether Google has any real competitors:
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Good morning, Paul! I heard Elon Musk say recently that the advent of the Internet has moved humans into the era of being classified as cyborgs. That’s right. Part man, part machine.
Think about when we were kids, Paul. If I asked you how many species of whales there are in the Earth’s oceans, you wouldn’t be able to answer that question until you got home and looked it up in your encyclopedia, and then the information may have been outdated if you didn’t have the most up-to-date set. Well, usher in the Internet and everything changes.
Think about it. Ask me that question today and I simply enter a search in Google and in a second or two, I have the information right in front of me, instantaneously, accurate, current, boom. There it is. And it’s just this kind of everyday occurrence that being able to look up anything we want, anytime we want in real time, all in the palm of our hands, something many of us take for granted, that has made Google the top-visited website globally over the last year, according to new data from SimilarWeb.
In fact, Google services over 2 trillion search queries annually through its network. Alphabet-owned Google ranks highest with its flagship domain, google.com, followed by YouTube and Facebook. Together, the top three websites rake in 152 billion visits, monthly outpacing the next 47 websites combined.
What does this reveal about us cyborgs and how we spend our time online? Well, we’re searching for information first, seeking entertainment, second, and socializing, third. A deeper look also reveals what’s trending. The fastest-growing sites online today. It gives us an indication of what’s next coming in as the fastest-growing site. It’s Instagram, their traffic almost doubled over the last year. Twitter’s grew by two-thirds, Wikipedia by 30%. Think they have a shot to overtake Google? Not a chance. Not only is Google the most trafficked site currently by a long shot today, its traffic grew by another 53% over the last year.
So there you have it, Paul, the rankings of how we’re spending our time on the Internet these days and the top sites capturing our attention.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of startupnation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
