Facebook Grows into a Top-Ten Web Property

Job and tax-related Web sites dominated consumers' online activity in January, according to Thursday data from comScore, but there was also a little time for social networking as Facebook cracked the list of top 10 Web properties for the first time.

"January has once again seen seasonal gains in the tax, career and travel categories, reflecting the typical American's tendency to plan for the New Year," Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, said in a statement. Facebook's growth, however, reminds "us that 2009 will likely continue to see growth in the adoption and usage of social media."
Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft sites were the to three Web properties, followed by AOL, Fox Interactive Media (MySpace), the Ask Network, eBay, Amazon sites, Wikimedia sites, and Facebook. Not surprisingly, the three top spots also included search engines, who in turn logged the most search queries.

Google logged just over 151 million visitors, while Facebook attracted 57.2 million.

Web sites related to taxes saw the greatest gains last month, jumping from 8.9 million visitors in December to 24.7 million last month. Specifically, TaxACT.com reported a 972 percent spike in traffic, with 5.9 million visitors, while Hrblock.com saw a 277 percent increased with 6 million visitors, and IRS.gov grew 240 percent with almost 15 million hits.

Travel sites also jumped by about 46 percent to 13 million visitors, and job-related Web sites increased by 42 percent to 26.7 million.

"January has historically been a strong month for career sites as the beginning of the New Year causes many Americans to reconsider their current career trajectory and future goals," comScore said. "However, the surge in visitors this January also reflects the millions of lost jobs across the nation."

CareerBuilder.com saw the most traffic with 12.2 million visitors, followed by Monster.com with 9.5 million, and Yahoo Hot Jobs with 7.7 million.

Consumers also flocked to state and federal Web sites for information about unemployment benefits, taxes, the Obama administration, and the peanut butter salmonella outbreak. California, Texas, and New York were among the state sites that saw the greatest increase in visitors.

Some people apparently still have money to travel, as Americans looked for late-season winter travel deals or started planning spring getaways. Travel site traffic jumped 46 percent overall to 13 million visitors. Vacationstogo.com, Disney Travel, and Expedia all saw growth in the first month of the year.

Also posting gains was Oprah.com, which saw traffic spikes of 100 percent as the talk-show host kicked off the New Year with a series of webcasts. The Web site for tabloid US Magazine also increased its visitors by 62 percent, from 3 million to 5 million.