Is Facebook set to dominate the net?
Every so often, a statistic comes along that is a real game changer for business. Here’s one of them – Facebook now drives more traffic to key sites than Google
Steve Rubel of Edelman Digital has pulled stats from compete.com showing that Facebook is becoming the major source of traffic on the web, overtaking the seemingly omniscient Google in driving people to sites like Yahoo and MSN.
Compete.com go on to say: “This shift is changing the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps into the social media world. Some experts say social media could become the internet’s next search engine”.
The internet’s next search engine! That’s an earthquake on the business landscape. Ruben argues: “I see them (Facebook) becoming the number one website in the world in under three years. It could eat the web.”
That might be over-stating it, and I am always wary of evangelists who think social media will replace everything. It won’t, but it is an emphatic reminder that social media isn’t some fad for kids, but will be a fundamental part of doing business this decade.
If Facebook is driving more traffic to major sites than Google, it follows that social media platforms will be pushing more and more potential consumers to business websites as well.
It is no longer an option for worried companies to hide their heads in the sand and hope this stuff will go away. Consumers will be chatting about brands online whether businesses like it or not. The challenge for forward-thinking companies is how to get involved and help shape – forget about control as that’s not an option – these conversations.
At Breen Media, we have integrated social media into the heart of our business. The lessons we have learned are allowing us to help businesses combine digital platforms with their traditional public relations and marketing campaigns.
www.breenmedia.co.uk
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I agree with your fact that Facebook may now be diverting a much larger traffic volume to sites than before, I also agree with the fact that it is but natural for consumers to chat online about products, to recommend them. But what i fail to see is how sales are actually linked with facebook , how much time is the average user landing on a site through facebook spending on the site .
ReplyDeleteAnother question which comes to my mind is what next , larger communities which have open connections within them , helping each other growing , but where does the business stand in respect to this community. And would we not at some time cannibalize these communities some point in time , by either offering them too many promotions and interfering with their being too often or by ignoring them completely when they have grown.
"Facebook is becoming the major source of traffic on the web, overtaking the seemingly omniscient Google in driving people to sites like Yahoo and MSN."
ReplyDeletePresumably people on Google don't want/ need to go to MSN or Yahoo that much, so this stat may have been taken out of context? It would be interesting to see comparison figures to other sites.