Hi there,
Spring is finally here! The Avatar crew is happy to farewell winter and we're all pleased to welcome sunnier skies and warmer weather.
In this month's Avatar News we take a look at the world's most popular Web sites and how their rankings have changed since last year. Once again we feature an assortment of weird and wonderful tidbits we thought you mind find amusing. Finally, don't forget to check out our site of interest for this month.
Last August we reported on the world's most popular Web sites according to Alexa. We thought it might be interesting to follow up and see how things stand now. Last year, the top spot went to Yahoo, followed by Google, with third spot going to YouTube.
How Things Have Changed...
The Web is a dynamic landscape and not even the big players can take their popularity for granted. Yahoo slid from top dog to third and was replaced by Google as number one. YouTube stumbled out of the top three and the prominence of the social networking site Facebook, has helped it climb three spots to the silver position.
The Gold Goes To...
It's no surprise really that the Web giant Google has claimed the gold this year. The company continues its strong focus on search engine technology. We reported last year that over 310,000 sites linked to Google. Over the year this has doubled to 675,000, making us wonder how long it will take to rack up a million?
The Silver Goes To...
Facebook is the world's most popular social media site and it the second most popular site in the world. This certainly says something about the explosion of social media in general and how much people are now using the tools to communicate with each another. Around a quarter of the world's Web users now log onto facebook.com to use the social utility.
The Bronze Goes To...
Yahoo, our former winner from last year has been relegated to the bronze position. Free email continues to be the biggest drawcard for the site, with over 40 percent of visitors going to Yahoo mail. Not only does Google earn more revenue, but it's now more popular too. Ouch.
The Rest...
The popularity of Web sites in the international arena is an interesting marker of social and global trends. We discussed earlier the massive rise in Web tools so it's interesting to see a total of six social media Web sites in our top 20 list. We wonder how many will there be in next year's list?
Another point of interest is the presence of two Chinese sites on the list ranked at 9 and 15. Baidu (position 9) is the leading Chinese language search engine and has crept into the top ten, reflecting the country's growing share of global Web traffic. Next year we're sure to see Baidu move up the charts.
A social media revolution? A You Tube video that covers some interesting points on the impact of social media on today's society.
Something getting on your nerves? A do-it-yourself guide dedicated to helping you prevent, eliminate or remove common annoyances from your life.
Expert guidance. A Web site full of insightful video tutorials that shows you how the experts undertake specific tasks they excel at. Get golfing tips from a professional, cooking lessons from a celebrity and some rather bizarre advice on how to how to dress your dog for Halloween.
Leaf power. Researchers have identified a way to harness electricity from trees by running an electric circuit from the power generated by trees.
A lung surprise. A tale from the US about a man who found a fast food surprise in his lung. Be careful what you ingest when you grab a quick bite, as you might just get more than you bargained for.
Puppy dog eyes. Could this be the saddest dog in the world? We think he might also be the cutest.
Ashburton Guardian (Web site design and development)
Ashburton Guardian is the leading newspaper in Ashburton and this year has expanded its coverage of news, sports, community and business information online.
We helped the Ashburton Guardian team develop and design their site that features:
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