550 Facebookers Per Second Vie for New URLs

Google still gets more visitors overall

(NEWSER) - The fact that Facebook received more traffic than Google last week has been taken as a sign that the mantle of the top website has been passed to Zuckerberg and Co. Facebook, however, "has yet to pull ahead in any real sense," writes Jessi Hempel. In fact, it won the week in only one sense: more people typed "facebook.com" than "google.com" into their browsers. More»

Social network and search giant switched spots over New Year's

(NEWSER) - Facebook has felled another Internet giant, surpassing Yahoo in January to become the second most visited website in the US. In December, Facebook had 132.1 million unique visitors to Yahoo’s 133.4 million. But last month the tables were turned, Mashable reports, with Facebook garnering 133.6 million unique visitors to Yahoo’s 132.0 million. The top spot, of course, belongs to Google. More»

Social network crowds out Google and Yahoo for first time

(NEWSER) - Facebook got a big present this holiday season: It was the No. 1 US website on Christmas and on Christmas Eve. Facebook, which lagged behind Google in second place last year, trounced that site and rival Yahoo—though the search engines generated more traffic throughout the balance of the year. And social networking pulled off a Christmas miracle, ReadWriteWeb notes, despite the recent controversy over new privacy settings. More»

(NEWSER) - Facebook will now offer users an alternative to the clumsy random URLs currently assigned for personal pages, Mashable reports. Starting Friday, users can apply for an actual named website to supplant a mix of numbers, such as facebook.com/john.q.public. The “vanity URL” system has been available on Twitter and MySpace, but this is Facebook’s first concession to the trend. More»

Site wants to offer easier access to other applications

(NEWSER) - Social-networking stalwart Facebook is redesigning its site to allow users easier access to an array of applications that might include search options, Forbes reports, and give advertisers more ways to reach the Facebook community. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the All Things Digital conference, said the company hoped to work more with search giant Google. More»