James Delahunty
27 Jun 2011 16:13
Facebook jumps to #2, Microsoft pushed to third place.
Traffic to social networking site Facebook overtook that of Microsoft websites in the UK for the first time last month. According to UKOM/Nielsen, the boost in traffic for Facebook and similar services is coming from people aged over 50.
Facebook attracted 26.8 million visitors to the website in May, a rise of 7 percent compared to last year. Microsoft websites lagged behind at 26.2 million visitors. Google still ruled the UK with 33.9 million visitors during the month.
"The growth in audiences to these social networks is now primarily being driven by the 50-plus age group. Just a few years ago, this group may have found itself out of place on these sites," UKOM general manager James Smythe said.
Twitter saw a jump in visitors of about 33 percent, to 6.1 million in the month, reportedly helped along by the revelations about Ryan Giggs' private life that took off on Twitter. LinkedIn registered 3.6 million visitors in May, a rise of 57 percent from as year earlier.