Despite safety warnings, lawsuits, campaigns against, and proposed legislation to limit its reach, MySpace.com has surpassed Yahoo! Mail as the most visited website in the United States, according to Hitwise.
As of last week, MySpace attracted 4.46 percent of all US Internet visits, making it the number one ranked website in terms of Internet visits. Yahoo! Mail, the previous top dog in that space, attracted 4.42 percent.
Among Social Networking sites in June, MySpace commanded 79.9 percent of the total market share of visits, its nearest competitor, Facebook receiving only 7.5 percent. Ranked third was Xanga with 3.8 percent. With Yahoo! 360 and Bebo rounding out the top five sites with 1.1 and .98 percent respectively.
Though in fifth place with less than a percent of Internet visits, Bebo has shown the strongest growth, gaining market share by 21 percent since May. The five remaining social networking sites, which includes Classmates.com and MSN spaces, accounted for only 6.5 percent of US visits. Orkut and Friendster were 13th and 14th on the list.
Friendster’s economic situation could change, however. The company, considered a pioneer in social networking, was recently awarded a social networking patent, which means the company could press licensing fees and litigation on sites like MySpace.
“MySpace continues its meteoric rise, to now claim the number one spot for all Internet visits in the U.S.,” said Bill Tancer, general manager of Global Research at Hitwise.
“We are still discovering the Internet laws of gravity as it relates to a site’s potential to grow on the Internet. The fact that MySpace was virtually unknown by the mainstream Internet users two years ago and now claims the top position, demonstrates how hyper-competitive the Internet really is.”
Across all websites, here are the top players:
1. MySpace 4.46%
2. Yahoo! Mail 4.42%
3. Yahoo! 4.25%
4. Google 3.89%
5. MySpace Mail 2.85%
6. MSN Hotmail 2.39%
7. MSN 1.92%
8. eBay 1.59%
9. Yahoo! Search 1.36%
10. MSN Search 0.93%
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