'Facebook' top search term (again) for 2011

Nicholas Kamm / AFP - Getty Images

By Suzanne Choney

For the third straight year, "Facebook" was the top searched term in the U.S., followed by "youtube" and "Facebook login." Why, do you ask, would those be searched for, rather than websites visited?

Well, we're lazy, for one thing. "Navigational searches dominated the top search results as users typed in terms versus typing in the URL in the browser bar," said Simon Bradstock, general manager of Experian Hitwise, in a press release about the firm's findings.

"When combined, common search terms for Facebook ? e.g., facebook and facebook.com ? accounted for 3.48 percent of all searches in the United States among the top 50 terms, which represents a 33 percent increase compared with 2010," Experian Hitwise said. "YouTube terms accounted for 1.36 percent, representing a 21 percent increase compared with 2010. Google terms (including YouTube) accounted for 1.59 percent ? an increase of 27 percent compared with 2010. Yahoo terms accounted for 0.59 percent? an increase of 15 percent compared with 2010."

Among the new terms that entered the "top? 50" search terms for the year: addicting games, amazon.com, chase online, cnn, face, facebook sign-up, pandora and twitter.

Here are some of Experian Hitwise's other lists for 2011:

Top-visited websites: Dingdingding: Yes, Facebook again, and for the second year, with 10.29 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November. That's a 15 percent increase over 2010. Google.com was second, with 7.70 percent of visits, then YouTube (3.17 percent), Yahoo! Mail (2.95 percent) and Yahoo! (2.47 percent).

Top public figure searches: Oooh 'Baby': Justin Bieber was No. 1, followed by Casey Anthony, Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, Selena Gomez and Charlie Sheen.

Top personalities searches (from sites focused on celebrities and stars): "Wedding bell blues" for Kim?"follow your heart" Kardashian, then Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Robert Pattinson.

Top searched for music artists/bands: We were "gaga" for Lady Gaga, then Justin Beiber, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Chris Brown.

Top TV show searches: We worshipped "American Idol, followed by "The Young and the Restless," "Dora the Explorer, "Dancing with the Stars" and "Days of Our Lives."

Yes, those were the days of our lives, via search, in 2011.

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Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/22/9638065-facebook-top-search-term-again-for-2011

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