web in 2006

Worldwide Internet usage increased 10 percent from December 2005 to December 2006. In the search category the top three sites that have the largest global audience grew 9 percent. Google the number two site worldwide increased visitors to their site by 13 percent. 40-percent year-over-year growth in visitors to Google Image Search, the 71-percent growth in visitors to Gmail, and the 62-percent growth in visitors to Google Maps." Both Microsoft and Yahoo sites grew 5 percent worldwide in 2006. Microsoft sites held the top position with Yahoo ranking third. Multimedia was the leader in the top-gaining category in 2006 growing 37 percent followed by Community, which grew 33 percent. YouTube was partly responsible for the growth in the multimedia category. The video sharing site grew 1,972 percent in 2006 and had 120 million visitors. The growth in the community category was due in part to social networking site, MySpace and Blogger. MySpace grew 159 percent in 2006 and had 90 million visitors globally. Blogger grew 90 percent and had 93 million visitors worldwide.