A Billion Websites In The Naked City

And yet, the vast majority of the traffic goes to the top 100 or so properties.

There are over 1.1 billion websites on the internet, but the vast majority of all traffic actually goes to a very select list of them. Google.com, for example, has an astounding 28 billion visits per month. The next closest is also a Google-owned property, Youtube.com, which brings in 20.5 billion visits.

This just illustrates just how long the long tail of websites is and how many different elements are out there to be explored. Cyberspace has never been a more apt description. The top 100 properties see the vast majority of traffic while the remaining 1.0999 billion sites/properties have relatively small volume of visitors.

Looking at the infographic and the properties that are listed is a really interesting visual into our world.

  • Google takes the top spot with the aforementioned Google, Youtube, Blogger, etc.
  • Facebook and Instagram represent a formidable combination
  • Yahoo, for all its troubles, still is listed as the #5 site online
  • News sites from all different angles have a significant presence with CNN (#22), HuffPo (#49), NY Times (#31), Wash Post (#54), along with Breitbart (#45), Fox News (#50) to name a few.

Click through below to see the original size of the infographic.

Internet Time Capsule

Any Baio over at Waxy dug up an article and press kit from the failed DEN.net launch back in 1999. But the super cool thing he also dug up was the “Top 100 Sites of 1999” (Direct link to PDF of article). Just an amazing list of all the sites that were big in the first wave of the online revolution. I’m proud to say that at the time that article was published (November 1999), I was employed at Tripod, the #7 site on that top 100 list.

Movie Magic

Yahoo recently released a list of 100 movies to see before you die. They made a point of clarifying that its not the 100 best movies of all time but more a list of top influential or significant movies that you should see. I don’t fully agree with their choices but they have made a strong effort here.

I am slightly embarrassed to report that I have only seen 55 of their 100 that they have listed. I’m not planning on departing anytime soon, but it appears I may need to get over to Netflix soon. The vast majority of the movies I have not seen are from the 1950’s and 1960’s, which is way before my time, so cut me some slack there.

Now, if they did a “Top 100 Movies Since 1975 That You Have To See Before You Die”, then I think I’d have that locked up!