Web 2.0 Growing Faster Than Online Video, News

WEB 2.0 SITES MAKE UP the fastest-growing category on the Web–doubling their traffic over the last year, according to data presented Monday by Nielsen//NetRatings at an industry conference in New York.

At an ad:tech session titled “Web 2.0: Predictions and Pithy Analysis,” Nielsen//NetRatings Senior Vice President of Industry Solutions Charles Buchwalter and Roy de Souza, CEO of ad serving network Zedo also offered analysis of the usage habits of Web 2.0 “denizens” and advertising on Web 2.0 sites.

Web 2.0 sites–defined loosely in the session as those allowing users to “talk” to their “friends” via e-mail, messaging, blogs, and other social media tools–ranked first in year-over-year growth in unique audience and Web pages viewed. That put Web 2.0 ahead of categories including news and information, ISPs, video and movies, and family resources.

Social networking sites with the highest traffic growth included Feedburner (385%), Digg.com (286%), MySpace (170%), Wikipedia (161%), and Facebook (134%).