The Brazilian version of Experian Hitwise has reported that Facebook has passed Google Brazil as the most visited site in that country, five times since April 1st. While it isn’t clear if April Fool’s Day is celebrated in Brazil, the next two days Facebook beat out Google also fell on holidays in that country – Good Friday, (April 6th), and Easter (April 8th). It’s no surprise that users were accessing social networks more during these holidays.
The numbers are indicative of Facebook chipping away of Google’s general dominance outside of the U.S., and the social network comprised 10.86% of website visits in Brazil on April 14th, and 10.98% on April 15th, as compared to Google Brazil at 10.85% and 10.55% respectively. Since November, Facebook has seen growth of 5.3%, and also surpassed Google-owned social network Orkut in January, which has 59.1% of its users coming from Brazil.
Comscore reported in March that Brazil has grown into the world’s 7th largest internet market, with Facebook seeing a relative increase of of 86.73% in the past six months. The general trend mapped out in the above chart shows Facebook’s gradual ascent to dominance in the Brazilian market, though there’s no mention if the numbers account for Google’s Orkut as well. Either way, Facebook beat out Google sites for the first time on April Fools day in Brazil.
