• San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, February 15, 2010 3:43 PM

Facebook has surpassed Google as the top driver of traffic to portals like Yahoo and MSN, according to new data from Compete. This shift coincides with consumers spending more time on social networks -- and Facebook, in particular -- where they steer "friends" toward all manner of Web content, and are similarly steered.

"This trend is shifting the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps to move into the social-media world," according to The San Francisco Chronicle. "Some experts say social media could become the Internet's next search engine." Not surprisingly, social-media services firm Gigya is one such expert. Dominant or not, "Marketers must focus on social marketing in addition to traditional search, as customers have a multi-pronged way of finding information," assures Jeremiah Owyang, a Web strategist for the Altimeter Group -- a San Mateo consulting firm with clients like Gigya.

Read the whole story at San Francisco Chronicle »