Facebook Beats Google as Most Popular Web Destination

Guess it had to happen, and it did, last week. Hitwise figures show Facebook's national domination as the most popular U.S. web destination. For the week ending March 13, Facebook grabbed 7.07 percent of all U.S. web traffic, barely beating Google's at 7.03 percent.

See the graph above; clearly Facebook has been steadily rising in traffic since last year. Traffic to Facebook increased 185 percent compared to the same week last year, whereas visits to Google increased only 9 percent.

Compared to the rise of social games on Facebook (like Farmville and Mafia Wars), there was little happening at Google to encourage traffic growth.

However, when measured by reach .... the percent of the U.S. population that visit ... Facebook still has a way to go. Comscore, another analytics firm, ranks Google as the top site by reach, with 81 percent of the U.S. population. According to Techcrunch, Facebook's reach ranking still has it behind Google (and Yahoo and Microsoft, for that matter) at 53 percent of the U.S. population.

Cool tool to visualize grantmakers and grants

I love maps. Something about them makes life understandable, helping me to know where I am and helping me to navigate how to get where I want to go. So, when I saw this, I knew I had to check it out.

The Foundation Center has just unveiled a nifty tool that maps data on grants and grant-makers. It's called Philanthropy In/Sight.

This interactive mapping tool was developed for grantmakers, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in the impact of philanthropy around the world today. It mashes up all the Foundation Center's rich data with the familiar Google maps interface. Clicking around reveals patterns of giving, funding relationships, areas where philanthropy has made an impact, and areas where opportunities exist to fill critical needs. Zoom out to see the data mapped internationally. Zoom in to see it displayed in a country, state, or county, or city.

Two databases feed this tool, with comprehensive information on:

97,000+ U.S. foundations and grantmaking charities, that can be filtered by:

Fields of Interest
Grantmaker Type
Total Assets
Total Giving
Establishment Year

1.6 million+ grants, filterable by:

Grant Subjects
Grant Amount
Grant Year
Grantmaker Type
Grantmaker Total Assets
Grantmaker Total Giving
Grantmaker Establishment Year
Grantmaker Name

Choose your filters, and data is displayed on a map. Then you can click-and-drill down for more specific information. You can also save or print your map to share with others.

All of this data, of course, is available in other formats and always has been. Prospect researchers have relied on this information for years, sifting through and looking for that needle-in-the-haystack -- the grantmaker perfectly suited to approach for their cause or project. But, for those of us who just think more visually, this is a boon.

Many people like tons of data. But, if you're the sort of person who gets a thick computer printout and skips past the details to the last page to see the bottom line, you'll love this. Me -- I'm one who sees the forest and doesn't so much like getting lost in the minutiae of the trees (or branches or leaves!) I really appreciated it.

A free trial is available, as is a brief tour . I've played with it, and might just have to subscribe myself. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a client organization who depends on foundation revenue.