Tracking the top ten most popular online brands, Nielsen Online found that UK users spent on average one minute every eight minutes on the social networking site, equating to a total of 3.8 billion minutes in total for the month of April. So those of you who thought that Twitter was stealing some of Facebook’s limelight can think again. Twitter didn’t even make the top ten web brands last month.

As you’d expect, the usual suspects are all present in the list, with Windows Live (Hotmail) and Google completing the podium. Unsurprisingly in these hard-up times eBay makes an appearance at number four with two billion minutes, and Yahoo rounding off the top five.

In all the the top ten made up for 45 per cent of all the time spent on the internet in the UK. That’s a phenomenal figure that shows just how powerful the big boys on the web are. It’s this sentiment that’s echoed by the people at Nielsen Online: “The Internet is a complex and varied ecosystem and I think most people would be surprised by just how much time is accounted for by a relatively few brands who, in turn, are increasing their share of the pie.” said a spokesperson for the company.

If the little man is to get a larger slice of the internet pie, he’s going to have to use all the internet tools at his disposal. That means, among other things, understanding and using SEO to your advantage, creating a community for your website, and pushing stories out there. All elements that we at Republic adhere to and promote. Who knows, with a little hard work and luck you’ll see us on that list next year…

Top ten web brands in the UK for April
1. Facebook – 6.2 billion minutes
2. Windows Live – 4.5 billion minutes
3. Google – 2.6 billion minutes
4. eBay – 2.0 billion minutes
5. Yahoo! – 1.7 billion minutes
6. AOL – 1.5 billion minutes
7. BBC – 1.1 billion minutes
8. YouTube – 898 million minutes
9. Microsoft – 733 million minutes
10. Apple – 719 million minutes