Web population hits one billion

The number of people using the internet passed the one billion mark during December 2008 for the first time, according to an internet research firm.

ComScore recorded the milestone at the end of last year, but the real figure is actually higher as only users aged 15 and over, logging on from home or work computers were recorded.

The highest number of users are logging from the Asia Pacific region. Last year China overtook the US to claim top spot as the country with most 'netizens'.

The most-visited website during December 2008 was Google which recorded 778 million unique visitors. The other top five websites were Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and then Wikipedia and its sister sites.

Social-networking websites are still attracting huge traffic: Facebook grew by 127 per cent in the past year with 222 million visitors in December.

Facebook has surged ahead of rival MySpace, which recorded 125 million visits for December.

Surpassing one billion global users is a significant landmark in the history of the internet," said Magid Abraham, ComScore's chief executive officer.

"The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that, until we have a truly global network of interconnected people and ideas that transcend borders and cultural boundaries," he added.

www.comscore.com