Ever wondered how something can become so popular that it's very name becomes a staple in a culture's vernacular? For example, take "Google," originally a search tool that would generate pages of relevant websites has now become a verb synonymous with the term "research." The reason for this is simply that the word has caught on so much that everyone understands it and now, thanks to researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, there is a map to illustrate that point.
The map shows the earth and all of its countries shaded in different colors depending on what the most frequently used websites in the world is there. Not surprisingly, Google dominates the map.
Second in command over the world is Facebook but it's still a far cry away from how well Google has painted the map. The only notable exception is in Asia where they do not really have Google but other comparable sites. Baidu is the top website in China which stands as a noticeable outlyer in the otherwise Google heavy map design. In Russia the search engine Yandex tops the list and Yahoo! Takes a commanding lead in Japan as the preferred search engine.
"Google is the most visited website in most of Europe, North America, and Oceania. Facebook, in contrast, is the most visited website in most of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as much of the Spanish-speaking Americas," says the finding of the OII.
The map itself has been named after a strategy video game called "Age of Empires." It's unclear if the wink to the video game was intentional but, in any case, it is surprisingly fitting.
Have a look at the map and tell us your thoughts below. Is it surprising that Google is the top dog on the planet? Do you think it deserves to be or are engines like Yahoo underrated? Comment and share your thoughts below.
