The market share of US visits to Question and Answer websites for the week ended March 15 was 118% more than during the equivalent week in 2007 – and over the past two years US visits to the category have increased 889% (Feb. ’08 vs. Feb. ’06), Hitwise said.?
Among the findings:
- The most-visited website in the Questions and Answers category last week was Yahoo Answers (answers.yahoo.com), which received 74.05% of the market share of US visits.
- Wiki.Answers.com was second, receiving 18.35% of visits, followed by Answerbag.com, which received 4.42% of visits.
- WikiAnswers, launched in June 2007, increased its US visits 125% from the week ended June 9, 2007 to March 15, 2008.
“Online users are increasingly seeking advice from question-and-answer websites that leverage shared knowledge contributed across a community of experts and enthusiasts,” said Heather Dougherty, research director, Hitwise. “The popularity of user-generated media has helped to establish a category for social knowledge where consumers can obtain answers from a single aggregated source developed through others’ asking similar questions.”
Average Time Spent and Demographics
- Females accounted for 52% of? US visits to the top five Question and Answer websites for the week ended March 15, 2008.
- The plurality of visits, 24%, came from users age 35-44, followed by users age 25-34 (21%).
- The average visit time among the top five Question and Answers websites increased 44% (comparing the week ended March 15 2008 and the week ended March 17, 2007.
- Yahoo Answers led among the top five websites, with users spending an average of 9 minutes and 9 seconds on the site.
New and Returning Visitors
- Yahoo Answers received 52% of its share of traffic from new visitors (those who had not visited the previous month) during the week ended March 15.
- WikiAnswers.com and Answerbag followed with 76% and 87%, respectively, of new traffic
- Askville received the highest amount of new traffic – 93%.
