By Jeremy Schlosberg

    The internet is taking up greater and greater chunks of Americans' time.
   The amount of time people are spending on the web per month has increased 58 percent over the last year.
    In March 2001, web users spent 20.2 hours online—up from 12.8 hours online in March 2000, according to new data from Jupiter Media Metrix.
   But increased consumption in such a new medium does not mean that web users are now merely spending more time with the same old sites.
   Instead, all this extra time online has given web users a chance to sample an ever-widening number of web sites and seems to be creating an ongoing sense of upheaval among the web’s top 50 sites, as measured by Media Metrix.
    In the month of March alone, some six sites dropped out of the top 50, including four—NetZero, Colonize, Barnes & Noble and Coolsavings.com—that were in the top 50 for at least three straight months previously.
    Another site that disappeared from March was Bonzi.com, which has been folded into the numbers for NBC Internet--accounting for that property's unusual 41 percent increase for the month.
   The seven sites that have come onto the list for March are all sites that have never appeared among the top 50 before, including X10.com, a retail site focusing on home automation technology, and Lowestbids.com, an eBay competitor.
   Only 33 of the top 50 web sites from March 2000 remain on the top 50 list a year later. Turnover is especially pronounced in the second half of the list; only 12 of the sites listed last year among the second 25 are still found anywhere in the top 50.
   This was very nearly just 11 since Snowball.com, the ailing youth network, hung on at No. 49 by only 30,000 visitors.
   No. 33 on the chart last March, Snowball has plummeted on the chart over the last nine months after a peak in June 2000 at No. 26. The company appears to be on its last legs, as a desperation reverse one-for-three stock split last month did nothing to revive its anemic share price, which was at 34 cents at close of market Friday.
    Another top 50 regular that has tumbled towards the bottom over the last year is Juno, the company that pioneered ad-supported free email. A solid No. 20 last March, Juno is down to No. 42 as of March 2001.
   In other notable chart news, the completed merger of About.com and Primedia has helped push About.com into the top five, ahead of rival Excite.com for the first time.
    

April 16, 2001 © 2001 Media Life

 Jeremy Schlosberg is the senior editor for new media.

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