MUMBAI: Google Sites ranked as the top destination in June 2012 reaching nearly 95 per cent of the online population, while social networking reigned as the top online activity accounting for 25.2 per cent of all online minutes, revealed comScore study on the top online sites and activities in India from its comScore Media Metrix service.

In June 2012, Google Sites ranked as the top online destinations in India reaching 57.8 million people age 15 and older accessing the Internet from a home or work computer. Facebook.com followed with 50.9 million visitors (83.4 per cent reach), followed by Yahoo! Sites (65.5 per cent reach) and Microsoft Sites (48.1 per cent reach).

Local web properties secured several spots in the top 10 ranking, including Times Internet Limited, reaching 33.7 per cent of the online population, Network 18 (29.3 percent reach), Rediff.com India (25.2 per cent reach) and NIC.in (21.8 per cent reach).

Among the top properties, visitors were most engaged on Facebook.com, spending an average of nearly four hours on the site in June. Visitors spent two-and-a-half hours on Google Sites, with YouTube accounting for a strong share of time spent on the property. Among local brands, Network 18 led as the most engaging property with visitors averaging 31.6 minutes during the month.

Analysis of the top online activities in India found that social networking accounted for 25.2 per cent of all time spent online in June, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from the previous year, as social media continues to be a primary driver of people‘s daily digital media consumption. Entertainment sites ranked second, accounting for 10 per cent of minutes (up 1.2 percentage points from the previous year), while portals accounted for 8.8 per cent of total minutes. Although it represented just 2.0 per cent of total minutes, time spent on retail sites grew 0.5 points in the past year as online shopping continued to gain adoption.