New study on Web sites ranks most popular sites among college students

By Alex Henning

Executive Reporter

Publication Date: 11/21/2006

College students are frequently visiting Web sites, but ones that have little to do with education, according to a recent study.

The survey by Anderson Analytics listed the top-visited Web sites by college students. Http://www.youtube.com, the third-most visited site this year, is the first new Web site to debut in the top five.

Tom Anderson, managing partner of Anderson Analytics, said the survey was surprising this year.

"We had anticipated facebook.com might be number one, but myspace.com moved up considerably from fourth to first place, while facebook.com remained in second place," he said.

Http://www.collegehumor.com and Google were the other most-visited sites in the study. 1,004 college students from across the nation participated in the survey, which asked students what sites they enjoyed and visited the most.

Sorin Matei, assistant professor of communication, said the sites that ranked highly are heavily visited because they are part of people's social lives.

"They inform many of the things the young generation does," he said.

The experiences of a lifetime that college provides have become more technologically advanced than in the past, and these sites are a reflection of the changes in society, Matei said.

Although most college students use the Web for social interaction with their peers, some do use it for academics.

Jack Williams, a freshman in the College of Engineering, said he uses sites like Wikipedia to assist him in his studies.

"Wikipedia is a resource with a vast range of knowledge to help me feel like I'm learning something when I've nothing better to do but sit in front of the computer," he said.