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Alexa.com ranks websites according to the percentage of people using the Alexa toolbar who visit each site. Millions of people use the Alexa toolbar.

Google is ranked number and has been such an enormous success that it has created a new word. “Google it” means to type a term into the Google search engine. It is primarily used to search for text information on the web, but it can be used to search through images, videos, maps and news. Gmail is the free Google email system. Many other free things are available on Google, such as Google Books (a library) and Youtube (a site for uploading and downloading videos). One of the nice things about Google is that it shows no pictures, so there are no distractions while the user searches for information.

Facebook, one of the relatively new social networks, is number two. People can paste a picture of themselves on Facebook, join communities of other people, and write on the “wall” of other users and groups. On September 15, 2009, Facebook passed the 300 million user mark according to the company’s website and experienced a “cash flow positive” moment.

Yahoo!, a search engine much like Google, is ranked number three. One distinction between the two is that Yahoo! shows pictures on the front page. Yahoo! has links to Yahoo Mail, Facebook, and Flickr, an online picture-sharing site.

Youtube, a video site owned by Google, was founded in February, 2005, and is ranked number four. It was purchased by Google in November, 2006. Users can upload, download, and watch videos at YouTube.

At number five is Windows Live, Microsoft’s search engine. Like Google and Yahoo!, visitors use it to search for information on the web.

At number six is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Unlike other encyclopedias, Wikipedia is written entirely by online volunteers. Consequently, the quality of the information ranges: Sometimes the articles are excellent but sometimes they’re not. Its popularity is based on its use as a quick reference.

Blogger.com is a website that hosts bloggers, individuals who publish personal commentary. It was founded in 1999 and purchased by Google in 2003. Bloggers can easily publish at Blogger.com and support their efforts by showing advertisements. It is ranked number seven.

At number eight is MSN, the Microsoft Network; it’s related to Windows Live and Bing. All three are essentially search engines with links to other sites.

Ranked number nine is Baidu.com, the search engine used for Chinese-language searches.

At number ten is Yahoo! Japan. A visit to the site shows that much of the language of the site is in the Katakana script, which is a character set that is alphabetic in nature, unlike the traditional Chinese characters. Interested Westerners can learn the Katakana script relatively quickly and gain at least clues to what is offered on the site. Many of the Katakana words are just English words pronounced in the Japanese tongue and written with the Katakana script. For example, on the Yahoo! Japan site, the phrases “Yahoo service”, “shopping”, and “auction” are all spelled out in the easy-to-learn katakana script.

Those are the top ten site as listed by Alexa.com. Rankings of course may vary with other sites that offer such services.