Facebook’s users are spending more time on the site too, according to Nielsen, which reports an increase from five hours and 56 minutes a month in May 2009 to six hours and 39 minutes last month.
Ashley Highfield, Microsoft’s UK managing director, said he was “not fussed” to have been leapfrogged. He said that MSN was being re-focussed after a period in which it had benefitted from being the page that Hotmail users, and others, were automatically routed to after being logged out.
Mr Highfield told the Telegraph: “I almost want our page views to drop.” He said he was more focussed on the length of time people spent on MSN and whether they made repeat visits.
He said that his plan for building a new kind of audience for MSN meant adding social features and technological innovation to the existing editorial. Microsoft, he said, should be leading the way in making its website a technological showcase for what can be done on the web and on mobile platforms.
