Facebook Inc. surpassed Google Inc. as the most visited website in the United States this year, spotlighting the rapid ascendance of social networking over search engines and Internet portals.

Facebook received 8.9 percent of all US Web visits between January and November 2010, according to New York-based Internet tracker Experian Hitwise.

Google's main site was second with 7.2 percent, followed by Yahoo Inc.'s Mail service, Yahoo's Web portal, and Google's YouTube.