TIME Magazine recently released an article, titled “25 Sites We Can’t Live Without” - some obvious choices and great finds in there, no doubt, however again a little disappointing since some of the choices are very USA focused. The rest of the world seems to be on the backburner again… in response here is a list of Top 20 websites that are making waves in the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East, based on traffic and popularity:



Yahoo!
www.yahoo.com
According to web traffic analysis companies (including Alexa Internet and Netcraft), Yahoo! has been the most visited website on the Internet, with more than 412 million unique users. Yahoo provides a wide array of internet services that cater to most online activities. It operates the web portal http://www.yahoo.com which provides contents including the latest news, Yahoo Finance and gives users quick access to other Yahoo services like Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo Maps, Yahoo! Groups and Yahoo! Messenger. Over 50% of the users on network visit to use their Yahoo! email. View the complete list of products and services offered by Yahoo!
Traffic Rank: 1 | Sites that Link here: 76,894 | Speed: Average (2.2 seconds) | Online Since: 18-Jan-1995

Read the full Top 20 UAE (Middle East) Website list here —

About the United Arab Emirates: The United Arab Emirates (also the UAE or the Emirates) is a Middle Eastern country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf, comprising seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajmān, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The United Arab Emirates has the highest Internet population penetration in the Middle East, with about 35% of the approx 4 million people in the country using the Internet.

About the Middle East: One widely used definition of the “Middle East” is that of the airline industry, maintained by the IATA standards organization. This definition — as of early 2007 — includes Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Yemen. The Middle East is home to approx 194 million people, out of which about 10% use the Internet…the usage growth over 2000-2007 stands at a whopping 491% (stats as of June14, 2007)