The social networking site Facebook has managed to surpass Google as the news readers find it a more trusted source as compared to Google News, according to a survey by the firm Hitwise.

The data was collected in the first week of March and analyzed the unique viewers to these sites and where they were directed from. Further, it was determined as to how many users ended up coming back multiple times from the same originating source.

About 78% of the loyal users revisited Facebook for more news, as compared to only 67% of Google News readers who showed up again.

Facebook said, “The launch of News Feed in 2006 was a pivotal moment in Facebook’s history and changed the way millions of people consumed and discovered information on the site”.

According to Heather Hopkins, a senior online market analyst for Hitwise, viewers are not valuable, if they don’t come back. The advertisers and retailers need some guarantee that visitors will revisit again and again.

The Hitwise survey claimed that the visitors from Facebook. com are found to be far more devoted towards news media sites as compared to visitors from any other site.

Facebook also bagged the U. S. patent this year for the news feeds, making social-networking a hit with users.