expertSEM

Updated with answer on November 16, 2009.

This week’s question come from Ryan Geiger, our talented creative director. Ryan asks you to place the following browsers in order from most used to least used as of October 2009: IE8, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE7. Don’t be shy! Leave your answers in the comments below. And check back next week for the correct order.

Answer: As of October 2009, the most popular browsers ranked in order from most to least are as follows: IE7, IE8, Firefox, Safari, Chrome. Check out a complete list of overall market share of browsers here.

There’s no arguing that IE has historically been the most globally used browser; but why is that? Could it be that because IE is preinstalled on 80% of computer’s worldwide that people don’t really prefer it, they simply use it because it’s already there? Does usage alone indicate popularity or preference? What would the ranking look like if browsers weren’t preinstalled and each user had to download one on their own?

Any conclusions right now would be mostly conjecture, although a group has tried to filter out the “preinstalled” factor to provide a more accurate report of browser use. I personally know very few people that use IE; however, the only people I usually discuss this issue with are others in this industry and are, therefore, more savvy when it comes to all things internet, even if it’s something as simple as choosing a browser.

On similar topic: I’ve been seeing a ton of media and video ads for Chrome lately, particularly on Hulu. It’s always a bit shocking to see Google advertising. They don’t do much, because, quite honestly, they don’t have to. But when it comes to browsers, they’re still only number four no matter which list you look at. I’m sure we’ll continue to see ads for Chrome until they nose ahead of a few browsers , or at least IE6. Which was released in 2001. And people are still using it. What?!