The microblogging site Twitter turned down a 500 million dollar purchase offer from the social networking site Facebook in 2008, according to the Financial Times.

In an interview with the British business daily published over the weekend, co-founder Biz Stone said Twitter wanted to become not just a popular site but a viable business, rather than be taken over by another company.

"We've created something that people are finding value in," he said. "But we haven't yet created a business out of this, and we really wanted to do that."

According to the Financial Times, Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg offered 500 million dollars in Facebook stock for Twitter.

But Stone said Facebook had nothing that Twitter's three co-founders -- Stone, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey -- wanted.

The daily added, without elaboration, that Twitter still isn't turning a profit more than four years after it was created.

In mid-December, Twitter said it had received a major infusion of funds from a group of investors, which reportedly put a 3.7 billion dollar value on the site.

Created in 2006 to exchange messages of no more than 140 characters, Twitter had 175 million registered users as of November 1, and transmitted 25 billion "tweets" last year. About 95 million messages a day are sent over the site.

It has pursued rapid growth over profits, but since last spring, it has brought in advertising revenues through paid for "promoted tweets."

earlier related report
Google moving in on Apple's digital newsstand
New York (AFP) Jan 2, 2011 - Google is trying to get media backing for a new Google-operated digital newsstand for users of devices that runs its Android software, hoping to muscle in on Apple's own version, The Wall Street Journal said Sunday.

Google has already approached with several publishers, including Time Warner Inc.'s Time Inc. unit, Cond� Nast and Hearst Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.

In recent weeks, these sources said, Google has told publishers it would take a smaller slice on any sales they make of Android apps than the 30 percent cut Apple typically takes on iTunes sales.

"Google has also proposed giving publishers certain personal data about app buyers to help with marketing related products or services," the daily said.

Google, it added, issued a statement on the matter saying: "We've consistently said we're talking with publishers about ways we can work together, including whether we can help them with technology for subscription services. We have nothing specific to announce at this time."

earlier related report
Facebook tops Google in website hits: study
New York (AFP) Dec 31, 2010 - Facebook stole the thunder from Google this year as the most-visited website in the United States, according to a new study from Internet research firm Experian Hitwise.

The social-networking juggernaut's www.facebook.com was the top-visited website for the first time and accounted for 8.93 percent of all US visits between January and November 2010, Experian Hitwise said.

Google, the world's Internet search leader, slid to second place. Google.com drew 7.19 percent of visits, followed by Yahoo! Mail (3.52 percent), Yahoo! (3.30 percent) and YouTube (2.65 percent).

Facebook led arch-rival Google in the number of hits per month since March.

However, taking into account all of Google's websites, such as YouTube and Gmail, the Mountain View, California-based company drew 9.85 percent of the US visits, ahead of Facebook's 8.93 percent and the 8.12 percent garnered by Yahoo! sites, an Experian Hitwise spokesman said Friday.

Online tracking firm comScore last week ranked the Yahoo! family of websites as the most-visited in the US in November, ahead of Google, Microsoft websites and Facebook.

On a global scale, Google held the top position, followed by Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo!, according to comScore.

But analyst Greg Sterling of the specialist site SearchEngineLand.com cautioned that the Hitwise study does not track website visits via mobile devices such as cell phones or tablets, and the number of searches on Google's Chrome browser, which avoids google.com, was uncertain.

"This is right now more symbolic than anything" to see Facebook overtake Google in the United States, Sterling told AFP, adding that the study confirms "Facebook growth has been dramatic."

The social-networking giant has more than 500 million active users per month in the world, and according to comScore attracted 647.5 million unique visits in November, a jump of 48 percent from a year ago.

Sterling highlighted the sharply different approaches between Google and Facebook.

"Google is a very utilitarian site, where people go to make a decision, whereas Facebook is for entertainment," he said.

But if Facebook "were to concentrate on search, they could do something that stands to really hurt Google."