Despite Facebook’s gains, Google remains best buy

Surprising some people, media metrics rater ComScore recently ranked Facebook as the third-largest online video provider.

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), of course, remains top dog with its YouTube subsidiary. But according to StreetInsider.com, “Facebook is getting dangerously close to Google … in terms of total unique viewers of online video within the U.S.”

But that overstates the case quite a bit. Google continues to top the rankings in oh-so-many ways.

ComScore clocked it at 149.3 million unique views in July – nearly three times as many as Facebook. Google also leads the pack in the amount of time viewers camp out on its video real estate, with an average of nearly six hours per month, 72 percent more time than even Hulu clocks.

That’s impressive when you consider that Hulu specializes in getting people to click on full-length television episodes, rather than the short clips that predominate on YouTube. It takes an awful lot of “Monkey Washing a Cat” videos to equal one rerun of “30 Rock” on Hulu, but all those mini-clips add up.

Many are drooling over Facebook’s impending initial public offering (IPO). For the time being, though, Google remains the biggest game in town, the most profitable, and arguably the best value on offer today. (The Motley Fool owns shares of Google and our newsletter services have recommended it.)

Ask the Fool

Q: Should I pay off my college loans as soon as possible, or stick to the long-term repayment schedule and start investing in stocks a little? – J.S., Lake Charles, La.

A. It all boils down to interest rates. If you’re paying 6 percent on your loans, but you expect to earn 9 percent annually on your investments, then you’ll likely earn more than you pay out, if you pay on schedule. If your debt is costing you much more than you expect to earn, pay it off pronto.

My dumbest investment

In 1998 we sold our house and moved overseas. We invested our equity with a broker-friend who worked for a big-name, full-service brokerage. When Cisco started to tank, our friend got out but didn’t get us out. At the time we didn’t have satellite or cable, so we had no idea how the market was reacting. Got in at $64 per share, got out at $28. Goodbye, nice house! – D., online

The Fool responds: Ouch. It sounds like you might have had too much of your money invested in that one stock. It’s always best to diversify over, say, at least a dozen holdings. It’s also good to diversify across different industries. While many Internet- and computer-related companies imploded in 2001, other kinds of enterprises fared much better. Cisco dropped 47 percent, but General Electric sank only 18 percent, and Colgate-Palmolive less than 4 percent.

It’s always best to keep an eye on your holdings regularly, as professional money managers can sometimes let you down. And consider selling if any stocks ever seem very overvalued, as many did in 2000.