Global measurement and information firm, Nielsen released its "Digital Tops of 2012″ - a detailed analysis and ranking of top 10 Internet brands, top iPhone and Android apps and top online destinations for video for the year.

For the first time this year, smartphone users are a majority in mobile phone users, growing from 49 percent of mobile subscribers in Q1 2012, to 56 percent by Q3 2012. Resultantly, mobile app usage also continued to grow. Among the top 10 mobile apps, Twitter was the fastest growing Android app, and the Facebook Messenger app grew the most among iPhone apps. The apps were picked based on average unique users from the first quarter of  2012 to the third quarter. 

Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2012

Nearly 28 million iPhone owners used the Facebook app on average each month this year, raising their unique users to 51 percent between January and October 2012.

Top 10 Android Apps of 2012

During 2012, 44 million Android smartphone owners used the Google Search app on average each month, growing their unique users 54 percent between January and October 2012.

Search-engine Google remained the top Web brand, with an average 172 million unique visitors each month between January and October 2012, followed by Facebook, which garnered an average of 153 million visits each month. Online video continued to grow in 2012, but YouTube remained the top online video source, averaging 132 million unique viewers during the year.