The Great Facebook Race takes off

MySpace attracts the largest number of social network users in the UK but Facebook is catching up fast.

According to figures from digital research group ComScore, MySpace had 10.76 million unique UK visitors in June 2007 and Facebook attracted slightly more than six million.

Facebook was actually in third place for the number of UK users behind Bebo, which came out a strong second with just over 10 million unique users.

But Facebook's popularity has exploded during the past 12 months, with year-on-year user growth of more than 2,000 per cent. MySpace grew by 149 per cent in the same period.

A similar picture emerges globally, although Facebook's growth of 270 per cent and MySpace's 72 per cent are slightly more modest than in the UK.

MySpace received 114 million visitors globally in June 2007, while Facebook got slightly more than 52 million during the month.

In terms of daily global visitors, MySpace was top with around 28.8 million people logging in per day. Facebook had slightly less than 15 million.

Bob Ivins, executive vice president of international markets at ComScore, said the figures show social networking is not a fad but is "being woven into the very fabric of the global Internet".

According to the research, MySpace and Facebook gain most of their audience from North America, while Bebo's key user-base is in Europe.

Such has been the rise of Facebook that, according to various newspaper reports, a growing number of companies are banning it from the office as they see its use as a drain on company time.

But Facebook told CNET.co.uk's sister site, silicon.com: "While we respect the decision of employers to put Web site policies into place, we also encourage them to consider the important role Facebook plays in people's daily lives."

The company added that the site is an efficient way for people to share information and communicate with work colleagues.

Other sites included in the survey were Friendster, Hi5, Orkut and Tagged.