Facebook accounts for 1 in 50 UK Internet visits

Brits love their Facebook.

According to Internet metrics firm, Hitwise Intelligence, in the month of December Facebook accounted for one in every fifty UK Internet visits, peaking on Christmas day. Furthermore, Facebook’s market share in the UK has increased ten-fold over the past twelve months.

Whilst such growth is impressive, Hitwise's data doesn't really surprise me. Based on my own personal experience (I'm based in the UK), Facebook usage amongst Brits over the last few months has spread faster than this winter's Norovirus. This has also been reflected in the amount of UK media coverage that Facebook has garnered, much of which has been around the privacy and safety issues relating to social networking sites, and Facebook in particular.

The Hitwise data also shows an increase in the number of UK visits to social networking sites in general, and reflecting this, an increase in the amount of traffic those sites are sending to others (outbound links). Perhaps Facebook et al. aren't such silos after all.