Despite what comScore would have us believe about Bebo, Nielsen NetRating has announced that Facebook is the UK's most popular social networking site.

New figures just released reveal some interesting stats about the state of Britain online today, and what's up and coming in terms of success for tomorrow.

As well as site visits the figures also reflect the duration of visits too - giving an extra dimension to web audience measurement.

Here's some handpicked highlights from these results to enthrall your colleagues with over the water-cooler:

• Facebook received 6.5 million Unique Visitors in August 2007 compared to 6.4 million for MySpace – both are now visited by one in every five Britons online
• Since December 2006, Facebook’s audience has grown by 541% compared to 20% for MySpace
• Almost half (48%) of Britons online (15.3 million people) visited at least one of the ten most popular social networks in August 2007
• Perfspot.com had no recorded figures until April 2007; since then it has grown by 756% in just four months - making it the fastest growing social network in 2007 ahead of Facebook, which has grown by 541% across the eight months from December 2006 – August 2007
• Three of the ten fastest growing social network brands are formed around specific interest groups – business, travel and music
• Amongst social networks, Facebook accrued the most total time spent by Britons (991 million minutes) followed by Bebo (600 million minutes) and MySpace (540 million minutes)
• Virtual world Second life is the leading social network in terms of monthly time per visitor (5 hours 29 minutes) followed by teen community Habbo (3 hrs 6 mins) and Tagged.com (2 hrs 40 mins)

>> Link - Nielsen NetRatings