Facebook logs one in every seven UK page views

Facebook is the second most visited site in the UK after Google UK

One in every seven web site page views in the UK in September was to Facebook, according to the latest figures from Experian Hitwise.

The social networking site logged 14.5 per cent of all UK page views, and was beaten as the most visited site only by Google.co.uk.

"During September, Facebook was the second most visited web site in the UK after Google UK but, because users view a much larger number of pages per visit, Facebook is the clear leader in terms of page views," said Robin Goad, director of research for Experian Hitwise in the UK.

"During September, Facebook received more page views than Google UK, eBay UK and YouTube combined."

Visits to Facebook have increased by 86.1 per cent over the past year, and the firm dominates its peers, clocking up almost 50 per cent of all UK internet visits to social networking sites.

"Although Facebook has fallen somewhat off the media radar in favour of Twitter recently, it remains far and away the most popular social networking web site in the UK," said Goad.

"A key measure of success for any social network is average session time. As we have seen with sites such as Friends Reunited and MySpace, when average session times begin to drop off, visitor numbers soon follow. Facebook has yet to experience this problem."

Given the popularity of such sites it will come as no surprise that an increasing number of companies are choosing to block access at work.

A new report from law firm Fulbright & Jaworski found that 52 per cent of UK organisations restrict employee access to social media web sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter and YouTube.

However, because of their popularity and the risks of "disclosure" that they present, Fulbright & Jaworski suggests that organisations adopt, rather than block, social networking sites.

The firm said that controlling access to such sites and applications is the best way to ensure that they are not being misused.