Facebook 'sets Christmas record'

By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat technology reporter

Facebook was the second most visited website behind Google

Facebook has set a new record as it had its busiest day ever over the Christmas holidays.

The social networking site accounted for one in every 22 online visits on Christmas Day, according to internet research company Hitwise.

That was up 69% from the same time in 2007 and meant it took an overall market share of 4.65%.

It makes Facebook the second most popular site after internet search engine Google.

Robin Goad from Hitwise said a lot of that extra traffic was down to people using social networking sites get in touch with friends and family over the holidays instead of more traditional phone calls or cards.

He said: "Christmas is always a busy time for social networking sites, but the increase this year was higher than expected.

"After the boom of these sites in the last couple of years growth is now slowing down.

"But these figures prove they're becoming central to people for keeping in touch with loved ones."

It wasn't just Facebook that had a great Christmas. The company says YouTube became the third most visited site.

Hitwise is an internet research company that monitors more than one million websites worldwide.