Facebook overtook Microsoft websites in Britain for the first time last month, becoming the UK's second-most popular after Google as people aged over 50 flocked to social networks. Facebook attracted a record 26.8 million visitors in Britain in May, up 7 per cent year on year, beating the 26.2 million who visited Microsoft's MSN/WindowsLive/Bing sites combined. Google had 33.9 million.
Twitter's UK audience jumped by a third to 6.1 million, after thousands of users retweeted allegations of celebrity scandals in defiance of gagging orders, including an extramarital affair by Manchester United soccer star Ryan Giggs. LinkedIn, whose market value has risen 58 per cent to $6.65 billion since its New York stock market debut last month, registered 3.6 million UK visitors in May, up 57 per cent from a year earlier.
Facebook attracted 140 million visitors in the United States, up 12 per cent. In Spain, its numbers were up 7 per cent, in France - 18 per cent, in Italy - 26 per cent and in Germany - 72 per cent.
