Social networking explosion

Social networking has been the buzz on everyone's lips for the last couple of years, and a report just released by Hitwise confirms their success.

Social networks, such as Facebook and YouTube, accounted for 10% of all Internet visits in the week leading up to Christmas, the first time traffic had reached these levels.

As people increasingly use personal sites like Facebook and Bebo along with business sites such as LinkedIn or Twitter, the traffic has soared 20% in the last 12 months, and is now the 4th highest category in Hitwise's categories.