Facebook saw its highest-ever traffic levels over the festive period, according to Hitwise.

The online monitoring company said the social networking site was the second most popular website visited by UK net surfers on Christmas Day, topped only by search engine Google.

In the US, Facebook traffic peaked on Christmas Eve when the site accounted for two percent of all sites visited.

Hitwise revealed that during Christmas week, social networking sites accounted for 10 percent of all UK internet visits.

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ISP PlusNet confirmed that Facebook was the second most popular website visited by its users on Christmas Day, once again being beaten by Google. PlusNet also highlighted that Facebook activity began to rise between 2pm and 3pm.

"Boredom of Facebook members may have been exacerbated by the bad weather, with internet users left with little to do but chat with friends online," said senior online analyst at Hitwise, Heather Hopkins.