Visits to U.K. blogs now account for almost 1 in 200 visits to all websites there, representing a 130 percent increase over last year's rates, according to new Hitwise data, reports NetImperative. Although MSN Spaces and LiveJournal dominate the U.K. market, MySpace is rapidly gaining in popularity, with a 500 percent increase since it debuted in the Hitwise rankings in September 2004.

Now the number-four blog site in the U.K., blog.myspace.com has seen traffic surge over the last six months as word-of-mouth has spread, propelling it to the 25th position among most-visited U.K. sites in June. MySpace, along with parent Intermix, was recently acquired by Rupert Mudoch's News Corp.

Hitwise said MySpace, a social networking site, has major appeal for the lucrative 18-24 age demographic, with its strong emphasis on the hottest bands and hosting new music releases. More than 30 percent of visitors to MySpace are from that age demographic, 21 percent higher than the average for blog sites.

With a 7.9 percent share of display ad impressions in June, MySpace prevailed over previous leader MSN Hotmail, as well as Yahoo Mail, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.