BANGALORE, INDIA: It's official. More individuals are logging in to social networking sites than viewing porn.

Online competitive intelligence analysts Hitwise has provided to BBC, statistics on how internet users in the UK are hooked on to social networking sites, as lesser and lesser number of individuals are viewing pornographic content.

The 'touch point' happened in October when the number of surfers viewing porn and accessing social networking sites were equal in number. Subsequently though, the graph has steadily progressed to show a rise in social networking.

Hitwise revealed another interesting offshoot to this statistic. In the US, the number of users who 'social networked' overtook porn viewers as early as mid-2007, but the numbers of both categories proceeded neck-to-neck, and even now, the percentage for social networking is only marginally ahead.

Closer to home, no solid statistics are available, but an informal dipstick conducted by Cybermedia News reveals that Indians still have a Brit hangover, at least when it comes to Porn v/s Social networking battle.

We encountered more than a handful of individuals who admitted to have reduced 'porn consumption' and are spending more time social networking.

Sridhar D said, "Before I started facebooking actively, I would access porn at least twice a week. Now, I facebook every single day, and it's been more than six weeks since I have opened a porn page."

Roshni K adds to this sentiment. "I used to frequent adult chat sites almost every night, but ever since facebook started the live chat option, I've been spending most of my late nights catching up with friends and getting to know about their lives. I feel it's more healthy, real and utilizes the right sides of your brain."

Psychologically, there seems to be an interesting explanation for this phenomenon. According to Philip Thomas, trainee counselor, "The very basic reason for this is attention. Every individual, in his/her youth, seeks a certain magnitude of emotional and physical attention, the absence of which urges the individual to let unreal attention satiate his/her desires.”

According to him, social networking is mostly about real individuals, whose faces you either recognize or can relate to.

“In a way, its a healthier form of attention-seeking, since most activity in social networking sites is rooted in reality," observes Philip Thomas.

But do you think the fancy for the 'forbidden territories' is over? Or is it that people are avoiding it because it is more than available in their 'network'?