Facebook gains family approval

The social networking site has surged up the rankings from 69th to 43rd overall in online research into more than 100 recognised family brands.

Researchers said the site had "strong" showings in the "socially responsible" and "good listeners" category in the poll of 1,531 people conducted in October.

By comparison, Twitter, the microblog social media site, gained only one place in the rankings from 93rd to 92nd in the FamilyBrands report, now in its second year.

The findings were revealed by advertising agency Isobel in association with polling organisation YouGov.

Facebook announced in July that more than 500 million people have joined the site, almost 8 per cent of the world's population.

Among airlines, Ryanair ranked in the bottom 10 favourite family brands.