ComScore, Inc, a leader in assessing the digital world, has released its December rankings of the biggest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in the U.K. based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

According to report, the beginning of the Christmas shopping period brought augmented traffic to online retail sites, with the jewelry/luxury goods/accessories group witnessing the strongest expansion, followed by the mall, music, and flowers/gifts/greetings categories.

The report also said that high street retailers were mainly influenced by the seasonal uptick, with retailers including the John Lewis, HMV, Partnership and the Dixons Stores Group all enjoying firm growth in the number of visitors.  

Moreover, the e-Cards and Shipping categories also registered big gains.

The Royal Mail Group property rose by 31% to over 4 million visitors in December.

More interestingly, the visitors to online dating sites also grew significantly during the same period, as lonely hearts reached out to one another during the Christmas season.  

In the meantime, Facebook.com continued its rise to the top of the online rankings (having captured the fifth spot in the ranking in September), the social networking property climbed yet again in December to rank as the fourth most popular property.