Bebo performs much better than its social networking rivals Facebook and MySpace, a report has found.

Consumer watchdog Which? assessed 10 popular social networking sites, testing each for ease of setting up and using the site, the range of features on offer, and the way the sites protected privacy and security.

Bebo, which was founded in January 2005 by husband and wife team Michael and Xochi Birch, achieved the highest overall score of 79 per cent, was rated easier to use than both Facebook and MySpace, and was named the best site for socialising.

The site also scored five out of five for performance.

Facebook finished with an overall score of 74 per cent, while MySpace, owned by News Corp, scored a slightly disappointing 67 per cent.

Abigail Waraker, Computing Which? magazine: "Social networking sites are growing in popularity and, as the success of Bebo in our test shows, sites like MySpace and Facebook can't rest on their laurels if they want to stay in the game."

Saga Zone and BBC Talk were both given a maximum five-star rating for their performance.

They were also named as 'Best Buys' for users interested in discussion groups.

Photo sharing website Flickr proved to be the best site in the special interest category, scoring five out of five for both performance and ease of use.

Performance of the site was rated on how quickly the pages loaded and whether everything worked as it was intended to.

Abigail Waraker, editor of Computing Which? magazine, said: "Social networking sites are growing in popularity and, as the success of Bebo in our test shows, sites like MySpace and Facebook can't rest on their laurels if they want to stay in the game.

"It's also encouraging to see that no matter what age you are or what interests you have, there is a social networking site out there for you."

California-based Bebo, which is primarily aimed at the 13 to 24 age group, has around 40 million members worldwide, including some 10.7 million in the UK.

Facebook, once largely confined to American colleges, enjoyed a bumper 2007 as it grew its global memberership base by more than 500 per cent to nearly 60 million.

MySpace, however, is still comfortably the world’s most popular social networking site, with a global audience of around 75 million.

Social networking sites allow their members to share pictures and messages with friends that also use the same service.