The BBC plans to expand into the social networking arena using its big name commercial brands such as Top Gear, Radio Times and BBC Good Food to attract users. 

A spokeswoman for BBC Worldwide said that development of its online services would continue over the next year, although no timescale had been set for the social networking plans to be implemented. 

"The teenager part of this [trend] might have reached capacity, but there might be other communities that we could explore given the brand and our existing online presence," the spokeswoman told Reuters.

"If appropriate social networking opportunities arise we would look at them very seriously, because this is a growing area of business that we are not particularly in at the moment."

The spokeswoman added that the social networking phenomenon seemed to be the way that websites are developing, and that BBC sites would carry more interactive sections in future.