ComScore, a leader in assessing the digital world, today released a report on the top social networking sites in India.

The report said that visitation to the site group grew 51% from the previous year to over 19 million visitors during December 2008.

According to report, global social networking brands continued to gain status in India in 2008, with Orkut, Facebook, hi5, LinkedIn and MySpace each witnessed significant increases in visitation.

Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president, said, “Social networking continued to grow strongly in India this past year, with several of the top global brands carving out a more prominent position.”

“While there is certainly room for several players in the social networking space in India, the sites that have the right blend of having both a strong brand and cultural relevance will be best positioned for future growth,” Hodgman added.

Orkut has topped the list of Social Networking Sites in December 2008 with over 12.8 million visitors, an increase of 81% as compared to the last year.

Orkut’s viewers were three times the size of its adjoining participant in the group. Facebook.com stood at #2 position with more than 4 million visitors, up 150% against year ago, accompanied by local social networking site Bharatstudent.com with 3.3 million visitors (up 88%) and hi5.com with 2 million visitors (up 182%).

The report also said that an overview of social networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region disclosed that the majority of the countries having highest reach in social networking also presented the highest level of site engagement.

In terms of penetration, Singapore led the region with over 74% of its online population visiting a social networking site in December 2008. Social networking visitors in Singapore also posted the most visits per visitor to the category with an average of 19 during the month.

Other countries in the region that displayed strong social networking penetration and engagement included Australia, South Korea and Malaysia. Despite the strong growth in India during the past year, it showed below average penetration and engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.