Study of Global Online Behavior Finds Emerging Markets More Digitally Engaged

The largest ever global research project into people’s online activities has released its findings. The TNS Digital Life research involved 50,000 interviews with individuals in 46 countries, covering almost 90% of the world’s online population.

The study was aimed to uncover how the world’s online behavior may be shifting, in terms of both consumption and communication. And among the findings were that online consumers in emerging, rapid growth markets are more engaged than those in mature markets, with Egypt and China, for example, having much higher levels of digital engagement than Japan, Denmark, or Finland.

Sponsor

The Global Rise of Social Networks

In these rapid growth markets, blogging and social networking are becoming increasingly popular. 88% of online users in China and 51% of those in Brazil have their own blog, as compared to only 32% in the U.S. And 92% of those in Thailand, 88% of those in Malaysia and 87% of those online users in Vietnam have uploaded photos to social networks, as compared to only 28% of those in Japan.

The report points to the adoption of mobile technologies as fueling these trends. Mobile users spend more time on social networks, and respondents indicated that they anticipate spending even more time on them in the future.

And on average, across the globe, we are spending more time on social networking sites. The heaviest users of social networking are in Malaysia where people spend 9 hours per week. In Russia, online users spend 8.1 per week on social networking sites, and in Turkey, they spend 7.7 hours a week.

Malaysians Spend the Most Time, Have the Most Friends on Social Networks

Malaysians also have the highest number of friends on these sites – an average of 233. In Brazil, the average is 231. This is compared to countries like Japan, where the average is 29 and South Korea, where the average is 50.

According to TNS Chief Development Officer Matthew Froggatt, “We’ve seen that in mature markets where people have been online for years and where access is ubiquitous, the Internet has already become a commoditised item that consumers take for granted. However, in rapid growth markets that have seen recent, sustained investment in infrastructure, users are embracing these new channels in much more active ways.”

For the complete results, including some very nice infographics, visit the TNS Digital Life site.

Discuss