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Indians spend less time on social networking sites: comScore

In February 2010, 69 per cent of the total Internet users (India) visited a social networking website, while more than 90 per cent of the total Internet users checked a social networking site in countries such as Philippines and Australia

A latest report on social networking activity in the Asia Pacific region in February 2010, released by comScore, the US based Internet audience measurement firm, indicates that India is behind many APAC countries such as Philippines, Indonesia and Australia in terms of social media usage.

Indians spend less time on social networking sites: comScore
The study reveals that in February 2010, 69 per cent of the total Internet users (from India) visited a social networking website, while more than 90 per cent of the total Internet users had checked a social networking site in countries such as Philippines and Australia. More than 80 per cent of the total Internet users in nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand had logged on to a social networking platform in the same month.

Overall, more than 50 per cent (240 million visitors) of the total online population in the Asia Pacific region (excluding China) visited a social networking site in February 2010.

Not just the number of users, the Indian market also lags behind in terms of social media engagement (time spent by the users on the sites).

An Internet user from India visited 13 times and spent about two hours on social networking category sites in February. The average time spent per visitor in February was more than 5.5 hours in both Philippines and Indonesia. Users from both these countries visited social networking websites an average of 26 times (Philippines) and 22 times (Indonesia) during the month.

Internet users in some other APAC nations such as Indonesia (5.4 hours and 22 visits per visitor), Australia (3.8 hours and 20 visits per visitor) and Malaysia (nearly 3.8 hours and 22 visits per visitor) exhibited strong social media engagement.

"While social networking continues to be one of the most popular and fastest growing web activities in the world, its dynamics in the Asia Pacific region exhibit significantly more individual market differentiation than in other global regions," says Will Hodgman, executive vice-president, Asia Pacific, comScore, in an official communiqué.

In terms of brand preferences, Facebook.com was the top social networking platform in eight APAC countries, including Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Vietnam. In other APAC countries, the top position was captured by local players such as Mixi.jp (Japan) and CyWorld.co.kr (South Korea). As expected, Google-owned Orkut.com ranked as the top social networking site in India, while Yahoo!'s Wretch.cc led in Taiwan.

The study did not consider visits on social networking sites through public computers such as Internet cafes, mobile phones or PDAs.

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