According to a Neilsen report, as quoted in A World of Connections, a special report in The Economist on social networking, in October 2009 the countries in which users spent the most hours using social media were Australia, the UK and Italy. For each of this top three, the average user spent over six hours in the month.
Why these three? I haven't got a clue, but if I were to base my views on outrageous stereotypes then I'd say that:
- Australia is first because, if you live in a desert, thousands of miles from anywhere, then you need all the help you can get in keeping in touch with your mates.
- The UK is second because there are too many timid introverts for whom any human contact is better than none.
- And Italy is third because there are too many mad extroverts for whom there's no such thing as too much communication.
But of course I wouldn't dream of resorting to such dangerous generalisations, so what are the real reasons? I'd love to know your views.
I can tell you that Italians has way too much spare time to waste on social networks.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong! I'm not saying that time spent on social network has to be considered as "wasted". I'm just saying that Italians spend their time playing games and searching for useless stuff on social networks.
Wasting their (work)day away. Just like they did on sites like "iambored" or others. Well now it's social! So they're wasting time... together!
I can tell you this because I'm Italian. I know what I'm talking about (I spend less than 20 minutes per week on facebook and I use twitter much like a newsreader).
Obviously I'm just talking about people I know. But it may be a possible (sad) explanation.
Aussies are typically early adopters of technology for some reason. Sure, it's a big country with plenty of desert, but I'd hazard a guess and say that 90% of us are crammed in the cities. For myself, connecting to my peers in the US, UK and everywhere else via social media is really valuable.
ReplyDeleteNot only had those nationalities spent so much in social networks. Almost everybody does. But I don't think it is a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI will not say that UK people are introvert or Aussies have more desert that's why they are using Social Networking sites more than others. Basically popularity of Social Networking sites have increased due to the change of lifestyle. Now-a-days the life has become faster than earlier and keep in touch with your friends or family this is the best medium. At least you can have a chat with your friends or family right from your desk.
ReplyDeleteJust consider the popularity of Social Networking sites in Asiatic countries such as China, Malaysia, Singapore or India. This thing will be more clear to you. Thanks, Gerard.
Clive
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of social networking by country, have you seen this great piece of work: http://fanpageanalytics.com/countryprofiles.html which is explained well in this ReadWriteWeb article: http://bit.ly/aO2SLc?