Global Internet Usage
Demographics and population stats
The current world population is estimated to be 6,676,120,288 of which 1,407,724,920 are internet consumers. This is a world population internet penetration of 21.1%. Relatively, the most internet consumers are to be found in North America (73.1%), Australia (57.0%) and Europe (47.7%).
In absolute numbers the most internet users are to be found in Asia (530 million), even though the internet penetration in Asia is only 14%. Europe comes in second here with 382 million internet users.
By late 2007 Canada was estimated to have 81% of Canadians living in communities served by high-speed Internet access. High penetration rate of PCs and of cable TV networks have been major contributing factors to broadband growth.
The increasing demand for cable VoIP is causing a grow in the demand for cable broadband. Accordingly, an estimated 67% of Canadian households with Internet access used broadband connections.
By country, the most internet users are in the U.S. (211 million), followed up by China (162 million) and Japan (86 million). Germany (50 million) and the UK (38 million) are the leading European countries.
Global consumption of content on the internet
In 2007 the internet was most used for emailing (92%) and searching for information (91%). Mapping and directions tools (86%) and doing product research (81%) were popular activities as well. About 66% of all Internet users report also using the web to buy products and services. The internet is also emerging as an entertainment utility, with over a third users being active in online gaming.
Online purchasing, buying & making travel reservations and online banking are rising in popularity. Stock trading and online auctions remain engaged in by much smaller fractions of Internet users. Only a quarter of the internet users report they join online auctions and 11% doing online stocktrading. However, business to consumer and commercial online transactions are gaining popularity and keep on growing.
User generated content is the most valued online content and leads to higher conversion, average order value, traffic from SEO, lower returns and new opportunities for merchandising and marketing. Conversion rates have been reported to increase anywhere from 10% to 100%.
After user ratings and reviews, special offers & coupons are very much desired. Followed up by product or price comparison tools, customer testimonials, product videos, ability to subscribe to e-mail or rss alerts, discussion boards and/or forums, customizing online profiles, games and entertainment, questionnaires and uploading and viewing your own content. User generated content is big, real and wanted.
What’s happening on the internet?
In 2007, the most popular internet applications were email, search (search engines), online banking, sharing photos/videos/files, geographic navigation services and mapping, shopping.
Online shopping mostly starts at a specific merchant (54%). After that comes comparison shopping sites (22%), search engines (11%), shopping portals (8%) and auction sites (5%). Two-thirds of Americans found shopping online convenient and time-saving. Still, they aren’t comfortable giving their credit card information online or by phone.
81% of internet users have used the internet to do research about a product they are thinking about buying, with 20% doing this on the typical day. 66% of online users have purchased a product online, such as books, music, or clothing, with 6% saying they do this on the typical day. 64% have bought or made a travel reservation online, such as an airline ticket, hotel room, or rental car, with 4% doing so on the average day. 26% have participated in an online auction, with 3% doing this on the average day. 17% have paid to access or download digital content, such as a newscast, sporting event, or radio show; some 4% do this on the typical day. 11% have bought or sold stocks online, and just 1% do this on the average day.
Although adult consumers in the US use the Internet to research and discover new products, it is usually not the key factor in final purchasing decisions. Most online Americans view online shopping as a way to save time and a convenient way to buy products. However, when it came to actually choosing what to buy, only 12% of music purchasers surveyed said that online information had a major impact on their decision.
The Internet is a tactical tool for shoppers who use it in product research, and usually not a game-changer in people's purchasing decisions.
Popular websites and online activities
In US colleges, online video related websites are really popular. Also social networking is one of the popular activities on the net. Facebook is rated the most popular website by both male and female college students in the US. Youtube comes in second.
Although it is suggested that consumers are less interested in social networking than they were before, for college students social network sites are still a key place for communication and socializing. Estimates of college students using social networking sites in 2007 ranged from about 50% to 95% (depending on the frequency of usage in question).
Facebook is less popular in Europe. According to Alexa, Facebook is no. 38 on the most popular website in The Netherlands. The top 5 exist out of Google, Windows Live, Hyves.nl, Youtube & Marktplaats.nl. Hyves, the number 3 on the list is a Dutch social networking site which seems to be a replacement for the American Facebook. On the 5th spot Marktplaats (Marketplace) can be found, which is an auctioning website like eBay & Kijiji.
Outside the US, MySpace currently seems to be more popular than Facebook (Facebook is growing faster though). But whether it’s MySpace, Facebook or a local network website, social networking is a hot topic everywhere you go. Google, Yahoo, Myspace, Facebook, Wikipedia, Youtube, eBay & Windows Live seem to be popular everywhere.
Gaming seems to be very popular in the US as well. Even though 4 out of 10 online gamers are 2 to 17 years old, the online gamers are presented by people of different age groups. There still is a big market for (online) gaming.
Blogging is very popular also, not only inside the US but outside as well. Anyone can start a blog about anything. The US often sees itself as a leader on many areas, but they are actually just catching up with the rest of the world. It’s been said that China (43 million users) has already passed the US (26.4 million users) in the number of people starting their own blogs. Online social network membership in countries such as Brazil, Russia, Taiwan and Mexico was said to be growing at more than 70% annually, compared with less than 49% in the US.
Virtual worlds like Second Life, World of Warcraft, Gaia online, etc. are rising in popularity as well. Especially teenagers are active in this area. Virtual worlds are attracting more marketers as consumer media consumption keeps on changing, especially among the younger users. The amount of time spent in these worlds demand a lot of attention.
The internet users are telling each other who they are, what they do and what they stand for. They’re all connected through online social networks. Everybody’s doing it.
Mobile Social Networking
The current big development however is Mobile Social Networking. eMarketer forecasts that mobile social networking will grow from 82 million users in 2007 to over 800 million worldwide by 2012.
For example, MySpace recorded over 7 million unique visitors to MySpace Mobile in the US in the six months since launch. Facebook claimed 4 million unique registrations. Mobile-only social networking players such as airG, Mocospace, myGamma and itsmy.com all reported several million users soon after launch.
There already are more mobile users than PC users. Analysis say that most of the growth will not happen until after 2010, when the technical and market environment for mobile media and entertainment is expected to improve.
Page (1/2) - Continue to next page..
