According to a new study from TNS Digital Life, the Japanese have the least amount of friends on social networking sites, while Malaysian web users have the most.
Users in Malaysia have an average of 233 friends, followed closely by Brazil at 231. Japanese users only had an average of 29 friends.
Chinese web users, despite heavy use of social networks, had a low average of 68 friends.
In terms of time spent on social networking sites, Malaysians averaged 9 hours per week, with Russian users following at 8.1 hours and Turkish users in third at 7.7 hours per week.
“This study covers more than twice as many markets as any other research,” added Matthew Froggatt, TNS chief development officer. “It is the first truly global research into online activities, including all the key emerging markets… We have also researched beyond basic behavior to provide more detailed data into attitudes and emotional drivers of that behavior.”
You can read the full study here: Global ‘Digital Life’ research project reveals major changes in online behaviour
Result for: social networks
According to a new report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, texting among American teenagers has exploded over the past years, with 14-to-17-year old girls averaging over 100 sent and received per day.
Overall, over 30 percent of all those surveyed sent 100 per day while 50 percent send over 50.
As of September 2009, 54 percent of teenagers sent at least one message daily, an increase from the 38 percent figure in Pew’s data taken a year before.
Teenage boys only averaged 20 per day.
Says the report: “They are using [mobile phones] to share stories and photos. They are using them to entertain themselves when they are bored. They are using them to microcoordinate their schedules and face-to-face gatherings. And some are using their phones to go online to browse the Web, to participate in social networks and check their e-mails.”
On the other hand, the report goes into the “darker” aspects of the texting growth saying: “Teens are also using mobile phones to cheat on tests and to skirt rules at school and with their parents. Some are using their phones to send sexts, others are sleeping with buzzing phones under their pillows, and some are using their phones to place calls and text while driving.”
The strong growth in texting is thanks to the increasing number of unlimited text subscriptions purchased.
Result for: social networks
Okay, while the headline may be a bit sensationalist, according to the new 2010 Digital Hate Report, terrorists and racists are increasingly turning to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to lure children.
The report is released annually by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance, and it “aims to assist law enforcement, public officials, educators, parents and the news media to better grasp the scope of hate.”
2010DHR is based on 11,500 “problematic” sites, forums, Twitter posts and social networks and the report has found that “hate-filled” language is increasing in social networks, as well as offensive and “disturbing” video footage.
More disturbing, was the increase in “how-to” posts for suicide terrorists, including bomb making and laser technology. Terrorists are using social networks to brainwash young children into “hate-filled Islamic fundamentalist zombies,” some as young as six years old.
