Social Networking Status In Australia

March 26, 2012 - PRLog -- NINE MILLION AUSTRALIANS NOW INTERACTING VIA SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES:
NIELSEN

1) Facebook dominates online social networking
2) Twitter records strongest growth in social media usage
3) Mobile social networking gaining traction

It is found that close to four in five Australian
Internet users (78%) sent or shared a photo in the past year and nearly three quarters (74%) sent or r shared a photo in the past year and nearly three quarters (74%) sent or
shared a link. The biggest increases in social media usage were reading and posting on Twitter,
reading wikis and engaging with brands and organisations via social media, including watching online video to support purchase decisions


Twitter’s audience levels grew by more than 400% in 2009 and nearly one quarter of online
Australians (23%) read ‘tweets’ in the past year, 14 percent ‘followed’ companies or organisations via
Twitter (up from 5% in 2008) and 13 percent posted ‘tweets’ (up from 4% in 2008). Wikis continued
to grow as a popular form of online content – close to three quarters of Australian Internet users
(73%) read a wiki in the past year compared to 61 percent in 2008 and just 37 percent in 2007.
Nearly two in five online Australians are now interacting with companies via social networking sites,
reinforcing notions that Australians are open to engaging with brands and companies online.
shared a link. The biggest increases in social media usage were reading and posting on Twitter,
reading wikis and engaging with brands and organisations via social media, including watching online video to support purchase decisions.

Social networking on sites such as Facebook was a key driver in Australians’ trial and uptake of
social media. Close to three in four online Australians (73%) have looked at others’ profiles on social
networks and well over one third (37%) of these report to be interacting with others via social
networking sites on a daily basis. Facebook dominates the online social networking space, with three
quarters of Australian Internet users (75%) reporting to have visited Facebook (see chart 2), 59
percent have a Facebook profile, and the average time spent on Facebook in a given month is 8:19
hours – seven and a half hours more than its closest rival site, YouTube. Moreover, 83 percent of
social networkers name Facebook as their main social networking platform, up from 72 percent in
2008 and 34 percent in 2007.

The rise in Smartphone ownership (43% of online Australians now own a Smartphone
1
) and relaxed
download caps on mobile phone plans has seen mobile social networking gain traction in the past
year. Nielsen’s report found that over one quarter of social networkers (26%) participated in mobile
social networking in the past year, with younger consumers the most likely to participate in social
networking via mobile – 66 percent of mobile social networkers are under 35 years of age. Facebook
is the most popular social networking site accessed via a mobile (92% of mobile social networkers
have visited Facebook), followed by YouTube and Twitter (18%) and MySpace (9%). However,
Twitter sees the most frequent mobile usage, with half of its mobile users visiting the site daily. In
comparison, Facebook saw 36 percent of its mobile users visit the site daily, while 22 percent of
MySpace users and 16 percent of YouTube users were making daily visits.

# # #

Nichesuite an e-business solution that scales up with your growing needs, this e solution offers an easy way to consolidate user reviews, expert viewpoint and analyst comments, apart from drastically reducing turnaround times to set up your e-business. NicheSuite is a future-ready solution that meets your needs of today and the demands of tomorrow.