Kiwis rank high on internet connectivity
Areport from social media management platform, Hootsuite, shares some interesting data about how the world, and New Zealand in particular, is using the internet in 2020.
The new research shows the number of internet users around the world has grown to 4.54 billion, an increase of 298 million users, compared to January 2019.
This isn’t a huge number. The internet still only has a 59 per cent penetration rate – meaning nearly half the world still isn’t online.
New Zealand, by comparison, has a 93 per cent internet penetration rate, representing an increase of 2.4 per cent, or 103,000 users, on last year.
This puts us just behind Northern Europe, which has the highest internet use rate in the world, with 95 per cent of the population regularly online. Central Africa, conversely, only has 22 per cent of its population using the internet.
With New Zealand nearing the top of connectivity tables, it’s interesting to take a closer look at how we are all using the internet.
We’re not using it as much as you might think. That’s the most surprising finding from the report. On average, New Zealanders spend just more than six hours a day using the internet. This puts us in the lower half of global internet usage, with the Philippines topping the charts with a massive
9.45 hours spent online per day.
Unsurprisingly and uninspiringly, we are spending more than three hours a day streaming our favourite films and television shows. We dedicate a further one hour and 45 minutes to visiting our 7.1 (on average) social media sites per day.
YouTube is our favourite social media site, with 88 per cent of us visiting the video streaming site on a monthly basis.
Facebook is a close second with 84 per cent. Instagram is the next highest traditional social media site with a relatively low 52 per cent of us using the platform each month.
We’re also a smartphone-first nation. With smartphones (46.8 per cent) edging out laptops and personal computers (46.3 per cent) for the majority share of page views by device.