Dubbed 'Digital Life', the research was done by TNS, the world's biggest custom research company. About 50,000 consumers in 46 countries were interviewed.
The survey finds that when looking at behaviour online, rapid growth markets such as Egypt (56 per cent) and China (54 per cent) have much higher levels of digital engagement than mature markets such as Japan (20 per cent), Denmark (25 per cent) or Finland (26 per cent). This is despite mature markets usually having a more advanced internet infrastructure.
The research also shows four out of five online users in China (88 per cent) have written their own blog or forum entry, compared to only 32 per cent in the U.S.
Another finding of the study was that online consumers are spending more time on social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn than on email. In rapid growth markets such as Latin America, the Middle East and China, the average time spent per week on social networking is 5.2 hours compared to only 4 hours on email.
Online consumers in mature markets remain more reliant on email, spending 5.1 hours checking their inboxes compared to just 3.8 hours on social networking. The heaviest users of social networking are in Malaysia (9 hours per week), Russia (8.1 hours per week) and Turkey (7.7 hours per week).
When it comes to who has more friends, online consumers in Malaysia top the list with an average of 233 friends in their social network, closely followed by Brazilians with 231. The least social are the Japanese with just 29 friends.
Surprisingly, Chinese consumers only have an average of 68 friends in their networks despite being heavy users of social networking sites, indicating a culture that embraces fewer but closer friendships.
"The Internet is a huge part of life in the 21st century but how it affects our lives varies depending upon where in the world you live," said TNS chief development officer Matthew Froggatt, "In rapid growth markets that have seen recent, sustained investment in infrastructure, users are embracing these new channels in much more active ways."
