How Australians use the internet

Australia embraces wireless broadband

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in April 2011 reveal that the number of internet subscribers in Australia has increased by 10 – a 10 per cent increase on the previous six months (as at December 2010).

Of these, 8.1 million are household subscribers (up 6%) – driven mainly by an uptake in wireless broadband which increased by 22.5% to December 2010.

There has been a major surge in popularity of social media – not just as a means of social interaction but as a means of evaluating products and services. The greatest growth has been in the number of Australians contributing to and relying on online reviews, discussions, comments and (Facebook) ‘Likes’ before making a purchase.

Social Media dominates Australian Internet usage in 2010/11

Facebook is leading the way with 9.5 million subscribers in Australia accountung for about 65% of internet social media use.

Somewhat surprisingly, StumbleUpon is the second most used Social Media website in Australia in the last 12 months with Stat Counter figures putting usage amongst Australian internet users at 12% – that’s almost as much as YouTube and Twitter combined. Those figures reflect a general global trend but StumbleUpon doesn’t enjoy the same level of success outside of North America and Oceania.

In Australia, Google is even more dominant than globally – accounting for almost 95% of the market. Bing is second with roughly 3.5%, while Yahoo 7 pulls in just shy of 1.5% market share. This reliance on Google puts extra significance on Google’s +1 button.