Social networking accounts for 1 of every 5 minutes spent online in Australia

Among the report's key findings was that social networking now accounts for the largest amount of total time spent online at 22%, an increase of 5.3 percentage points from the previous year, as social media plays an increasingly prominent role in Australians' digital lives.

"2010 was dynamic year for the digital media industry in Australia," said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for the Asia Pacific region. "Consumers are turning to the Internet with increasing frequency for a vast array of activities including entertainment, commerce, news & information and communication, as digital media becomes embedded in the daily lives of Australians. Look for 2011 to be another year of continued innovation and increased competition as brands vie for consumers' attention in this rapidly fragmenting digital environment."

Social networking accounts for nearly 22% of time spent

Social networking accounted for 21.9% of Australians' time online in December 2010, up 5.3 percentage points versus the previous year, and leading as the top online activity. Portals accounted for 19.7%, down nearly 10 percentage points from the previous year, while Instant Messengers accounted for 11.6% of time, down 7.7 percentage points, as both categories lost share to Social Networking throughout the year. Entertainment, which accounted for 9.1% of time in 2009, increased 2 percentage points to 11.1%.

Top Categories by Percent of Time Spent December 2010 vs. December 2009 Total Audience Australia, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations* Source: comScore Media Metrix, Panel-Only Data
	Dec-2009	Dec-2010	Percentage Point Change
Social Networking	16.6%	21.9%	5.3
Portals	29.3%	19.7%	-9.6
Instant Messengers	19.2%	11.6%	-7.7
Entertainment	9.1%	11.1%	2.0
e-mail	5.9%	5.9%	-0.1
Games	3.7%	3.2%	-0.5
News/Information	2.3%	3.0%	0.8
Search/Navigation	2.6%	2.8%	0.2
Auctions	2.7%	2.4%	-0.3
Community	2.2%	2.1%	-0.1

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs

Additional key insights from the report include:

• In December 2010, Microsoft sites led as the most-visited Internet property in Australia, followed by Google sites and Facebook.com. When looking at the top sites by total minutes spent, Facebook.com assumed the #1 spot followed by Microsoft sites and Google sites.
  
• More Australians visited Retail sites compared to last year, outpacing increases in the global average. Amazon and Apple led as the most-visited retail destinations.
  
• Group-buying sites continued to gain traction over the past year. Cudo, an MSN property, currently leads the space with 418 000 unique visitors in December 2010.
  
• 3 out of 4 online users in Australia watched online video in December 2010, with an average viewer watching more than 7 hours of video during the month.
  
• Nearly 12 million Australians conducted an online search query in December, with an average searcher performing 115 queries. Google sites accounted for 80% of searches in December.

To download a copy of the State of the Internet in Australia, go to www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/State_of_the_Internet_in_Australia.