The Internet Usage in the Middle East Survey was conducted by bayt.com to gauge Internet usage habits and attitudes among professionals and job seekers across the Middle East and North Africa region has thrown up some interesting findings.
This survey encompassed professionals in the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, KSA, Jordan, Lebanon and more and the data was collec-ted online between October 30 and November 22, 2009 with 13,847 respondents.
Key issues pertinent to frequency and reasons for using the Internet as well as attitudes towards online payments, online learning, online research and online social networking were addressed. While the world average internet penetration rate stands at 25.6 per cent (World Internet Statistics Website, September 2009), the Middle East scores a bit higher at 28.3 per cent even though it is way behind North America which tops the list with 74.2 per cent penetration.
Key findings
Most people access the Internet from the home and a sizeable 41 per cent also do it at work
16 per cent seem to have at least two computers at home – one which they solely use and another which is shared with family members
Most respondents (59 per cent) tend to use the Internet for work related purposes between one and four hours on average in a day while 25 per cent use the net for more than four hours in a day
The corresponding numbers are 55 per cent and 14 per cent for leisure purposes indicating leisure usage though lower than work related use, is still strong
23 per cent and 17 per cent respectively have their own blog or website. Tunisia (33 per cent and 24 per cent), Algeria (33 per cent and 23 per cent) and Oman (30 per cent and 24 per cent) have a higher incidence of such consumers
Online purchasing is not a very frequent activity
Most respondents (38 per cent) visit between six and ten sites in a day and another 26 per cent visit less than five sites every day
Most respondents felt that the Internet had replaced their use of print media to some extent for news (business or political) and leisure information
In terms of attitudes, most respondents feel virtual contact is sidelining real social activity but the benefit is that the Internet has helped networking which may not have been physically possible
Online communication is thought to be replacing traditional forms like telephone calls and more than half feel that it is difficult to find the required information given the abundance of data There was a strong positive inclination towards online education
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