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January 28, 2011
Study looks at time spent online
Canada and Israel have higher-than-average rates of Internet use, according comScore.
RHONDA SPIVAK
According to a recent article in Shalom Life, a study released by the private online data compiling firm comScore, Inc., shows that Canadians spend more time online than any other country. The study indicates that Canadian users logged an average of more than 2,500 minutes online a month, totaling almost 42 hours. The study also concluded that Canada has the largest number of Internet users per capita, with 68 percent. Israel was second, right behind Canada, with an average of around 2,300 minutes online per month.
There are a number of theories to explain why Canada and Israel have the highest rates of online usage. “When it comes to communication, when it comes to Facebook, when it comes to a lot of these Web 2.0 [social-networking] tools, community-based, Canadians are really highly sophisticated,” said comScore’s Canadian vice-president, Bryan Segal. “We are content-heavy and media-heavy, and I think that is one of the great things about our country.”
The data compiled by comScore show that 71 percent of Internet users visit Youtube each month. “In Canada, YouTube per capita consumption of video is number one in the world. It’s just absolutely crazy in terms of how passionate Canadians are about YouTube,” said Chris O’Neill, country director for Google in Canada, as quoted in Shalom Life. Similarly, nearly 83 percent of the online population has accounts on the social-networking site Facebook. Other popular sites among Canadian Internet users polled in the study include Wikipedia, Twitter and the National Hockey League site.
When former news reporter for Israeli Television and Jewish National Fund emissary for the Prairie Region Erez Rotem was asked to give possible explanations for Israel’s ranking, he listed several factors.
“First of all, Israel has the means necessary because we have a highly developed infrastructure, and [the] Internet is everywhere,” he said, adding that Israel is extremely developed in terms of its high-tech industry, being dubbed “Start-up Nation,” as recently outlined in the eponymous book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer.
“High-tech industry needs to have high-speed Internet to develop high-tech tools and products,” said Rotem, noting that
Israel has developed technology relating to computers, BlackBerrys, and tools for other cutting-edge communications.
“Some of the most important tools for the Net and for cellphones have been developed in Israel,” he added. “Israelis are constantly in touch with others for business reasons, as they export products around the world.” Israelis also have the highest per capita use of cellphones in the world, and many use their phones to access social media.
According to Rotem, Israelis “feel the need to be connected all of the time,” a fact, he said, related to Israel’s political situation and the many threats, hostilities and pressures it faces.
“Since many people have a child in the army, they want to be able to know how they are and if everything is alright at any given time, and this means they all have cellphones and they all want to know the news immediately. That means they go online to get it.
“We are the only nation in the Western world that faces threats of terrorism on a regular basis. Our history of being surrounded by many hostile states is such that we have had to face conflicts that can erupt very quickly. Israelis know that anything can happen any minute in Israel that can dramatically affect the political situation and/or that could impact directly on them. Israelis don’t wait until the evening to come home and see the day’s news; they want to be updated all the time. They check the news regularly throughout the day, which increases Internet usage.”
Rotem also said, “I don’t know anyone in Israel who doesn’t have a cellphone and I know many people who have three – one for personal use, one for business and one for traveling abroad.”
Israel is only country in the world where you will see a bus driver on a public bus turn on the radio for hourly news updates, Rotem said. “You will see people hush each other up so that everyone can hear the news [on the bus]. If people hear something that is of interest to them, then they get on their cellphones and then on the Internet to learn more about what has happened.”
Additionally, the need for immediate communication is heightened for those in the army. “The same people that are technologically savvy in the army later go on to develop tools and parts for [the] high-tech industry,” he said.
According to Rotem, another factor is that “Israelis care very much about what the world thinks of them, and they want to know what other countries are saying about them. That means they are more likely to be surfing the Net for this information. Since Israelis are always using the Internet and Facebook to be updated on the latest news for political developments or for business, once they are there, they begin to use the Internet for social reasons, to talk to friends, etc.”
Rotem also referred to an article published in Haaretz in March 2010, which reported that Israelis spend more time on Facebook than on any other site. Facebook’s head of strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa Trevor Johnson said that Israelis spend more than one billion minutes in total on Facebook every month, making it Israel’s most popular site by a significant margin. In an interview, Johnson claimed that the total time Israelis spend on Facebook is more than the time they spend on Google, Walla and YouTube combined
Israel’s love for Facebook has even caught the attention of the Israel Defence Forces. With so many soldiers using Facebook around the clock, and a few high-profile gaffes, the IDF has cautioned Israeli soldiers against publishing sensitive information on any social-networking site.
Rhonda Spivak is a freelance writer and editor of the Winnipeg Jewish Review.
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