Year on year, the digital space is changing, and if it is tracked, it can provide us with a broad range of useful and important insights on the impact of the Internet/ICT on individual countries, geographic regions and the world as a whole. In this article, we highlight some of the key findings of the Digital 2019 report, which focuses on Internet and social media use.

 

In January 2019, popular social media firms, Hootsuite and We Are Social, published their annual Digital 2019 report, in which they present digital data for virtually every country in the world, along with select consolidated figures by regions. As expected, and for such a mammoth task, data has been drawn from a broad range of sources, including but not limited to public and private companies, market research firms and government agencies, to name a few. However, due to the sheer scope of the undertaking, it still provides a holistic view of digital development worldwide, along with useful data on individual countries, which may not be otherwise captured and presented.

To kick off our Snapshot series for 2019, we will be presenting some of the global findings, which covers over 240 territories worldwide. We will also be highlighting data for the Caribbean, as a region, and for specific Caribbean countries, which were mentioned in the global report.

Internet stats

As at January 2019, globally, there were:

  • 7.676 billion people, and since the last review (January 2018), over 84 million people have been added to the global population
  • 5.112 billion unique mobile users, or 67% of the population. Between January 2018 and January 2019, over 100 million users were added
  • 4.388 billion Internet users, or 57% of the population. Between January 2018 and January 2019, over 367 million users were added.

The Caribbean region is reported to have a population of approximately 44 million, with literacy rates of 83% for females and 85% for males. The global average is 83% for females and 90% for males.

As it relates to Internet user penetration, the Caribbean region stands at 51% (or just 23% of the regional population), which is around 6 percentage points lower than the global average. However, in terms of country rankings, Aruba is in the number 1 slot (99% penetration), with Andorra, Bermuda, Iceland, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Norway and Denmark). On separate note, Cuba is ranked 16th in the world for relative Internet user growth, which jumped by 27% between January 2018 and January 2019.

The search engine, Google, was the most visited website in the world, with YouTube and Facebook rounding out the top three. Further, for the top 10 million websites, more than half (54%) were in English (6.1%), with Russian (6.0%), German (4.9%), Spanish and French websites (4.0%), rounding out the top five. Ironically, Chinese websites were only 1.7% of those reviewed.

With respect to Internet consumption, overall, it is growing. On average, individuals are spending:

  • 6 hours and 42 minutes online per day via any device, which is seven minutes less than in 2018
  • 3 hours and 14 minutes per day using mobile Internet, which is eight minutes longer than in 2018
  • 3 hours and 28 minutes per day using laptops, desktop and/or tablet computers, which is 15 minutes less than in 2018.

Social media stats

As at January 2019, globally, there were:

  • 3.484 billion active social media users, or 45% of the population. Between January 2018 and January 2019, over 288 million users were added
  • 3.256 billion mobile social media users, or 42% of the population. Between January 2018 and January 2019, over 297 million users were added

The most largest social platforms, based on active users accounts, were Facebook, with 2.271 billion active accounts; YouTube, with 1.9 billion active accounts; and WhatsApp, with 1.5 billion active accounts.

For the Caribbean region, social media penetration was reported to be 46%, or around 20 million of the total population. However, with respect to its population that is 13 year and older – and so eligible to be have social media accounts – the region’s social media penetration jumps to 59% of that cohort.

For territories with populations over 50,000. the Cayman Islands was ranked 5th, and had a social media penetration 89%, behind Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Brunei and Kuwait. However, limited to the eligible population, the Cayman Islands tied for 1st, at 99%, with  Brunei, Guam, Iceland, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Malta, the Philippines, Qatar, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

Globally, social media use is highest among individuals aged 25—34 years old, with the second highest cohort being those between 18 and 24 years old. In a survey conducted in 2018 of Internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 years old, the following findings were reported:

  • 98% of respondents had visited or used a social network or messaging service in the past month
  • 83% of respondents actively engaged with or contributed to social media in the past month
  • the average amount of time per day spent using social media was 2 hours and 16 minutes
  • the average number of social media accounts per internet user was 8.9
  • only 24% of Internet users used social media for work purposes.

Preliminary thoughts

The above is just a brief summary of the some of the findings of the latest Digital Report. Of particular note is the fact that the digital space is still growing, and much of the growth into the foreseeable future will be in developing countries, as more people become connected to, and begin to use, the Internet. We are also spending a considerable amount of time online – on average 6.5 hours per day, or 195 hours per month. To put that in perspective, the typical work day is around 7.5 to 8 hours!

Further, if there was ever a doubt, social media is here to stay. Most social media platforms are still growing, especially the popular ones, and are adding tens of millions of new users every year. Additionally, users typically have around 9 different social media accounts, and spend over two hours a day on those platforms, which in turn speaks to social media’s important in their lives.

However, the considerable amount of time we are spending online should lead to question about our productivity. If we are spending 6.5 hours a day online, how productive are we at school or in the workplace? Further, for the time remaining – outside of the Internet and social media use – what are the types and duration of other activities in which we engage?

 

Stay tuned for future articles, in which we will present the findings for individual Caribbean countries.

 

 

Image credit:  geralt (Pixabay)