More than 40pc of Aussies spend 41.5mn hrs surfing the web

SYDNEY - Australians’ love affair with the Internet seems continuing, with more than 40 percent surfers spending millions of hours on social networking sites each month.

The data, released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, shows the dominance of social networking sites such as Facebook an Youtube, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Almost two-thirds of Australian Internet users in June accessed Facebook and 43 percent logged into YouTube.

Google remained the most popular website in Australia, with 86 percent of those online in June using the search engine.

At June 2010, approximately 77 percent of Australians aged 14 years and over were connected to the Internet at home while 66 percent had broadband.

The report said nearly 2.4 million people accessed the Internet via their mobile during June 2010, up from 1.6 million in 2009.

The number of people who are counted as ‘heavy” Internet users has also doubled in the past five years, with 28 percent of Australians spending more than 15 hours a week online.

Another 27 percent, considered ‘medium’ users, spent seven to 15 hours on the Internet and 23 percent spend less than seven hours online.

The volume of information and content downloaded by Australians grew from 99,249 terabytes in the 2009 June quarter to 155,503 terabytes in the 2010 June quarter.

The ACMA said the 56 per cent increase was consistent with “exponential” growth witnessed during the past several years.