Malaysians Have The Highest Number Of Friends On Social Media, Study Reveals

Malaysians have the highest number of buddies on social networking sites, whereas Japanese have the least, and emailing is becoming relatively old-fashioned in some places, says a research that was carried out in 46 countries.

The findings by a UK-based research company TNS reveal that internet users, on average, are spending more of their online time on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter than on emailing- even though these social networks have become popular in many countries only during the last few years.

However, while social networking has become increasingly common in the Middle East, Latin America and China, people in more advanced digital markets are still relying more on emails.

According to researchers, they interviewed 50,000 people in 46 countries.

The research shows that Malaysians have the highest number of friends on social networking sites, with 233 buddies on average, and also spend the highest amount of time on social media- with 9 hours per week on average. Brazilians too are big fans of social networking, with 231 friends on average.

Japanese have the least number of friends with an average of 29, while an average Tanzanian has 38 friends. But, according to the research findings, some may have a small number of closer friends.

The study also revealed that "emerging" digital markets are more advanced than the developed ones in terms of social networking and blogging. TNS said, "The research shows four out of five online users in China (88 percent) and over half of those in Brazil (51 percent have written their own blog or forum entry, compared to only 32 percent in the US".

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