E-mail, job search, instant messaging most preferred by Indian internet users

Most Indians use the internet to either write or receive emails, date online, or socialize on networking websites such as Orkut.

The findings of India Online 2007, based on a survey of internet users’ behavior conducted by online research solutions consultancy firm JuxtConsult, show that online matrimonial search has established itself as a “mainline” online activity in India. Almost half of the online urban Indians (48%) engage in online matrimonial search.

Over 12 million online urban Indians are using online matrimonial search, making it the 13th most popular online activity.

In comparison to matrimony, dating or friendship is a more popular online activity, keeping 51% of internet users occupied, and ranks 10th in terms of popularity.

The latest entrant to the internet realm, social networking websites such as Orkut and Facebook, already account for 44% of internet time, with over 11 million Indians using them.

Giving a demographic profile of internet users in India, the survey by JuxtConsult points out that South India leads in online activity.

The survey was conducted both online and offline, covering over 36,000 respondents from 31 cities spread across India.

The second most preferred activity by online users is job search. Searching jobs online is no more limited to big cities – only 4 out of 10 online job seekers in urban India come from the top 10 metro cities, the survey revealed.

The top three most-preferred activities by online users, according to the survey, are emailing (95%), job search (73%) and instant messaging (62%).

Of the total 30.32 million urban internet users, around 25.17 million (83%) are ‘regular’ users who log on at least once a month and the rest 5.15 million (17%), are ‘occasional’ users who use the internet less frequently.

The penetration of internet among urban Indians is at present at 9% or 30.32 million users.

According to the report, while the growth in 2006 was fueled by the spread of cyber cafes, it was driven by home users in 2007.

The internet usage from homes has gone up by 19% to reach 59%. However, usage of cyber cafes has gone up by only 1% in 2007.

The study also brought to light that, while the usage of internet has shown a slow but steady growth over 2006, e-commerce, especially for travel products, has shown an enormous growth.