Participating in social networks most popular activity among internet users

Participating in social networks is the most popular activity among Internet users in Malaysia last year, according to the ICT Use and Access by Individuals and Households Survey Report 2019.

The survey report said the five most popular activities among Internet users were participating in social networks (97.1 per cent), downloading images, movies, videos or music and playing or downloading games (84.7 per cent), finding information about goods or services (83.5 per cent), making phone calls over the Internet or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) (77.4 per cent) and downloading software or applications (77.1 per cent).

Commenting on the survey report, Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today that the percentage of Internet usage in Malaysia had increased to 84.2 per cent in 2019 compared to 81.2 per cent in 2018.

Analysis of Internet users by age group showed that individuals in the age of 20 to 24 years year were more likely to use the Internet to find a job namely 49.5 per cent, while 56.3 per cent watching online television, he said.

"Individuals between the ages of 25 and 29 prefer Internet banking activities (61.5 per cent) and order or purchase goods or services via e-Commerce (45.1 per cent)," he said.

Mohd Uzir said individuals between the ages of 35 and 39 were more active in using travel-related services or accommodations namely 32.6 per cent.

"For the age group of 45 to 49 they were interested in activities related to voicing out opinion or voting on political or civic issues (21.1 per cent)," he said.

He said the percentage of individuals using the computers increased to 72.1 per cent in 2019 compared to 70.5 per cent in 2018.

"The percentage of individuals using mobile phones remains at 97.9 per cent in 2019," he said.

In terms of households access to the Internet, Mohd Uzir said there was 3.1 per cent increase to 90.1 per cent in 2019 compared to 87 per cent in 2018.

He said percentage of households access to mobile phone remained at 98.2 per cent, but the percentage of households access to computer decreased to 71.3 per cent compared to 71.7 per cent in 2018. -BERNAMA