Facebook taking up most of our time online

Australians spend 25% of their internet browsing time on social networking giant Facebook, according to new figures from Nielsen online.

The company’s analytics director, Mark Higginson, told The Australian that on average Australians spend about 6.5 out of 26.5 hours online using Facebook, which is the fourth most-visited site behind Google, Ninemsn and Microsoft.

“We’re more interested in the internet to connect with each other than we are to look after our finances,” Higginson said. He also said Australians spend more time on social networks than on their bank or credit union’s internet site to access banking services.

The figures also found that in the 12 months to June, visits to Twitter grew by almost 1,000% compared to the previous year. But he warned businesses not to be focused on choosing between the two when developing a marketing strategy.

“What tends to happen is that when consumers go online and start engaging with these sites they start making friends with other people, and that conversation then starts to leak.”

“So the Twitters and the Facebooks are certainly big-profile and well worth looking at, but I would urge you not to forget the smaller home-grown sites that have just as much weight.”