User Content Creation Around the World: Development Matters

Interesting research about what kind of activities Internet users have around the world. It is remarkable how the level of maturity of a market (measured in terms of Internet penetration) might explain what activities users perform. For example, while in mature markets like the US, Canada and the UK, blogging and microblogging are not as popular as managing a social network profile, in China these activities are much more important for local users.

via www.emarketer.com

In the US, a mature Internet market, managing a social network profile was the top online user-generated content activity, participated in by 44.2% of Web users. This was followed closely by uploading photos. Uploading video, blogging and microblogging were significantly less popular.

Users in the UK and Canada had similar rates of social network use and photo-sharing, and also tapered off dramatically when it came to more advanced user-generated content activities.

Japan,another mature Internet market, has markedly different participation in user-generated content activities. Much lower percentages of Web users manage social network profiles or upload photos, for example. The “Global Web Index” report notes that this is actually a sign of advanced behavior: The survey measured only activities conducted on a PC, and in Japan, many such activities are now mobile-based.  

Meanwhile,participation was generally high in China, where overall Internet penetration is only 29.6% according to estimates. A majority of users uploaded photos, and nearly one-half had a blog. More than one-fifth used a microblogging service, far ahead of the more advanced economies.

Users generating (mobile) content