7. Top online activities

Back to contents of State of the Net issue 3

Top online activities. Source: ComReg, Residential Communications Survey, 2006

What are Irish consumers doing online? While the top three activities – email, research and general browsing – won’t surprise, the latest ComReg research highlights some noteworthy trends such as:

• 24% are shopping online

• 10% are banking online

• 12% are playing games

• 10% are engaged in web chat

Among 15- to 24-year-olds, adoption rates of gaming, online communities and other applications are more pronounced. A total of 27% of this group are playing online games, with 19% saying they are participating in web chat and online communities such as Bebo and MySpace.

The research is also showing that Internet telephony is no longer just for geeks. It’s beginning to go mainstream. Three per cent of consumers are using VoIP and awareness levels are rising, with four out of ten consumers aware of its existence.

Back to contents of State of the Net issue 3