Singaporeans go for Google, dig social networking big time

Singaporeans go for Google, dig social networking big time

New survey provides insights into the social behaviour of Singaporeans By Zafar Anjum
14 Dec 2010

SINGAPORE, 14 DECEMBER 2010 – What do Singaporeans like better: Google or Yahoo? Where do they spend most of their time online? Are forums still relevant for Singaporean net users?

Questions like these and more have been answered by Experian Hitwise, a leading online competitive intelligence service, which has released an analysis of Web searches by Singapore Internet users in the past six months.

According to the survey findings, social networking continues to be popular among Singaporeans, with Facebook taking almost 17 per cent share of visits compared to search engines like Google Singapore, which held on to second place with almost 14 per cent share of visits.

Also, Singaporeans preferred Google over Yahoo, with Google Singapore and Google.com taking the top two spots and holding over three quarters of total share of visits to the top five search engines.

It seems forums don’t cut it for Singaporeans any more. The survey reveals social networking leading the way and Facebook, YouTube and Twitter taking a combined total share of visits of 66 per cent in the top 10 sites for social networking and forums.

Among social networking sites, Facebook continues to maintain its social networking dominance as the top search term driving traffic to the computers and Internet category.

Key social insights from Experian’s inaugural half-year online analysis in other areas are as follows:

Automotive

•    Interactive platforms that offer different types of motoring information are king of automotive resources, with SGCarMart.com and MyCarForum holding a one-two lead over other websites in the list of top 10 automotive websites.

•    Singaporeans showed a preference for continental car brands over Asian car brands, with Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen outranking Toyota and Honda 3-to-2 in the top five manufacturer rankings.

•    In a country governed by speed limits, Singaporeans seem to have a taste for speed online, with F1-related websites taking five of the top 10 websites for motorsport.

•    SGCarMart.com, a local motoring resource was the top search term driving traffic to the automotive category, accounting for almost four per cent of total search clicks

Entertainment

•    Singaporeans love anything visual with the top five entertainment sites searched for including Razor TV, xinmsn Entertainment, Channel NewsAsia and Tudou.com, with YouTube leading the pack with 22 per cent of total share of visits.

•    Singaporeans showed great interest in Japanese comics, with the top 10 animation and comics sites all being popular sites for Japanese manga. The top four sites; Manga Fox, MangaStream, AnimeCrazy.net and Mangareader together held 41 per cent of total share of visits.

•    Asian-made games experienced continued popularity among Singaporeans, with Maple Story, MapleSEA, Asiasoft Forums and Warriors of the 3 Kingdoms being some of the most popular gaming websites searched.

•    A preference for movies at Golden Village (GV) over Cathay Cineplexes was revealed, with GV taking almost 10 per cent of total share of visits and Cathay claiming only five per cent of total share of visits.

•    YouTube took top spot as the most searched for term driving traffic to the entertainment category, claiming almost three per cent of search clicks.

Lifestyle

•    Beauty talk among Singaporeans was high on the agenda at the CozyCot (25 per cent) and Flowerpod (24 per cent) forums, with both websites taking first and second in rankings for most popular beauty websites.

•    Singaporeans shopped everywhere for good fashion online, with local brands like Forever 21 and ASUS popping up alongside international brands like Kate Spade, Coach, Louis Vuitton and Victoria’s Secret in a top 10 ranking of fashion websites.

•    The local homosexual community showered favouritism on Trevvy.com, which took 31 per cent of total share of visits, with Blowing Wind Gay Forum and fridae.com taking second and third places.

•    The Temasek Review, an Internet newspaper which reported on socio-political affairs in Singapore, was the top term driving traffic to the lifestyle category over the last six months.

Sports

•    Singaporeans love soccer more than any other sport locally with soccer-related sites like ESPN Soccernet, LiveScore.com, AsianBookie.com, Goal.com and Footytube collectively taking almost 30 per cent of total share of visits among the top 10 listed sports sites.

•    Singaporeans showed their love for betting online, particularly on horse races, exploring not just local sites like the Singapore Turf Club, but also searching for regional websites including The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Pan Malaysia Pools, Sky Racing and TAB Racing NSW and Victoria.

•    Liverpool seems to have earned itself more fans than Manchester United, ranking fifth in the list of most popular soccer websites while Manchester United took sixth place.

•    Soccernet by ESPN was the top search term driving traffic to the sports category, accounting for 2.3 per cent of search clicks.

Tags: Social networking

- wong chee tat :)