More Thais Become Net Savvy

[webfact]

NEW SAVVY

More Thais become Net savvy

Asina Pornwasin

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's Internet users increased 26.77 per cent to rose to 25.09 million last year, though traffic on Thai websites showed a less than 1 per cent increase from the previous year.

According to the Thailand Internet Snapshot 2011 report from Truehits.net Statistics, Thailand had 25.09 million Internet users last year, up 26.77 per cent from 19.79 million the previous year. Not only did the number of users increase, but daily Internet usage also rose. However, the growth rate of visitors to Thai websites was quite small, creeping up less than 1 per cent from 125 million to 127 million page visits. Most of the traffic was seen in entertainment websites or blogs, games, and personal as well as news websites.

Google still dominates the search-engine market in Thailand with a 99.18-per-cent share, and is also making a mark with its Google Chrome Internet browser.

Up to 30.77 per cent of Internet users opt for Google Chrome, though Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) remains the market leader with 44.36 per cent. The other top browsers are Firefox with 14.19 per cent and Safari with 8.92 per cent.

"In Thailand, up to 54 per cent of Internet users are men and 45 per cent are women. Also, up to 40 per cent of them below the age of 17. Though the number of Internet users has risen by more than 20 per cent, traffic to Thai-language websites has not increased that much," Piya Tanthanwichian, chief technology officer of Internet Innovation Research Centre, said. He is also the founder and operator of Truehits.net.

The social-networking website Facebook is also dominating the Thai online market in terms of link referrals. Piya explained that few Thai Internet users access websites directly, preferring instead to click on links referred to by their Facebook friends or by search engines. Studies also show that surfing the Net via search engines is likely to drop as link-referrals increase.

The top websites for referral are Facebook, Google Adwords and Twitter, which have grown by 351 per cent, 263 per cent and 501 per cent respectively.

"Facebook link referrals earn an average of a million clicks daily among Thai Internet users, while search engines average at about 19.2 million times per month," Piya said.

He said studies showed that Thai users generally accessed websites via three methods: 48 per cent (2.78 per cent less) accessed sites directly; 38 per cent (0.22 per cent less) opted for search engines; and 14 per cent (2.56 per cent more) chose to click on referral links.

Another interesting fact is that more people are accessing the Net via mobile devices. Last April, about 400,000 people accessed the Net via their mobile phones, which rose to more than a million a day this April.

The iOS mobile platform dominates the market with 77 per cent usage thanks to the iPad and iPhone. The other top mobile operating systems are Android, Symbian and Blackberry.

As per Truehits.net Web Award 2011, the top ten Thai websites are Sanook, mThai, Kapook, Dek-D, Manager, Exteen, Teenee, Truelife, Thairath and Siamsport.

-- The Nation 2012-05-15

[Gillespie]

Hooray! Now even more people will be able to summon up naughty pictures of underclad ladies in parliament!

[unanimosity]

Is it any wonder traffic to Thai sites is not increasing? Who on earth in their right mind would bury a site behind a ccSLD, especially in a culture whose primary behavior is to access sites directly?

[Nigel1500]

Hooray! Now even more people will be able to summon up naughty pictures of underclad ladies in parliament!

Whaaaat? I thought that only happens in Japan !!!

[ThaiRich]

I am not sure that I would call using Facebook and dating websites being "web savvy". I know 1st grade children that know how to use Facebook.

[astral]

]Thailand's Internet users increased 26.77 per cent to rose to 25.09 million last year,[/b]

out of a population of 69million (2010)

So 36% of Thais use the internet.

How does that compare to other coutries?

[Payboy]

I am not sure that I would call using Facebook and dating websites being "web savvy". I know 1st grade children that know how to use Facebook.

But Angry Birds is quite difficult to master, you gotta admit.

[unanimosity]

]Thailand's Internet users increased 26.77 per cent to rose to 25.09 million last year,[/b]

out of a population of 69million (2010)

So 36% of Thais use the internet.

How does that compare to other coutries?

Here are a few

It appears you or the figures may be incorrect on the 36% for Thailand.

.

These are 2010 stats on users which is different from residences having Internet connectivity.

Sweden 90%

Norway 93%

Finland 87%

UK 85%

USA 79%

Japan 80%

New Zealand 83%

Germany 82%

Korea 84%

Australia 73%

China 34%

Singapore 70%

Malaysia 55%

Vietnam 26%

Thailand 21%

[astral]

I don't believe 100%

Even new born babies and the really elderly use the net??

Very unlikely

I know 1st grade children that know how to use Facebook.

Yes and very dangerous too, they have no idea what they are doing or who may be reading their data.

[w11guy]

]Thailand's Internet users increased 26.77 per cent to rose to 25.09 million last year,[/b]

out of a population of 69million (2010)

So 36% of Thais use the internet.

How does that compare to other coutries?

77.3% for USA

80% Japan

82.7% Korea

34.1% Vietnam

38.4% China

10.2% India

84.1% UK

25.5% World Average

See top 20 countries by number of users here --> http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm

[how241]

Thai girls are usually very good on the internet.