ITP Techblog

Kiwis certainly do like to communicate, if the latest stats from Hootsuite and We Are Social's Digital 2021 report are anything to go by.

Last year we spent 1.47 billion hours on our mobile phones, very nearly two hours a day on social media and downloaded 160 million apps.

The typical Kiwi has between seven and eight social media accounts (Editor: I guess the kids are skewing the results for the rest of us) with YouTube taking the top spot. More than 86% of Kiwis logged on in the past month, beating out Facebook's 83.5%, although Facebook Messenger (74.8%), Instagram (57%) and WhatsApp (40%) round out the top group and are of course all part of the Facebook stable.

Snapchat and LinkedIn round out the set, leaving Twitter only to failed media types and has beens.

And not surprisingly given COVID restrictions, we pursued digital entertainment in the form of spending on consumer apps to the tune of $270 million. Disney+ led the way followed by the not safe for work Tinder. Nearly 95% of us said we spent our year watching videos online, with 65.7% of us listened to streaming music. More than a third (34.8%) listened to podcasts).

The most downloaded app of the year - TikTok, closely followed by Facebook and the essential service that is Zoom.

Our favourite websites for the year were news-based as well. Stuff led the way, clocking up 35.9 million total visits, closely followed by the New Zealand Herald with 31.2 million.

Being locked down meant we spent more time in cyberspace - six hours and 39 minutes each per day on average, with a further three hours watching television.

We also went shopping with the average Kiwi spending $1529 online in 2020. More than 88% of us searched for a product online (Ed: that seems quite low if my household is anything to go by) and 71.7% visited an online retail store. More than 70% of us bought something online.

The full report, including links to similar reports for other nationalities, is available online.