Indians prefer e-mails over social networking for online communication

Despite massive popularity of the social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, majority Indians still prefer e-mails for online communication. According to a survey conducted by researcher firm Ipsos, about 68 per cent of Indians, who are connected with the Internet, communicate online via e-mails, while 60 per cent use social networking sites.

Biswarup Banerjee, Head of Marketing & Communications, Ipsos in India says the Internet penetration has improved over the years but as compared to China, India still lags behind. The survey highlights that only 25 per cent of the Internet users use VOIP for audio conversations. It also shows the Indian trend of web communication is similar to the global scenario. About 85 per cent of Internet users use e-mails for communication. Globally, communication via social networking site accounts for 60 per cent.

According to an estimate, 103.6 million people will go online in 2012. By 2015, the figure is projected to swell to 221.6 million. With the growing number of users accessing the Internet via smartphones, the usage of e-mail, social networking and other tools for online communication is likely to rise, says Banerjee.

Another Ipsos survey says about 40 million Indians access the Internet via their smartphones. It points out that about 56 per cent of smartphone users in the country access the web numerous times a day. Also, nearly 40 per cent smartphone users access the Internet at least once a day, while only 6 per cent users never access the web through their phones.