In terms of national-level Internet penetration, the US is fifth in the world (at 78.2% of our population), after the UK (82%), South Korea (80.9%), Germany (79.9%), and Japan (78.4%), according to InternetWorldStats.com's Top 20 countries list for number of Net users (as 6/30/11). Purely in terms of Internet users, the Top 5 are China (with an estimated 485 million), the US (245m), India (100m), … [Read more...] about Net use worldwide: Update
international
Japan’s cellphone novels
Are they the soap operas of the digital age, Japanese-style? [Maybe some American kid will break the gender barrier of Japan's cellphone novels and write the sci-fi version of Huck Finn's adventures on his cellphone. How 'bout it, English teachers?! Though maybe not till US cellphone companies make unlimited texting cheaper!)] Anyway, they're serial text messages - sometimes 20 screens or 10,000 … [Read more...] about Japan’s cellphone novels
Disney’s UK kids portal
Disney says it's about to launch a site for UK children and tweens. Disney.co.uk will be a portal pulling together the company's assets (including social networking) for kids, Reuters reports. "At its heart [is] a feature called Disney Xtreme Digital" in which users can "customize multimedia content simultaneously while watching and sharing videos, messages, music, and games." It'll be interesting … [Read more...] about Disney’s UK kids portal
Oz kids: Pros on Web
Most Australian children go online for the first time between the ages of 5 and 10 and quickly become Net regulars, "with two-thirds of children logging on from home at least twice a week and 43% doing so daily," Australian IT reports, citing a new report from Nielsen/NetRatings. Nearly half of Australians 6-17 are online daily, the study also found. Older teens "are wedded to the world of … [Read more...] about Oz kids: Pros on Web
Social stuff taking over Web – worldwide
Wherever you are in the world, parents, your teens’ social networking seems to be here to stay. Online video and social networking are outpacing all other uses of digital media worldwide, according to international market researchers Ipsos, and social networking “is quickly becoming the dominant online behavior globally." In terms of frequency of visits to social sites, South Korea leads the way, … [Read more...] about Social stuff taking over Web – worldwide