New research from Experian has found that in the UK, 13 minutes out of every hour online is spent on social networking and forums, nine minutes on entertainment sites and six minutes shopping.
In the US, it was found that 16 minutes were spent on social media, nine minutes on entertainment and five minutes on shopping.
The survey found that in Australia, users spend 14 minutes on social sites, nine on entertainment and four minutes shopping online.
James Murray, digital marketing manager at Experian Marketing Services, commented: “The online landscape is constantly changing and we’ve seen some pretty dramatic shifts in consumer behaviour across different geographic regions and in the various vertical markets. Consumers are changing the way they interact online and the rise of 3G and now 4G mobile internet access means more visits are being made on the move, particularly in social and email.
"As brands become increasingly global entities it’s more important than ever to understand the differences between regional online behaviours so that marketing campaigns can be tailored for better and more effective brand engagement.”
Six per cent of all time spent online in Australia in 2012 was on a news website, compared to five per cent in the UK and four per cent in the US.