Singaporeans tend to use instant messaging: survey

People in Singapore use instant messaging more frequently than their counterparts in Southeast Asian countries, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

The survey by Deloitte's Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) also revealed that Singpapore ranked the highest globally for smartphone penetration, with nine out of 10 respondents having access to a smartphone.

Based on information from 37,000 respondents across 22 locations, the survey analyzed the demographics of instant messaging users. It showed that people between the ages 25 and 34 are the most active users. Females in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are more active users of instant messaging.

The island nation also ranked the highest frequency of usage of instant messaging, with 79 percent of females and 73 percent of males saying they used instant messaging on their smartphones over the past seven days.

Although the usage of instant messaging increased 9 percent on- year in 2014, Short Messaging Service (SMS) usage has declined 8 percent.

On the purpose of using instant messaging, the survey pointed out that people in Singapore use their smartphone more often for emails than surfing social networks. However, people in other Southeast Asian nations used their smartphones for social networks more often frequently.

Playing games on smartphones emerged as the most popular activity among smartphone users across Southeast Asia. Indonesia came on top, with 73 percent of respondents saying they had played games on their smartphones over the past week. Singapore emerged the third, with only 55 percent of respondents playing smartphone games over the same period.

According to the survey, using smartphones to check bank balances and make online purchases are typical mobile payment activities. However, Singapore has only 52 per cent of respondents using their phones for checking bank balances and 38 percent making online purchases with their devices. Endi