More and more people in the Middle East and North Africa are becoming Internet savvy, with a growing base that is increasingly relying on online channels to conduct their business, as well as personal relationships. Almost three quarters or 70 per cent of Internet users in MENA believe that online activity has taken over normal social activity.

In the broader Middle East region, those polled said that being online is now the main form of social activity, most notably in Oman, Egypt and Bahrain.More so, they agreed that that online forms of communication have replaced traditional forms: an overwhelming 80 per cent agreed that instant messaging and email, among other online methods, are now used, instead of 'snail mail' and telephone conversations.

One major advantage of going online is that the Internet has greatly helped with social networking, 74 per cent said it helped them establish contacts which otherwise, would not have been possible in the 'real world.

Those polled were also spending more time on the Internet, whether for work and leisure purposes, with 49 per cent saying they spend up to two hours per day to do their work, while 15 per centsaid the use the Internet for three to four hours daily, while 25 per cent said they use the internet for more than five hours per day. When it came down to leisure use, the figure jumped up to 67 per cent using the Internet up to two hours a day.

An overwhelming 83 per cent said said they use the Internet largely for emailing friends, 78 per cent said they use it for reading news, at least once a month. Other popular online activities were 77 per cent; visiting social networking sites and listening to music at 57 per cent, respectively.

The Internet is also now the main source of information,with the majority of respondents saying that it has overtaken traditional news mediums as their main source of political, business and lifestyle/leisure news.

Attitudes regarding how easy it is to find data on the Internet showed much more variation. At the regional level, 53 per cent agreed that it is difficult to find exactly what they are looking for on the Internet because of an information overload. This figure rose to 43 per cent in Qatar, 48 per cent in Kuwait, 49 per cent in the UAE, 53 per cent in Saudi Arabia, and 59 per cent in Bahrain, said they faced some difficulty in finding required information.

Source: Menafn , bayt.com , Yougov Siraj