I've been dissecting the article  Canadians-internet-usage-nearly-double-the-worldwide-average  printed in the The GlobeandMail Mar 2011.  Interesting piece, makes you think, and....I agree in part with some of the comments, like:

"The split among male and female Web users in Canada is almost exactly 50-50"

 and 

"Silver Surfers By far the fastest-growing demographic when it comes to Web usage" 

.... but really, what do they mean by

"the number of unique online visitors in Canada hovered at about 23 million users in the fourth quarter of 2010"

Let's have a good look at this..... are they trying to get me to compare this 23 million to our countries population of 34 million....or 67%, oh come on that's ridiculous, or is it.  First of all, that is 'unique users' in the forth quarter, the same user could be logging in daily or even multiple times a day from different devices; the home pc, the work laptop, a cell phone, tablet etc. and then, there's the whole argument about an IP address being associated with 1 person.   In truth this number doesn't give us a sense of how many Canadians are online. 


Looking further into the article, the statement

"Approximately 95 per cent of Canadian households can access broadband services using land-line facilities"

doesn't clarify how many of these 95% ARE accessing high speed..... and how many in-fact have Internet accounts.

As for Canadians being Internet junkies, I'd buy that, we spend alot of time online, it can get very cold in many parts of this beautiful country.  The fall is quickly approaching and we are reminded how few hours of daylight we get, so yes, we hangout inside were its warm and we go ONLINE, but are we double the world wide average?  What about Europe?

Taking a look at some real fact, I myself spend a considerable time online, I'd say higher than our supposed Canadian average.  Why you ask, well I'm job searching and the Internet, including some key social media sites such as LinkedIn(a social networking website for people in professional occupations) are a must when looking for work.  Not only do I spend hours reviewing job postings on the countless sites: eluta , simply hired, indeed to name a few, but then there is the company websites themselves.  They also have career sections, such as TD or Telus might even have a new role posted daily at times.  You can request job alert be sent to your email from these company sites.  Then, when an opportunity perks your interest, there is the hours of research visiting that companies website to asses the type of company they are, are they a good employer, how should I present my resume, my cover letter?  Then on search engines such as Google and bing, what does the rest of the world have to say about this company.  Do they have a social media presence, can I find a video clip of the person that will interview me on You Tube and of course, do they have a profile on LinkedIn.  Needless to say, when in job searching mode, spending 5-6 and at times 8 hours a day online is very easy to do.  If I took that number and narrowed it down to Social Media sites, I'd say 2/3 to 3/4 of that time.

Having an even closer look at Social Media, I spend a great deal of that time on LinkedIn and Facebook, but also Amazon, reading others comments on books I may want to purchase or writing some up myself.  Then there is You Tube, it's not only for music videos, like today I just watched an old clip of George Clooney on Facts of Life cause the radio mentioned it was 27years ago today he got his debut there.  You Tube also helped me understand how to properly prune my tomato plans this summer and change a flat on the rear wheel of my bike.  I love spending time watching TED presentations when I'm in the mood to be inspired.  Yes there is so much more to You Tube it's funny how it's viewed at times by employers only as a play thing rather than a learning tool.

As a Canadian, are you a heavy users of the Internet, are you spending 2-3hours or more online each day and what about on your mobile device too and in particular your Social Media time.