Az új online barátok 60 százaléka személyesen is találkozik a világon - 2009 január

Az egymással online barátságot kötött internetezők átlagosan 60 százaléka később személyesen is találkozik egymással világszerte. Országonként azonban az átlagtól eltérő arányban -

• 76 százalék Németországban,
• 56 százalék Amerikában,
• 40 százalék Kínában

The majority of people who first make acquaintance over the internet, have gone on to arrange to meet at least one person face to face or to talk on the phone finds a TNS global survey entitled Digital World, Digital Life, probing online behavior and perspectives. The survey found that six out of 10 respondents that have met a person online have gone on to meet them in person, and over half have at least talked on the phone.

The highest percentages of people meeting in person are in Germany (76 percent), Sweden (75 percent), France (75 percent), Denmark (74 percent) and Norway (73 percent). The Chinese have the lowest percentage of face to face meetings at 40 percent. The US and Korea have the next lowest incidence of face to face meetings with online acquaintances at 56 percent.

Conducted in 16 countries, Digital World, Digital Life examines online behaviour and perspectives around the world. More than 27,000 participants aged 18 to 55 years old were interviewed online to see how much of their social life is conducted online. Country by country, the total number of digital acquaintances varies. While the average across 16 countries is online 17 friends, there are much higher figures in Sweden (the Swedes in the survey say they have met an average of 39 people over the internet) France (27) and Canada (26). The US average is 19.

We also make online friends outside our own countries. Respondents in the study say they have made an average of at least two online acquaintances across different countries. US and Japanese respondents had the least international online friends with 74 percent and 83 percent respectively having friends in only their home country. British and Italian respondents had the most international mix with a scant 19 percent and 20 percent having friends in only one country.

The online community continues to grow globally, as evidenced by respondents stating that they have friends in as diverse countries as Azerbaijan, The Ivory Coast, Fiji, Haiti, Liechtenstein, Nepal, Vatican City, Qatar and Christmas Island.

Digital World, Digital Life also looked at whether people feel they can be sure of the true identity of an online friend. The results showed a clear sense of doubt about the identities of such people. TNS asked respondents to indicate on a scale of one to 10 how much they agree with the statement “You can never be sure of an online friend’s true identity.”

Over a third (37 percent) of respondents across all countries stated that they strongly agreed with the statement. The most suspicious respondents were in Germany (57 percent) and the most trusting the Koreans with less than one quarter (24 percent) agreeing with the statement. 39 percent of US respondents were suspicious of potential online friends.

Don Ryan, VP Technology and Media, TNS Global, said: “What is clear from this survey is that people around the world are actively engaging with each other online, but they haven’t lost the need for conventional social contact. It is interesting that there seems to be very little correlation between how skeptical we are of peoples’ online identity and whether we are willing to meet them face to face. This could be due to the rich information and clues that are available about people through social media and even through we are skeptical of who they say they are, we have enough information to meet with them anyway.”

Forrás: TNS