Emailing, downloading top Qatar internet activity list

Overall internet penetration in Qatar stands at 82 per cent, with emailing, downloading music and movies, watching videos, and researching goods and services representing the most popular usages, a local report said.According to the Qatar Digital Media Report 2011 published by ictQatar, young people make up a large portion of overall internet users and represent the most active group. The majority of Qatar-based users (89 per cent) access the Internet from home and 24 per cent get connected through their mobiles.The report, an in-depth review of the digital media ecosystem in Qatar, measures the impact of the internet on individuals and businesses and identifies trends in usage, attitudes and preferences associated with digital content in the country, Qatari daily The Peninsula reported on Friday.In the report, digital media is defined as any content including text, graphics, audio, and video that can be transmitted over the internet or through computer networks. It is viewed as a complement to more traditional media, such as newspapers, radio and television, and gives an overview of the digital media ecosystem in Qatar, details usage across segments, addresses how digital content is generated in Qatar and what the growth drivers are in the digital media sector.The report found that internet users in Qatar primarily accessed websites in English, with only 29 per cent accessing the internet in Arabic, even though Arabic is the first language for 42 per cent of the population.For both English and Arabic speakers, search engines were the most frequented websites, with social media sites such as Facebook being the second most popular online usage. Newspapers were accessed by 38 per cent of internet users in Qatar with Al Sharq being the most popular online Arabic newspaper. In terms of international online news outlets, Al Jazeera was the preferred choice for Arabic speakers.The report also cites some challenges facing the development of digital media in Qatar, including privacy, the security of data and personal information, and the protection of intellectual property rights. It said that 43 per cent of respondents said they were not very confident about the security features available on the Internet. From / Gulf News