A recent Nielsen survey shows Australians spend almost two working days (17.6 hours) online each week, with some younger users spending up to 22 hours a week on the internet.

And if you're unsure how much Australian's use social media then it's worth looking at some of the findings in Nielsen’s Social Media Report 2010.

Facebook was shown to be the dominant social media player last year, with 75% of Australian internet users reporting to have visited Facebook in the last year, spending an average of 8.19 hours on Facebook a month (one of the highest rates in the world) and 59% saying they have a Facebook profile.

Twitter usage grew by more than 400% in 2009, with 23% of online Australians reading tweets. And it's not just "social" usage with 14% following companies via Twitter and almost 40% interacting with companies via social networking sites.

Melanie Ingrey, research director for Nielsen Online, said: “The opportunities for brands and companies to tap into the social media phenomenon are really just beginning to emerge and to date we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.

“Incredibly, nearly nine in ten Australian internet users (86%) are looking to their fellow internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands, and Australians’ engagement with online word of mouth communication is going to increase in coming years as social media plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision making.”

On a slightly lighter note, here are some interesting findings from a Retrevo survey:

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Posted in: General, What's New, Strategy