One in three use social networks

More than a third of Austrian internet users are active in social communities like Facebook and XING, new research has shown.Linz-based agency IMAS said today (Fri) it examined several surveys conducted by various research groups in the recent past to find that 34 per cent of those surfing the internet were using social network services.Around two of the overall 8.5 million Austrians are understood to be registered with global market leader Facebook, but only around two thirds of them are checking into their accounts on a regular basis.IMAS also found the share of Austrians who surf the internet everyday soared from just 14 per cent to 42 per cent during the past 10 years. Investigations have shown that this number is significantly higher among young and well-educated residents of urban areas.IMAS announced only 16 per cent of Austrian internet users admitted they might spend too much time online.Federal statistics authority Statistik Austria said last month that, with 67 per cent, the majority of Austrians surfing the internet do so on laptops. Fewer than one in three (27 per cent) said the same five years ago when the majority used personal computers (PCs).Meanwhile, Austrian police identified online crimes as the dominating threat in the near future.Officials said the number of internet fraud and other so-called cyber crimes soared from just 22 reported incidents in the first nine months of 2009 to 1,074 in the same period of this year. They added the number of stalking offences and various kinds of fraudulent activities on online community websites were likely to rise further.