A strong majority (85%) of online-connected global citizens in 24 countries use the internet for emails while six in ten (62%) use it for social networking, finds a new poll by global research company Ipsos for Reuters News. One in ten use the internet for connecting with people through voice-over IP (14%).

Most (85%) global respondents who are connected online report they use the internet for sending and receiving emails, including a majority of those in each country surveyed except for Saudi Arabia where only half (46%) say so. Those in Hungary (94%) are most likely to say they use the internet for emailing, followed by nine in ten of those in Sweden (92%), Belgium (91%), Indonesia (91%), Argentina (90%) and Poland (90%).

Social media popularity is high among global citizens using the internet. A majority of them (62%) say they visit social networking sites, forums or blogs including eight in ten of those in Indonesia (83%), Argentina (76%) and Russia (75%) and seven in ten of those in South Africa (73%), Sweden (72%), Spain (71%) and Hungary (70%). Even in countries where social media surfing is less popular, a sizable minority of those connected online still report using the internet in this way: 35% in Japan, 42% in Saudi Arabia and 50% in France.

Voice-over IP (VOIP) – audio conversations conducted via internet connection – is used by 14% of online-connected global citizens. The relatively new technology has taken hold of three in ten net surfers from Russia (36%), Turkey (32%) and a quarter of those in India (25%). Only a handful from Brazil (4%), France (5%), the United States (6%) and Belgium (6%) are using VOIP.