Research from integrated consumer insight, targeting and cross channel marketing provider Experian found that if internet time was distilled into one hour, 27% of UK, US and Australian users’ time was spent using social networking and forums in 2012.

In the UK, 13 minutes of every hour online is spent on social forums and networking, nine minutes on entertainment sites and six minutes shopping. Australians also spend nine minutes on entertainment while 14 minutes are spent networking and four minutes shopping.

Meanwhile, US users spent 16 minutes on social networks, nine minutes on entertainment and five minutes shopping.

However, in proportion to other activities, social media use has declined with social media consumption in the US dropping from 30% of all time spent online to 27% while Australia saw social media time dropping to 24% from 27%. The UK saw that time dip from 25% to 22% year-on-year.

The research noted that the decline in using computers for social networking was coupled with the rise in mobile use with email accounting for the largest amount of activity on US phones at 23% while social networking was 15% of mobile time.

Experian Marketing Services general manager for global research Bill Tancer said that understanding consumer behaviour across channels was becoming more important than ever with more visits being made on the move, especially in social networking and email.

He added: “With smart phones and tablets becoming more powerful, our data clearly indicates the difference between mobile and traditional desktop usage further enabling the ‘always on’ consumer mentality.”

Tancer continued: “Marketers need to understand these differences, as well as regionally, to ensure campaigns can be tailored for better and more effective management.”