Over three in four Internet users that's about 78 per cent of people in rural centres use social media in vernacular languages during their leisure time. This is unlike users in urban centres who are hooked to various content streaming platforms during the day, reveals a new report by homegrown social media platform ShareChat.
According to the findings, 73 per cent of Internet users sign into social networking platforms every day and they are most active between 7 pm and 11 pm.
These users spend over five hours a week, signing in at least 3 times every day and videos remain their most preferred format, and users spend up to two minutes on every video.
Nearly 49 per cent of users post content daily mostly in their native languages, images being the highest uploaded format closely followed by videos, according to the report titled 'Understanding India's Next Billion Internet Users' with Nielsen India as its 'Knowledge Partner'.
"The findings have indicated a paradigm shift in the online consumption behaviour among 'Bharat' audiences and highlighted how Bharat internet users have evolved into a mature internet audience, though they prefer to interact in their native language," said Satyajit Deb Roy, Director-Sales, ShareChat.
Moreover, the report suggested that the Bharat users have a higher spending propensity, are comfortable shopping online, and are equally well-versed with investment.
Entertainment and Networking were the major determinants for people to hop on social media platforms. The report found that messaging, banking and payment, delivery, and online shopping are the top four digital apps, used by at least half of all social media users.
The survey was conducted with 3,788 respondents across 81 cities in India, with 40 per cent of respondents coming from tier 2 and 3 cities. Reliance Jio emerged as the network of choice of Bharat because of its affordable data plans.
"What's more, most of the regional geographies of the country are brand conscious, with Xiaomi and Samsung turning out to be the brand of choice for the majority," the report mentioned.
*Edited from an IANS report