4.83 million Singaporeans are now online

The number of social media users also increased +9%.

About 84% or 4.83 million of Singaporeans are now internet users, +2% or 117,000 higher than the level on January 2017, Hootsuite revealed.

According to its annual study with We Are Social, the social media penetration in Singapore increased +9% to 83%. Mobile usage penetration rose +0.2% to 82%

There are currently 4.3 million active mobile social Singaporeans, comprising 75% of the population. This improved by +8% or 300,000 new users.

The study revealed that mobile phones and smartphones are the most used devices for browsing the Internet, used by 95% and 91% of the population, respectively. Meanwhile, 71% use laptop or desktops, 42% use tablets, 86% use the television, 15% use a device for streaming internet content to their TV, 4% use an e-reader device, whilst 7% use a wearable tech device.

About 93% use the Internet everyday. On average, Singaporeans are on the internet for seven hours and nine minutes every day.

Meanwhile, they spend two hours and six minutes on average for social media.

In terms of attitude towards the internet, 62% believe that new technologies offer more opportunities than risks. A majority see devices as tools for work as 59% prefer to complete tasks digitally whenever possible.

Most users are aware of the implications of data privacy as 87% believe it is "very important."

As a practice, 52% delete cookies from internet browser to protect their privacy, whilst 40% use ad block.

The study mentioned that the average internet speed via fixed connections is 161.21 Mbps, whilst average internet speed via mobile connections is 54 Mbps.

Singaporeans are most active on Whatsapp, Youtube, and Facebook.

In terms of mobile connections, there are currently 8.61 million mobile connections, comprising 150% of the population. About 100% are connected via broadband, 39% via prepaid, and 61% via postpaid.

Singapore showed high scores in the mobile connectivity index with an overall score of 83.42 out of 100. It fared well in terms of availability of relevant content and services with, but not so much with the costs of services.