UK consumers most connected in Europe, says report from Forrester Research
A survey from Forrester Research has shown UK consumers are the most connected in Europe with 83 per cent regularly accessing the internet.
Devices: Consumers in the UK and Spain most likely to own several
Brits were the most likely in Europe to own a device with online access, while 58 per cent owned two or more, such as laptops, smartphones or tablets, and held the highest "online penetration" level at 83 per cent. Almost three quarters of European adults said being online was now a regular feature in their lives according to The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2012 report, which surveyed more than 22,000 people.
France lagged behind other European countries, with only 56 per cent of consumers likely to own a laptop, 42 per cent for a smartphone and just seven per cent likely to own a tablet device.
Forrester Research director Reineke Reitsma commented: "Consumers in Europe are more connected today than ever before. Companies that want to interact with these new, perpetually connected customers will need to take into account the difference that exist between European countries.
"Our analysis shows that while European consumers in each country heavily incorporate technology in their lives, there are major differences between countries in the level of Internet adoption, technology usage, and sophistication."
Facebook came out on top of the social networks in the UK as 59 per cent of people surveyed said they had an account, however, only 18 per cent had a Twitter account, although this was a higher figure on the European average of 12 per cent. More than 10 per cent said they were online in their cars and almost a fifth were online outside of home.
A US-based report was also released by the company, which based its analysis on its European Technographics surveys.