The World Wide Online Life: How do Americans Stack Up?

Symantec's Dave Cole directs the company's security response team. He says that, as the creators of tools to keep people safe online, it's a good idea for Symantec to understand what people really do online. "How else do you know what to keep them safe from?," he asks. Symantec asked Harris Interactive to take an in depth look at online life in eight countries: U.S., UK, Australia, Germany, France, Brazil, China, and Japan. The study is being released today.

A few highlights:

China is massively wired. While U.S. respondents spent on average 30 hours (almost a full work week) online each month, the Chinese were over-the-top connected. They're on the Internet about 100 hours each month, three times more than other countries. More adults in China own smart phones and send text messages than in any of the other countries.

Brazil likes to chat. If you thought there were too many social networkers in the U.S., try hanging out in Brazil. Right up there with Brazil is China. Across the world the average for using social networking is 30% to 50%, but in China, 80% of the respondents said they used social networks at least some of the time. The survey reported 40% to 50% of online adults have made friends online, but more so in Brazil and China and less so in France.

Japan is less wired than you might think. We have the perception that everyone in Japan walks around writing novels on their cell phones and connecting while they sleep, but the truth is that Japan is pretty tame.

U.S.—in shopping we trust. That's right. We're the country where nine out of 10 adults shop online. Half of online users feel confident shopping online, but confidence is higher in the U.S. and UK, and lower in Japan.

Where are users the least protected on the net? That would be Japan, where they were ranked the least likely to take actions to protect themselves online. Less than half of parents in the study, and substantially fewer in Japan, have set parental controls on their computer or investigated their children's Internet usage.

There are copious amounts of data in this study, but here's the bottom line. Australia, the UK, and the U.S. are the consumers. They shop freely and have fewer problems giving out information like credit card numbers online. The French and the Germans are the laggards when it comes to social networking and blogging.

The Japanese are more cautious about going online to socialize and seek entertainment than you might think, but they're more in the dark about protecting their kids and their computers. Brazilian online users are social butterflies: blogging, joining social networks, and downloading entertainment. They're also more likely to take precautions when putting information online. The Chinese take the crown for socializing, communicating, and gathering information online. Their children are more likely to engage in and encounter risky behaviors than online children in other countries.

Gear-love is universal. All of the countries speak the language of gear. The majority of adult users in all countries surveyed own either a digital camcorder or digital music player, but in China and Brazil the figures were higher (seven out of 10).

Photo is from Worldmaps.com.