Three-quarters of web users in Algeria regard the internet as "indispensable", more than 90% of them go online at least once a day and on average they spend one to two hours a day in front of the screen. 

These are some of the findings from a survey of almost 6,000 Algerian internet users. (The survey itself is in French but Magharebia has a summary in English.)

The internet has clearly become an important source of news for online Algerians, with 80% using it to read the press. Eighty-three per cent use email, 43% use instant messaging (MSN, Yahoo, etc) and 33% make online phone calls (eg Skype).

Fifty-eight per cent visit social networking sites but the survey suggests they are passive consumers rather than active producers. Less than a quarter of them post photos or videos on sites such as YouTube and Flickr, though 82% visit such sites. "Only" 41% have some kind of personal web page or blog, the survey says.

An estimated 12.8% of Algerians (4.5 million people) are internet users, according to the survey – slightly higher than the 10.4% figure given by Internet World Stats.

As might be expected, Algerian internet users tend to be male (74%), young (38% are aged under 30), educated (66% to baccalaureate level +1 or above) and urban (29% live in Algiers).

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 25 September 2009.