Hitwise: Brits spend 25 minutes on Facebook at a time

The latest stats in from Experian Hitwise show that British internet users are spending an average of 25 minutes and 33 seconds on Facebook each time they log in.

At least, that was the average over the course of August 2011 – and is a good 13 minutes under the amount of Facebooking time the Singaporeans get in.

Singapore topped the chart of the eight countries analysed, with its Facebook users clocking up 38 minutes and 46 seconds a go.

Culture club

Next in line to the Facebook time-wasting crown is New Zealand, with 30 miunutes and 31 seconds, followed by Australia, the UK, the US, France, India and Brazil.

Facebook, for its part, is hoping to increase the amount of time users spend on the network by bringing in more and more media options, including movie rentals and music service tie-ins.

The company hasn't introduced these features out of the good of its heart, of course: the longer you spend on Facebook, the more ads you see. The more ads you see, the more money the company can rake in.

Time-share

Hitwise focused on the eight countries it currently operates in to formulate the chart.

It also examined how much 'market share' social networks have in terms of each country's website visits and found that the UK's is the lowest of the bunch.

Social networks and forums take just 12.2 per cent of the UK's online market share, compared to 18.9 per cent in Brazil, which topped the chart.

Ankur Shah, CEO and co-founder of Experian-owned Techlightenment, said of the results: "Our research shows that the way individuals use social media can and does change according to cultural and personal backgrounds."