The inaugural report on Thailand’s Internet usage by comScore Media Metrix service found social networking the most engaging online activity in the country, accounting for 29.8% of total time spent online in February.

The report also showed portals and entertainment sites have the most expansive audience reach, with 98% of the country’s web population visiting these categories in the same month.

Google and Microsoft sites, Facebook.com top online destinations

Google Sites, which include Google Search and other Google-owned entities such as YouTube.com, led as the top Internet property in Thailand with 9.3 million visitors in February, representing 95.7% of the total online population.

Microsoft sites followed with 9 million visitors (92.6% reach), followed by Facebook.com with 8.6 million visitors (88.4%).

Investment group MIH Limited, which acquired local site Sanook.com in 2010, was the fourth most-visited property in the country with 4.9 million visitors.  Internet Marketing Co. Ltd., which includes Bloggang.com and Pantip.com among other sites, secured the #5 position with 4.4 million visitors. Kapook.com accounted for all of the traffic for #6 ranked Bundit Center Co. Ltd., which reached nearly 4.2 million visitors in February.

Social networking accounts for 30% of time spent online  

Analysis of the top content categories in Thailand found that portals and entertainment sites led the market in penetration, with each reaching 98 percent of internet users in February.

Social networking reached 96% of internet users, while nine out of every 10 consumers visited a search navigation site during the month. It also led in all the top online categories by user engagement with 29.8% of all time spent online, followed by entertainment sites that accounted for 13.9%.

Portals ranked third, accounting for 11.1% online minutes, while instant messengers (5.2%) and email (3.9%) rounded up the top five.

Thailand’s young online market

The country is home to one of the youngest online markets globally with three in four web users under the age of 35, accounting for 74.7% of the web population in February.

Users aged between 15-24 made up of 45.2 % of online visitors, accounted for more than half of all online minutes (50.9%) and averaged 31.7 hours online during the month.

The 25-34 age group represented  29.5% of the web population. spending an average of 26 hours online.

Those in the 35-44 age segment averaged 25.4 hours online.