42% of Internet users in Jamaica are netizens (early adopters) or networkers (early followers) compared to 48% globally
Internet has fundamentally changed the way consumers search for product information and locate a place – and now many other activities are undergoing a similar transformation
Voice calls and messaging over internet are becoming mainstream for smartphone users

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) ConsumerLab has published insights from a study called “Networked Consumption,” exploring how the increasing use of the internet and mobile apps is changing user behavior. The study is based on 942 interviews in Jamaica representing the views of 400,000 Jamaicans, and shows that many activities that used to be carried out in a brick-and-mortar setting are now migrating to the internet and mobile apps.

The study is focused on the service usage behavior of two consumer groups, both of which spend more than an hour on the internet every day: the netizens, who are the early adopters using at least seven digital services daily; and the networkers, also known as early followers, who use at least three digital services a day.

Together, netizens and networkers account for more than 42 percent of internet users in Jamaica, driving use of the internet and the uptake of mobile apps across the six activity areas covered in the study: communication, information search, travel, entertainment, education and healthcare.

The usage gap between netizens and networkers for an activity decides the pace of change; the wider the gap, the longer it takes for changed behavior to become mainstream.

The appification of calls (an activity is “appified” if over 50 percent of users have reported an increase in mobile app use over a year) is happening more quickly than the overall shift of calls to the internet. 76 percent of smartphone users in Jamaica have reported an increase in the use of mobile apps for making calls over a year, and considering that there is any gap between the two user groups, internet calling can be considered appified and mainstream for smartphone owners.

Only 27 percent of Jamaican internet users book healthcare appointments online, while 24 percent search for healthcare information on the internet at least every other time they carry out such activities, indicating a much slower pace of change when it comes to internet and app usage in the healthcare domain.

Diana Moya, Head of Ericsson ConsumerLab Latin America, says: “The slow transformation in healthcare may be due to concerns over privacy. Many consumers worry about information about them being recorded and used without their knowledge.”

For entertainment activities, 41 percent of internet users in Jamaica watch at least half of all video via online channels. In just over a year, 81 percent of netizens and 80 percent of networkers in Jamaica reported an increase in their use of mobile apps to watch videos.

“This indicates that entertainment via mobile apps is likely to become mainstream very quickly,” Moya says.

About the study
The Networked Consumption study reveals insights from data gathered from 37,336 face-to-face and online interviews with internet users aged 15-69, representing 956 million people in 24 countries: Jamaica, Angola, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, the UK and the US.