A global survey examining trends in internet behaviour has identified social network activity as a key brand contact for a third of all consumers.

Compiled by GlobalWebIndex, an authoritative survey of 122,000 individuals in 27 markets, the research highlights the growing clout of social media with 59% of internet users managing their profiles on a monthly basis.

One platform at odds with these figures however is Facebook with the report authors noting a decline in usage amongst early adopters as its public flotation looms – an anomaly named as ‘Facebook fatigue’.

Another internet giant which shows no sign of running out of steam is Google which now reaches in excess of 85% of all internet users each month – a phenomenon the authors named as “Googopoly”.

Ecommerce has similarly taken off with 59% of browsers having purchased a product online in the past month with marginally fewer, 53%, having reviewed a product.

The survey coincides with a number of key technological shifts in the delivery of web enabled services, such as the rise of internet televisions at the expense of traditional desktop PC’s and a continuing trend toward a ‘localised web’ with emerging markets continuing to balloon

Tom Smith, managing director of GlobalWebIndex, noted : “The sixth wave of GlobalWebIndex shows increasing fragmentation of the global internet. Thanks to social media, consumers in emerging, fast-growing internet markets such as Brazil, China, India or Indonesia are contributing more online than ever before, leaving behind traditional markets such as the UK, US and Germany.

"This creating a more localised internet, where each market has a different behaviour type, relationship with brands and attitudes towards the role of the internet. The concept that the internet would drive a singular global culture is false. Brands and content producers will need ever more localised strategies.”