Asian Adult Website Research

Asian Internet surfers are apparently becoming obsessed with adult content sites. According to new Asian research from NetValue, March 2002 witnessed a significant increase in visitors to these sites year-on-year.

The latest study examining audiences in the major markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan indicates that South Korea and Hong Kong have experienced the greatest rise in use, while Singapore and Taiwan have also showed marked rises.

Dr Jack Loo, president of NetValue (Asia), commented that such a trend calls for concern because this could be a sign for widespread misuse of the Internet. 'The Internet is supposed to be an efficient tool for the dissemination and seeking of information. However, if more people are spending time searching for adult materials, then the public should probably take note of such negative externalities, especially since there are young teenagers among the visitors.'

Of particular concern is the increasing amount of time spent by students at these sites. Students are reportedly spending more time and downloading more pages at these sites from home. 'Perhaps parents should be more observant of what their children are doing online.' Dr. Loo added, 'Unfortunately, many parents are not fully aware of the potential pitfalls associated with the web.'

South Korean students in particular are flocking to these sites. These youngsters accounted for the highest percentage visitors to adult sites during the month of March. In fact, they comprised almost half of the adult site visitors from the area. 'This was consistent with our earlier findings on adult website visitors,' said Dr Loo. 'In January 2001, we saw more than half of the student Internet users reportedly visited these sites. Hence, it was not surprising that these websites were still the 'hot favorites' among South Korean students.'

In contrast, the highest number of professionals, managers, executives and businessmen visiting adult websites in the month of March was from Singapore. 'By and large, with the wider proficiency in English and Internet knowledge amongst the working class, surfing the net has now become a popular hobby for many executives', Dr Loo added. 'Given the strict law of enforcement against all sorts of vices, the Internet offers a convenient source to other unorthodox materials. Of course, one of them being pornographic content.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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