by Electronic Transactions Development Agency (Public Organization) - http://www.etda.or.th/etda_website/mains/index via Thumbsup in Thailand - https://www.facebook.com/thumbsupth

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Executive Summary
The 2013 Survey on Internet Users’ Profile in Thailand was conducted with the aim to
gather information regarding Thai Internet users’ behavior, problems of their Internet usage,
their utilization of free WiFi service of the Thai Government, as well as their usage of social
media. The survey is divided into 2 parts, the first part covers basic information and Thai
Internet users’ behavior, which is planned to be conducted on an annual basis. The second part
covers the purchase of goods and services through social media, which has become very
popular. The survey’s findings will be beneficial to relevant organizations, both public and
private, and especially to e-commerce entrepreneurs. Such information could also be used to
formulate policy that should enhance electronic transactions, as well as assist e-entrepreneurs
in their decision--making.
The survey was conducted online, beginning from the middle of April to the end of May,
2013. The total number of respondents was 23,907.
Major Findings
Basic Information and Internet Users’ Behavior
Respondents consisted almost equally of residents of Bangkok and the provinces.
Gender, age, educational level, occupation, and household income of respondents were also
evenly distributed among different groups, and largely corresponded to Thailand’s demography.
Therefore, information gained from these respondents can be used for a comparative analysis
between each different group.
In a period of 12 years from 2001-2013, weekly usage of the Internet has steadily
increased to 76.3%. As many as 9% of the respondents spend over 105 hours on the Internet
each week. Internet users living outside municipal areas in the provinces are more likely to use
community ICT centers or government facilities than those residing in municipal areas and
Bangkok. Regarding devices for Internet access, there was an increased trend in the use of
portable devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Moreover, students, youths (younger than
15), and the elderly used Tablet PCs to access the Internet more than other age groups. As for

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the free WiFi service, users in provincial areas were 66.1% satisfied with the service quality, a
higher level of satisfaction expressed by users from municipal and Bangkok areas.
Social media was gaining more popularity as an activity of choice, while checking e-mails
and searching for information were still the most important activities. It was of some concern
that children and youths still used the Internet mainly for entertainment purposes, such as
playing online-games or downloading songs, dramas, or computer games. As for the problems
of Internet usage, most respondents were concerned with the speed and latency of access,
which was different from previous surveys where prevalence of computer viruses was the main
concern of users. The cause of the latency could have stemmed from increasingly varied
applications and services which required higher capacities and speed from the networks.
Purchasing goods and services through social media
It was found that 93.8% of respondents had used some services through social media.
From this group of respondents, the most popular devices for accessing social media were
smartphones, desktop computers, and laptop computers, in that order. When divided by age
group, each group of respondents had differing preferences for devices that they used to access
social media. Respondents aged between 15 - 19 and over 40 preferred accessing social media
through desktop computers, while respondents aged between 20-24 preferred laptop
computers, and respondents aged between 25-39 preferred smartphones. Most popular social
media platforms were Facebook, Google+, and Line, respectively. The most popular activity for
social media users were chatting and sharing of information, knowledge, and opinion. The
second most popular activity was keeping up-to-date of recent news and trends, while the third
most popular activity was uploading and sharing of photos or videos.
Moreover, the survey found that roughly half of all respondents who used social media
had experiences in purchasing goods or services through social media. The most popular goods
for female users were fashion goods and cosmetics, while male users preferred IT gadgets. Total
amount of money used for transactions varied according to different age groups, with
respondents younger than 15 spending less than 500 baht on average, while respondents aged
between 15 - 39 spent around 501-1,000 baht on average and those older than 40 spent
between 1,001 - 5,000 baht.

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Introduction
The Survey on Internet Users’ Profile in Thailand was conducted annually from 1999 to
2010 by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC). However, after
the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (Public Organization), known as ETDA was
established with the main objective to enhance and support safe and secure electronic
transactions for every sector in Thailand, the survey was transferred to the purview of ETDA.
To this end, ETDA has, for the first time, conducted the 2013 Survey of Internet Users’
Profile in Thailand and is planning to conduct such survey annually. The survey collected
information regarding basic information and Thai Internet users’ behavior, as well as introducing
a special question for each year to the survey. For this year, the special question was about the
purchasing behavior of goods and services via the highly popular social media. The results of
the survey will be beneficial to the public sector in its planning and formulating of appropriate
policies for each group of Internet users according to their gender, age, residence, education,
occupation, etc. The private sector, especially e-entrepreneurs, could also utilize the results
from the survey to plan their businesses and formulate marketing strategies that correspond to
each target group.
Objectives
1. To collect basic information about profiles and behavior of Thai Internet users on an
annual basis, showing the changes in the Internet usage profiles and behavior of Thai Internet
users.
2. To provide information regarding consumer behavior for e-entrepreneurs who are
interested in investing in or conducting e-commerce so that they could formulate marketing
plans for each target group.
3. To assist the public sector in formulating policies that will enhance Internet usage in
appropriate directions.
4. To gather insight and information in socially popular issues related to electronic
transactions. The results would then be applied to strategic planning and policy formulation of
relevant organizations.

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5. To disseminate the findings of the survey to other agencies or persons, whether to
study the usage of Internet for governmental services, Internet usage for educational purposes,
e-commerce, or any relevant other areas.
Methodology
The 2013 Survey on Internet Users’ Profile in Thailand was conducted online, by posting
banner links to the survey on private and public sectors organizations’ websites, as well as
posting on social media websites such as Facebook to maximize exposure to target groups.
The survey was conducted from mid-April to the end of May 2013, with a total number
of respondents of 23,907. The data was then processed using computer-based statistical
packages.