Christmas sees broadband use becoming more popular than the Queens speech

In many homes throughout the UK the use of broadband on Christmas day seems to have become the main activity, with the Queens speech being ignored and people turning to sites like Facebook instead.

It was found that many internet users went onto Facebook and other social networking sites instead of watching or listening to the Christmas speech by the Queen, according to research performed by Plusnet, the internet service provider.

Between 14:00 and 15:00 GMT, which was the time of broadcasting for the Queen’s speech, online activity was found to have risen. It was also that later in the afternoon more broadband users all over the country went online to chat with family and friends around the world the amount of online usage increased by 25 percent.

On the 25th December shopping sites like eBay and Amazon were proving to be incredibly popular over the Christmas period with Facebook becoming the second most popular choice for online users.

The product Director at Plusnet, Neil Armstrong said “Social networking was very popular among our customers over Christmas, especially during the afternoon of the 25th. The study is a good illustration of how the web is changing the face of the traditional Christmas as more people go online for their fun, information and entertainment.” He also added “People were very busy staying in touch with friends and family during the afternoon but their thoughts turned to seasonal bargains later in the evening with more logging onto the shopping sites.”

It was found that 71 percent of the more knowledgeable internet users spent their time teaching family and friend who had not been online before how to use the internet over the Christmas period according to new research from Post Office Broadband. The research also found that one out of every five people surveyed felt that they were ignored by society because they didn’t know how to use the internet.