The French and the Spanish are much more likely to chat than do email. The Brits are more likely to be managing their buddy lists than chat. And the Germans can be found downloading files rather than manning their inbox.

A new study by NetValue suggests that cultural differences persist in the wired world. Or are they just stereotypes?

Does this mean the British are more nosey, less daring since they only want to communicate with people on their buddy lists rather than say, for example, encounter strangers in a dark, smokey chat room? "I would say it makes them more net savvy as we consider Instant Messaging a more advanced form of chat," posits Ochs.

The Germans appear to be the least communicative, choosing to share files instead of sending email or using chat lines. Is it MP3 music files, software, or some other content meant for solitary consumption? "It is not clear what kind of content, only that they are downloading," says Ochs. ®

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