Slightly over 6 out of 10 South Koreans use online messengers every day, a poll showed Tuesday, with KakaoTalk standing as the most popular communication platform.

According to the survey conducted by market researcher TNS, 61 percent of Internet users here used instant messengers daily, hovering above the global average of 55 percent.

The survey was conducted on 60,500 respondents from 50 countries over the May-August period.

Of the South Korean respondents who used messengers every day, 3 percent said they used KakaoTalk, the country's most popular communications platform, trailed by NateOn and Facebook Messenger each with 9 percent.

LINE, the messenger service provided by South Korea's top online porter Naver Corp., stood as the most preferred platform in Japan, Taiwan and other Asian countries.

As for social-networking services, 33 percent of South Koreans preferred Facebook as the top platform, trailed by Kakao Story and Kakao Group with 30 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

KakaoStory and KakaoGroup are offered by Kakao Corp., the operator of KakaoTalk.

TNS said the market for instant messengers is expected to continue to grow as younger consumers want "to share experiences with a smaller, specific group, rather than using public, mainstream platforms like Facebook or Twitter."

"As people's online habits become ever more fragmented, brands need to tap into the growing popularity of instant messaging and other emerging platforms," said Global Director of Connected Life Joseph Webb from TNS. (Yonhap)