I have been reading some interesting articles on how people spend their time on the internet. When the internet was first introduced to the world it quickly became a tool for communication and sharing information. Now in 2010, the internet plays a role in just about every business, non-profit society and organisation, and individuals life.
Some of the statistics reported by the Huffington Post relating to internet use by Americans showed that in a single month, a web user visits 2,646 sites and logs on 57 times – that’s a lot of information to be digesting! The report also highlighted the ever increasing popularity of social networking sites, with 70% of American internet users engaging in social networking. While in Brazil, a huge 90% of active internet users participate in social networking.
Another report in the Tech Chronicles of the San Francisco Chronicle reported how people are spending less time emailing and more time instant messaging. The report goes on to state that “In the past four years, people have been spending 37 percent more time getting news and entertainment online and less time communicating and making purchases online”.
Another article on TechPaparazzi listed the top internet brands – by percentage of online user visitors – with Google at 82%, followed by MSN/Bing (on 62%), Facebook (54%), Yahoo (53%), Microsoft (48%) and YouTube (47%).
Finally, this article published on TheOnlineMom highlights the increasing diversity of web users outside of the tech-obsessed younger generations. It shows that social networking rates higher than online gaming, internet and emailing in a ranking of the top ten sectors by share of US internet time.
These articles show an interesting shift away from simple emailing and data sharing, to more complex forms of internet usage. It also highlights the increasing popularity of social networking and the increasing desire for individuals not just to participate online, but to have an ‘online profile’ that is shared with the virtual community.
Red Blog 