A new Pew Report shows how online Americans have changed over the last ten years.
It’s been a little over ten years since Netscape offered its Mosaic Web browser for free on October 13, 1994, a date often interpreted as the birth of the popular Internet. Today, it’s not surprising how much the Web has changed the life for mainstream America.
So, as the Web becomes more central to American lives, the more online marketing will grow.
“Internet: The Mainstreaming of Online Life,” a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study, found the online population America stands at 63 percent of adults in the country, which means that approximately about 128 million people age 18 or older, participate in some sort of online activities.
The report found that on a typical day at the end of 2004, some 70 million Americans logged onto the Web. In 2000, when the Pew Internet & American Life Project began its study, 52 million American adults were online in an average day. That reported 2004 figure of 70 million represents a 37 percent increase.
The Web as the New Normal
Today the Web has become the “new normal” in American life as people log on for various purposes and activities. The Pew report found that in 2004, on a typical day 58 million American go online to use email, 35 million get news, 25 million check the weather and more.
Good news for marketers: the Pew report found that on a typical day in 2000 three million Americans bought something online but in 2004 the number has increased to four million. That could mean that online marketing messages are increasing their connectivity with these online consumers.
The Pew report also factored in gender in regards to types of online activity. Women are more likely to get online health information (85 percent) than men (75 percent); similarly, women are more likely to get spiritual and religious information (73 percent) than men (56 percent).
In regards to ethnicity and American online behavior, the Pew report found that online whites are more likely to buy a product online (63 percent) than online minorities (53 percent).
Gaps and Apps
The Pew report claims that “despite the evolution in people’s relationship with the Internet, a few things haven’t changed much as the Web marches into its second decade. First, email is still regarded as the most popular application or "killer app." The report found the email is “the number one activity and time consumer for the vast majority” of Americans online. Information searching, entertainment and then e-commerce follow behind email. The report sums up the most popular online applications as thus: “The Internet is most of all a mail pigeon, then a library, then an amusement park, then a shopping center.”
Gaps in Web usage still exist among multiple demographic lines. The Pew report found that the percentage of Americans online in households with incomes more than $75,000 is a high 89 percent. In contrast, only 44 percent of households with incomes less than $30,000 per year are online. In suburban areas, 68 percent are online; 62 percent are online in urban areas; and only 56 percent are online in rural areas. Based on these figures, it's assumed that these higher income households are more likely to purchase goods online.
The report also found that only 25 percent of seniors (65 years and older) are online, while 78 percent of 18-29 year olds are online.
Connection Changes
The Pew report notes that “we are in the midst of yet another important change in the Internet -- the rapid switchover from dial-up access to high-speed broadband connections.” The report found that now more than half of Americans that go online have access to broadband connections at home or work. (Editor's note: In September 2004 Nielsen//NetRatings reported that for the first time 51 percent of at-home American Internet users have broadband connections.)
“The rapid growth of broadband use at home has been perhaps the most striking development in the Internet population in the fast four years,” reports the Pew study.
In 2000, only five million Americans reported having high-speed connections are home. The Pew report found that by the end of 2004, nearly 60 million Americans had high-speed access.
Not surprisingly, the increase of broadband consumption means Americans are spending more time online. The Pew report found that dial-up users spend about 83 minutes online, while broadband users say they spend approximately 107 minutes online on the average day. Twenty-six percent of broadband users do work-related research online on the average days, compared with 14 percent of dial-up Web users. Only 11 percent of dial-up users say they do research on a product on average days, while 24 percent of broadband report going online for product research.
Though there has been significance increase in home high-speed access in the U.S., the country ranks 11th in worldwide home broadband penetration. The Pew report found that South Korea ranked first with 21.3 percent of its citizens reporting broadband connection at home; Hong Kong was second with 14 percent; Canada was third with 11.2 percent. The U.S. reported only 6.9 percent of homes with broadband.
Overall, the Pew Internet & American Life Project study shows how the Web is “constantly reshaping people’s informational and social universes,” but also how people, namely online Americans, many who are also online consumers, are reshaping the Web as well.
Additional resources:
Jeffrey Cole of the Center for the Digital Future on Internet Trends -- from the December 2004 iMedia Agency Summit.