Even though the growth of the Web user population has slowed, Web users reliance on the Internet is increasing, according to a new Harris Poll. The proportion of broadband users is growing, as are the reasons people go online.
Email and researching for work and school are still the top two activities. Yet in the past three years, the frequency of email among the online population has declined somewhat and other Internet uses have increased, including:
Product or service research (up from 25 percent to 41 percent)
Doing research for work or school (up from 37 percent to 45 percent)
Surfing for new and different sites (up from 24 percent to 32 percent)
Gathering information on local amusements and activities (up from 11 percent to 19 percent)
Downloading or playing games (up from 13 percent to 18 percent)
Making travel plans and arrangements (up from 11 percent to 15 percent)
The data was gathered by a nationwide telephone poll conducted by Harris Interactive between December 10 and 16, 2003 among a sample of 729 adults who access the Internet from home, work, school, library or other locations. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults are now online.