When it comes to how people use the Internet, around these parts, we tend to be slightly obsessed. We care a lot about geeky things like user experience, search behavior, mobile technology and, of course the world of social media: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube … you get my drift. Mostly, we care about this kind of stuff because it’s part of what we bring to the table.
Our clients expect us to know about all things web, technology and social media related so that they can focus their energies on what they do best. They rely on us and we take that pretty seriously. So, we play, beta test, obsess over data and stats, recommend for, recommend against, and experiment. A lot.
We also really like research. Yup, it’s true. The bookworms in high school often grow up to be people who continue to like nerdy things like facts, studies, white papers and the like.
The folks at Pew Internet regularly delight us with their research, and the infographic they created examining Internet use in 2010 is pretty awesome, too.
The infographic is broken down by generation, a classification that results in some handy data if you’re interested in learning the Internet habits of a particular age group.
Pew Internet identified a number of online activities that are becoming widespread regardless of an Internet user’s age. They include:
- Getting news
- Buying products
- Making travel reservations or purchases
- Online banking
- Seeking religious information
- Rating products, services or people
- Making online charitable donations
- Downloading podcasts
Of course, email and search engine use remain the two most popular online activities across all generations, yet it’s fascinating to see the increase of other uses, which speaks to the ever-increasing pervasiveness of the Internet as a daily tool.
One other interesting find from Pew’s research? Blogging is declining among those in younger generations, including teenagers and Millennials (ages 18-33), yet is increasing in most older generations. Additionally, the fastest growth of social network users can be found in Internet users ages 74 and older, meaning social networks aren’t just youth-centric platforms; instead, their appeal stretches across nearly all generations.
So how about we conduct our own mini research sample? What do you use the Internet for, besides email, search and social networking? Do you see Pew Internet’s research results mimicked in your own online behavior? I’ll go first: I use the Internet for email, search, social networking, research, shopping, reviews (pre-buying behavior), maps/directions, travel, banking … oh snap, I guess it’s true. I use the Internet for just about everything. You?
