2007 Digital Future Report...

...from USC's Annenberg School:

Online World As Important to Internet Users As Real World?

USC-Annenberg Digital Future Project Finds Major Shifts in Social
Communication and Personal Connections on the Internet

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Is the online world as important
to Internet users as the real world?
Large numbers of Internet users hold such strong views about their
online communities that they compare the value of their online world to
their real-world communities, according to the sixth annual survey of the
impact of the Internet conducted by the USC-Annenberg School Center for the
Digital Future.
Among a broad range of findings about rapidly-evolving methods for
online communication, the 2007 Digital Future Project found that 43 percent
of Internet users who are members of online communities say that they "feel
as strongly" about their virtual community as they do about their
real-world communities.
"More than a decade after the portals of the Worldwide Web opened to
the public, we are now witnessing the true emergence of the Internet as the
powerful personal and social phenomenon we knew it would become," said
Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the USC-Annenberg School Center for the
Digital Future.
"The Internet has been a source of entertainment, information, and
communication since the Web became available to the American public in
1994," said Cole. "However, in 2006 we are beginning to measure real growth
and discover new directions for the Internet as a comprehensive tool that
Americans are using to touch the world."
The findings about online communities and more than 100 other issues
are published in the 2007 Digital Future Project, the comprehensive annual
examination of the impact of online technology on America.
The project surveys more than 2,000 individuals across the United
States, each year contacting the same households to explore how online
technology affects the lives of Internet users and non-users. It also
examines how changing technology, such as the shift from Internet access by
modem to broadband, affects behavior.
The 2007 Digital Future Project found that Internet use is growing and
evolving as an instrument for personal engagement -- through blogs,
personal Web sites, and online communities.
Online communities: a catalyst for connection and activism
Online communities and offline action -- The Digital Future Project
found that involvement in online communities leads to offline actions. More
than one-fifth of online community members (20.3 percent) take actions
offline at least once a year that are related to their online community.
(An "online community" is defined as a group that shares thoughts or ideas,
or works on common projects, through electronic communication only.)
Social activism -- Participation in online communities leads to social
activism. Almost two-thirds of online community members who participate in
social causes through the Internet (64.9 percent) say they are involved in
causes that were new to them when they began participating on the Internet.
And more than 40 percent (43.7 percent) of online community members
participate more in social activism since they started participating in
online communities.
Online communities: daily use -- A significant majority of members of
online communities (56.6 percent) log into their community at least once a
day.
Member interaction -- Online communities are online havens for
interaction among members. In 2006, 70.4 percent of online community
members say they sometimes or always interact with other members of their
community while logged in.
Internet users: reaching out across the Web
Posting information -- Growing percentages of Internet users are going
online to post information, whether on a blog, posting photos, or
maintaining a personal Web site.
-- The number of Internet users in America who keep a blog has more
than doubled in three years (now 7.4 percent of users, up from 3.2 percent
in 2003).
-- Likewise, the number of Internet users who post photos online has
more than doubled in three years (now 23.6 percent of users, up from 11
percent).
-- The number of users who maintain their own Web site continues to
grow steadily (now 12.5 percent of users).
The Internet and social links
The Digital Future Project found continuing growth of the Internet for
connection to family and friends -- but with virtually no negative effects
on time spent in person with them.
New friends, online and in person -- Internet users are finding growing
numbers of online friends, as well as friends they first met online and
then met in person. In 2006, Internet users report having met an average of
4.65 friends online whom they have never met in person. Internet users in
2006 report an average of 1.6 friends met in person whom they originally
met online -- more than double the number when the Digital Future Project
began in 2000.
Does the Internet increase regular contact with other users? --
Responding to a question last asked in 2002, 42.8 percent of Internet users
agree that going online has increased the number of people they regularly
stay in contact with -- marginally less than the 46.6 percent who voiced
the same response four years ago.
Internet users and communication with family and friends -- Although
more than 40 percent of users say that the Internet has increased the
number of people with whom they stay in contact, a lower percent say that
since starting to use the Internet they are communicating more with family
and friends.
In 2006, 37.7 percent of Internet users agree that since they started
to go online they are communicating more with family and friends -- down
from 45.5 percent in 2002.
Does the Internet change the amount of time spent with friends and
family face-to-face? -- While large percentages of Internet users say that
going online increases contact with family and friends, almost all users
report that the Internet has no effect on the time spent with close friends
or family face-to-face.
The USC-Annenberg Digital Future Project:
Six years of exploring the digital realm
The USC-Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future created and
organizes the World Internet Project, which includes the Digital Future
Project and similar studies in North America, South America, Europe, Asia,
the Middle East and Australia. The center is supported by public
foundations and private companies, including Accenture, America Online,
Time Warner Companies, Sony, AT&T, Microsoft, and the Coca-Cola Company.
The Digital Future Project provides a broad year-to-year exploration of
the influence of the Internet and online technology on Americans. Since
2000, the project has examined the behavior and views of a national sample
of Internet users and non-users, as well as comparisons between new users
(one year or less of experience) and very experienced users (more than nine
years of experience).
The project also explores differences in online behavior among users of
telephone modems compared to broadband.
For highlights of the 2007 Digital Future Project or to order a copy of
the complete report, visit http://www.digitalcenter.org.

I would have liked to have seen the report broken into the various age groups and their social standings. I suspect that the vast majority of users are very young, single and have nothing else to do with their time. There is however the occasional 'Old Fart'.:)

Nothing groundbreaking (or even new) in that article. You could have probably taken a poll of our members here asking if their online friends and communities were important to them and received the same results.

:shuriken:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MagicNakor

Nothing groundbreaking (or even new) in that article. You could have probably taken a poll of our members here asking if their online friends and communities were important to them and received the same results.

:shuriken:

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Quite right, I shouldn't unduly credit Annenberg School.








Actually, my point was to indicate the parallels to our own experiences.