[Sigia-l] Internet research report

[Avi Rappoport]

Summary of Findings

The status of the Internet is shifting from being the dazzling new 
thing to being a purposeful tool that Americans use to help them with 
some of life's important tasks. As Internet users gain experience 
online, they increasingly turn to the Internet to perform 
work-related tasks, to make purchases and do other financial 
transactions, to write emails with weighty and urgent content, and to 
seek information that is important to their everyday lives.

These findings come from a survey we conducted in March 2001 in which 
we reinterviewed 1,501 people whom we first talked to in March 2000. 
This longitudinal approach shows that over the course of a year 
people's use of the Internet gets more serious and functional. 
Internet users do more kinds of things online after they gain 
experience, especially related to their jobs, even as they spend a 
bit less time online during their typical sessions. As they gain 
experience, many Net surfers seemed less dazzled by the Internet. As 
a result, they are less likely to email a family member on a daily 
basis. Still, they are more likely than before to turn to the 
Internet to share worries or seek advice from those close to them. At 
the same time, users value the Internet as much or more than ever. 
This suggests that time online breeds competence and self-assurance 
for users; they are more efficient at what they do online and what 
they use email to accomplish. As Internet use is woven more into the 
daily lives of users, they find ways to get more out of it while 
spending less time with it.


And if you prefer HTML, you get a longer URL:

<http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/reports.asp?Report=55&Section=ReportLevel1&Field=Level1ID&ID=241>

Avi

At 5:08 PM -0500 5/2/02, John Fullerton wrote:
>http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Getting_Serious_Online3ng.pdf
>

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