How Important Is Search to Users?

JANUARY 27, 2009


Lisa E. Phillips, Senior Analyst

The percentage of Internet users who are searching online varies by study, but its popularity is undeniable. According to the TNS “Digital World, Digital Life” report, 81% of Internet users worldwide used search engines in 2008—which raises the question, what are the other 19% doing?

In the US, 89% of all Internet users searched in April–May 2008. However, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found usage actually varied by access technology and location. Fewer dial-up users conducted searches than did people with a broadband connection at home, at 80% versus 94%. Internet users at home and at work used search in the same proportions—95% of each group.

Interestingly, the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future found that 21% of respondents used a search engine as their homepage in 2007—more than double the response in 2005. Internet portals such as Yahoo!, AOL and MSN declined in popularity as homepages between the two years.

Another indication that search is a necessary function for many Internet users is their willingness to pay for the privilege of using a Website. In October 2008, Rubicon Consulting polled 3,036 Internet users over the age of 12 about which sites they would pay to use if the fee were a nominal $2 per month. More than one-half (52%) said they would pay to use Google, with Yahoo! a distant second at 22% of respondents. Access to social media sites—YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook—was considered more imperative than to retail, auction and classified sites such as Amazon, eBay and craigslist.

The Internet as News Central

JANUARY 13, 2009

Only TV is a more popular source.

In yet another sign that news readers are dropping print for digital, the Internet has now surpassed all media except television as a news source, according to consumers surveyed in December 2008 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

In December 2008, 40% of respondents said they got most of their news about national and international issues from the Internet, up from just 24% in September 2007.

Pew said it was the first time since it started surveying that consumers relied more on the Internet for news than on newspapers.

Television was still the main source for national and international news, at 70%.

For young people, however, the Internet now rivals TV as a news source. Nearly six out of 10 Americans younger than 30 said they got most of their national and international news online; the exact same percentage said TV was the main way they got their news.

Another indicator that print newspaper readers are shifting to online comes from the Readership Institute. Although two-thirds of Internet users surveyed in July 2008 said they still used print newspapers about as much as they did before they started visiting news sites, more than one-quarter said they were reading print less as a result. That figure has grown significantly in the past five years.

In addition, newspaper visitors are typically older, wealthier and better-educated than the average US Internet user. However, young Internet users are getting their news online more often than from print—a trend that bodes well for newspaper sites as these visitors age and, it is to be hoped, maintain their online news habits.