Trends in Internet Use

After exploring the “who” of Internet users, it is a worthwhile pursuit to examine the “what.” As in, what are all those folks doing on the Internet anyway?

There is a lot of data on this topic, so I’m just going to list the larger percentages.

First let’s look at the base number. 141,000,000 people (yes, 141 million) Americans use the internet. That is approximately 70% of the American population. How’s that for a customer base?

91% are using Email and search engines.
39% are sending IM’s
84% are “Map Questing” or using other driving direction engines.
73% travel information
63% making travel reservations
54% phone numbers and addresses
79% are seeking medical and health information.
58% seeking specific medical support
78% are doing pre-purchase product research and checking the weather.
77% are hobby and special interest folks.*
62% are surfing “just for fun”
56% are watching video and listening to audio
42% are downloading games, pictures, videos
71% are making online purchases.
67% are checking the news sources.*
54% politics and political campaigns.*
45% sports scores *
66% are using government websites.
57% are doing research for school or training.
50% research for work.
46% seeking work
55% are looking for “How To” information.*
45% are researching a school to attend.
43% are banking
41% are gathering financial information.
39% are looking for a place to live.
39% are reading blog content. *
30% are Craig’s List (etcetera) users. *
30% are seeking counsel or guidance *
13% are visiting adult websites. *

Those items I’ve noted with an asterisk (*) are those more open to monetizing. Many of the publishers of these genres have offered direct advertising on their sites, or have had success with advertising brokers like Ad Sense.

So, if these are the major areas Internet users are using, what are the top blog trends that are capitalizing on these phenomena?

Can you guess what to topic of tomorrow’s post will be?