What Do Americans Do Online? [8/20/2008]

Americans love the Internet. Proof? Forrester Research estimates that more than half of U.S. adults access the Internet every day. And, a full 75% access it at least once a month. Add it up and it totals 302 billion minutes last month.

Given the amount of time Americans spend online, just what are they doing? Everyone from venture capitalists to web designers want to know. To gain some understanding, the Top 20 sites of today were compared to the Top 20 sites from three years ago. Here's what the study found:

i) Google Tops the List: The site had 7 million more unique visitors last month than its closest rival (Yahoo!). It pulled in 123 million uniques. This is up 62% from three years ago.

What accounts for the large jump? Google has worked to make its site stickier, e.g., adding email, maps, news and images. This has paid off handsomely for the search engine giant, as users spend an average of 78 minutes per visit on the site. This is an increase of 38 minutes from three years ago.

ii) Information is Still King: People still use the Internet to primarily search for information. Proof? Four of the top five sites were information portals that led to other sites (i.e., the aforementioned Google, Yahoo!, AOL and MSN.com).

iii) Checking Email: This was the number one reason users logged onto the Internet. Just over 80% of the more than 220 million U.S. adults online check email at least once weekly.

Other activities users participated in include shopping (almost half did so); reading the news (42%); banking (55% have done this online activity at least once in the last quarter); playing videogames (24%); and making travel plans (e.g., 23% bought airline tickets and 20% confirmed hotel reservations).

iv) Social Networking: YouTube was the sixth most popular site in the Nielsen Top 20, logging 75 million unique visitors over the last month. While primarily a bastion of the young (18-28 year olds), it has grown at a phenomenal rate. In July of 2005, Facebook ranked 236 on the Nielsen list; it now ranks inside the top 20, sitting at number 16 with over 34 million unique visitors last month.

v) User-generated Content: Sites like Wikipedia have made user-generated content popular, although many are still befuddled as to how to monetize this genre.

What does all of this mean for Internet marketers? While some mediums remain a mystery as far as monetization, as long as consumers are logging on, e-tailers get an inside look at what's important to them. And, the more information Internet marketers have access to about their customers, the better the opportunity they have of marketing to them.

For more insight visit Online Consulting Services

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