Portland Social Media

Ignoring the Internet: How the Other Half Lives

By Tim

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released a report titled, A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users (pdf). The report is being covered by iMedia, with the article title, Nearly Half of Americans Ignore Internet.

The study by Pew was undertaken with the explicit mission to make known the segments of the population that make robust use of information technology amid the advent of Web 2.0. The survey was conducted over the telephone between February 15th, 2006 and April 6th, 2006, among a sampling of 4,001 adults, aged 18 and older.

Pew culled the results together and created 10 groups that each have their own particular characteristics, attitudes and usage patterns. Broadly these 10 groups fit into three higher groups: the Elite users, the Middle-of-the-road users, and the Few Technology Assets users.

• 31% of American adults can be considered Elite Tech users
• 20% of American adults can be considered Middle-of-the-road users
• 49% have little use for modern gadgets and usually stick to plain ole telephones and television.

Of the 31% that were considered Elite Tech users, the reader’s of this blog might fall into the sub-category Omnivores; of which 8% of American adults constitute. These are the people most active in the information economy and are watching video on an iPod, txt’ing to their friends, logging into Web 2.0 websites and most Omnivores are in their 20’s with high-speed Internet connections at home or work.

Of the 49% that were considered disconnected from the Internet, iMedia stipulates on why this situation might have arisen:

Information overload, cost and a general perception that pastimes such as blogging and spending time on YouTube aren’t for them, are some of the key obstacles from bringing nearly half of U.S. adults into the digital age, according to Horrigan.

The potential for digital information technology that benefits and serves this very large disconnected group is extremely vast and promising. Ok, now stop reading this and start something for this other half.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 11:21 am and is filed under Web 2.0, Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.