INTERNET
Search rivals e-mail as top application
21-11-2005
by Deirdre McArdle
The use of online search engines is giving e-mail a run for its money as the most popular internet activity amongst US surfers.
So says the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which reveals that in September around 60 million American adults used search engines each day, up 55 percent from the June 2004 figure of 38 million. Some 41 percent of the US internet population are now using search engines, compared to 30 percent in June 2004.
Those using search engines tend to be in their 30s and well-off, according to the report, which said: "Those who use search engines on an average day tend to be heavy internet users. They are much more likely to have broadband connections than dial-up connections; to log on to the internet several times a day; and to have spent considerable time online during the day."
This significant rise means that search is now the second most popular activity online, catching up on e-mail, which many regard as the internet's "killer app." The Pew report reveals that on any given day, about 52 percent of American internet users are sending and receiving e-mail, up from 45 percent in June of 2004.
Overall, among internet users, there is little difference between the size of the e-mail-using population and the size of the search-engine using population. Pew data shows that 91 percent of all internet users had ever sent or received an e-mail, while 90 percent of internet users had used search engines.
On an average day, around 94 million American adults use the internet. Seventy-seven percent will use it for e-mail, 63 percent will perform searches followed by 46 percent of surfers who will use it to gather news. Job-related searching is the fourth most popular online activity with 29 percent, while instant messaging and online banking are tied for fifth place with 18 percent.
Internet users' growing obsession with search is good news for internet giant Google, which, in October, emerged as the most heavily used search engine with 89.8 million unique visitors. That's according to data from comScore, which showed that Google was followed by Yahoo with 68 million, MSN Search with 49.7 million, Ask Jeeves with 43.7 million, and AOL Search with 36.1 million.
Creating successful email surveys: Denise Cox of email specialist Newsweaver argues that you can tap into your readers' likes or dislikes by surveying them.
