Communications and Technology Industry Research

Few people would be surprised to learn that, in its sixth Surveying the Digital Future study, University of Southern California’s Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future found Internet usage in the U.S. continues to rise.

 

A more significant finding of the survey is that, in its own way, the virtual reality of the Internet has become as “real” as the “real world.”

 

“Large numbers of Internet users hold such strong views about their online communities that they compare the value of their online world to their real-world communities,” USC Annenberg School said in a summary of its survey, released Wednesday.

 

“Large numbers” here represents 43 percent of the more than 2,000 people surveyed by the project.

 

“We are now witnessing the true emergence of the Internet as the powerful personal and social phenomenon we knew it would become,” commented Jeffrey Cole, Director of USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future, in a statement.

 

More specifically, Internet usage now has become part of the daily social fabric of many, many Americans. For example, more than half (56.6 percent) log onto online communities at least once a day, and almost two-thirds (64.9 percent) use the resources of online communities to become involved with new social causes.

 

They’re also using the Internet to find friends and maintain friendships. Almost half of respondents (42.8 percent) say that online social interactions has increased the number of people they stay in touch with regularly. Perhaps notably, that number is down just slightly from 46.6 percent who answered the same way in 2002.

 

There was also a slight drop in the number of respondents who indicated that Internet usage helps them communicate more often with family and friends. For 2006, respondents who say online interactions make the difference was 37.7 percent, down from 45.5 percent in 2002.

 

The reductions in these numbers could indicate people are simply busier overall, and have less time to stay in touch no matter the method used. Or maybe the effect of the Internet is simply leveling off.

 

In any case, virtually all respondents said the Internet has no effect on the amount of face-to-face time spent with close friends and family.

 

The table below summarizes some of the other findings of the survey.

 

 

 

In a related study, research firm Medefield found that the Internet has become numero uno when it comes to methods used for gathering data in pharmaceutical industry market research studies.

 

Specifically, Internet-based market research “has leapt ahead of face-to-face and phone interviews to become the world's number one method of data collection for quantitative physician studies,” Associated Press said in a report Wednesday.

 

Acceptance of the Internet as a way to gather research data has been especially rapid in the European Union, AP said.

 

“The latest study confirms the dramatic change that is taking place in the industry -- where 43 percent of all quantitative market research globally, and 75 percent in the US, is conducted online -- and cites the growing pool of physicians, especially those on European panels, who have access to the Internet as the principal factor in reversing long-held attitudes,” AP said in its report.

 

Medefield has been conducting its Pharmeceutical Market Research Trends Study every year since 2004. The 2006 version used online interviews with 122 market research and business intelligence professionals, with more than 20 pharmaceutical and biotech companies—including Novartis, BMS, Roche and Pfizer—represented, AP noted.

 

The USC and Medefield studies, while discussing different aspects of the Internet’s impact on society, nonetheless speak of a broader trend: the online world is more “real” than ever, whether viewed as a way to make and keep friends or gather data for professional research.