US Web Users Are Confident
Americans have always carried themselves with a particular dignity – one that sometimes errs on the side of arrogance. Recent figures released by the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future might indicate the same for Americans and their confidence in their Internet skills.
The survey, which was released earlier this month, compares the sentiments held by U.S. Web users in 2007 to the sentiments held in 2000.
According to the most recent survey, 34 percent of respondents said they thought they had “excellent” command of the Internet, compared to just 14 percent in 2000.
Forty-four percent said they felt they had “good” Internet skills in 2007, compared to 30 percent in 2000.
Meanwhile, 19 percent said they thought their Web skills were “fair” in 2007, compared to 27 percent in 2000.
The most drastic change occurred with the “poor” category of users: 3 percent said they felt their Web skills were poor in 2007, compared to 28 percent in 2000.
There are many reasons to question respondents who answered in the “excellent” or “good” categories, given the numerous Web site names that make it to the top 10 search term lists, or the surprisingly large number of Internet users who respond to spam messages and get duped into downloading malware.
October 2008 also saw U.S. adults spend the most time online per week, as they spent an average of 14 hours on the Web each week, according to Harris Interactive.
This figure reflects an increase from 11 hours per week in July and October of 2007.
Source:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006790
