|
Monday - September 4, 2000
More Women Online, Cultivating Relationships
A new study released this summer shows that more than
nine million women have gone online for the first time in
the last six months, and they have brought gender parity
to the Internet population. This surge in Internet usage
by women is also reshaping America's social landscape because
women are using email to enrich their important relationships
and enlarge their networks.
Contrary to some reports that the Internet
creates social isolation, this new survey shows that Internet
users in general - and online women in particular - believe
that their use of email has strengthened their relationships
and increased their contact with relatives and friends.
Those are some of the key findings in the first
survey of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a
research center created to take a comprehensive, in-depth
look at the social impact of the Internet. On the Web, the
gender gap is quite pronounced in some places. Women are
more likely to seek health information and play online games.
They are also more inclined than men to get religious information
and research new jobs. Men are more likely than women to
use the Web to get news, seek financial information and do
online stock trading, participate in online auctions, access
government Web sites, and search for sports news.
At the same time, there are a striking number
of online activities that are performed in equal measure
by men and women. These often involve Web activities that
are very popular with young adults such as sending instant
messages, browsing the Web for fun, and getting information
about popular culture.
Fifty-five percent of Internet users say their
use of email has improved their connection with their family;
59% of those who email relatives say their level of contact
with significant family members has increased; 66% of Internet
users say email has improved their connection with their
friends; 60% of those who email their friends say they communicate
more often with significant friends now because of email.
In these areas, women cite the benefits of email more frequently
than men do. Users' responses challenge the notion that those
who log on to the Internet are turning away from important
social relationships and their contact with the wider world.
"Email is a tool that many people now
use to deepen and improve their ties to family and friends," says
Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life
Project. "Use of the Internet actually enlarges and
enriches most users' social worlds. And that is particularly
true for women."
This innovative tracking survey of Internet
users shows that more than 55 million Americans access the
Internet on a typical day, which is 60 percent of all those
with Internet access. And several other major insights emerge
from the data:
The Web catches up to email. Communication
is not the Internet's only "killer app." Today,
the number of Americans who seek information or complete
transactions on the Web is the same as the number of those
who communicate with email. On a typical day on the Internet,
22% of online Americans get news from the Web; 21% browse
the Web just for fun; 18% look for information about a hobby;
16% do job-related research; 14% do research about products
and services (and 4% buy products or services); 12% send
instant messages; 7% seek health information; 6% play a game;
5% look for information about a job; 3% buy a or sell a stock,
bond, or mutual fund share; and 3% participate in online
auctions.
Changing family communication: 62% of those
who email relatives say they like email because they can
use it to stay in touch with family members without having
to spend as much time talking to them; 72% of those who email
friends say the same thing about those relationships. Inside
online families, email use is increasingly important. Siblings
who exchange email say they send each other email more frequently
than they call each other. Other email relationships now
involve email contact that is as frequent as phone contact.
A third of those who email family members like e-communication
because they say it is easier to say frank or unpleasant
things via email than other forms of communication.
Among the other highlights:
Family celebration. 26 million Americans have used email to start communicating
regularly with a family member with whom they had not previously had much
contact; 24 million have used the Web and email to locate or hunt for family
or friends they had lost touch with; 16 million say they have learned more
about their families since they began using email, 30 million are members
of families in which someone has created a family Web site; and 54 million
belong to a family where someone in the family has used the Internet to research
their family history.
The Web's real purchasing power. A huge majority
of those with Internet access (74%) have used the Internet
to research products and services. One in two online users
(48%) have bought a product online, such as books, music,
toys, or clothing. Higher-income, better-educated and more-experienced
Internet users are more likely to follow through with an
online purchase.
Happy Labor Day!
This is a quick note to wish you happy Labor Day and
to let you know that Webmaster Techniques Magazine is updated
365 days a year, including all holidays.
--
Return to September
2000 News Archive
|
