Search, Email Still The Most Popular Online Activities: Pew Study

The most popular activities online among American Internet users remain search and email, according to new research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Pew's research indicates that 92 percent of American adults say they have used search engines on the web and 59 percent say they do so on a daily basis. Email usage is nearly equal in popularity with a reported 92 percent of American adults saying they have used email and 61 percent saying they use it daily.

"Since the Pew Internet Project began measuring adults' online activities in the last decade, these two behaviors have consistently ranked as the most popular," Kristen Purcell states in the report itself. "Of course, the internet population has grown substantially since 2002. So, the overall number of users of both email and search engines has also grown."

A chart from Pew tracking the popularity of different online activities between 2000 and 2009 offers a revealing illustration of how popular search and email have remained over time, though many have predicted the "end of email" is nigh.

However, other research offers a slightly different view of Americans' behavior online.

For example, by tracking the number of visitors to web-based email providers, comScore found that between November 2009 and November 2010 there was a 6 percent decrease in email usage. During the same one-year time frame, comScore's report shows a 36 percent increase in people accessing email via mobile devices. The ability to engage in online activities on the move (thanks to mobile phones) will likely mean that American consumers' high levels of Internet use are here to stay.

Other interesting facts from Pew's report is the striking rise in social network usage among Americans. In 2005, 11 percent of Internet users claimed to participate in social networks, whereas in 2011 that number has jumped to 65 percent. Read the full report here, where you can find out more about the relative popularity of online activities and how they vary across demographic groups.

Comments

[stealur]

11:37 AM on 08/10/2011

I expected to see porn and data-mining...

[mhtowe64]

12:09 PM on 08/10/2011

SAME here...

[Phemale]

01:45 PM on 08/10/2011

It falls under the 'SEARCH' category.

[jm26dream]

11:29 AM on 08/10/2011

The internet doesn't exist anymore, it's just a hoax. people sit in front of computers PRETENDING to be online just to fool us

[Evan Pritchard]

10:22 AM on 08/10/2011

'People still lying about what they do on the internet: Pew study'

[MIKEinNYC]

08:26 AM on 08/10/2011

Updates. Another 6 today from MS.

[overkill]

06:03 AM on 08/10/2011

Why would the e-mail disappear?

There really is no alternative to it. I mean it's standardized, open, secure and easy to use. Social networks are shooting themselves in the foot by not following the same principles.

[theuniversalcollective]

02:29 AM on 08/10/2011

Not buyin it

[Michael Levkowitz]

11:43 PM on 08/09/2011

This study is deceptive because of the increased size of hard drives...porn no longer requires you to *stay* on the internet.
Also, Not Your Father's Water Cooler is making a strong push to become the most popular destination on the web...we'll see how long before it surpasses emailing itself. www.nyfwc.com

[Mr Anonymous]

10:11 PM on 08/09/2011

If they put internet porn it would have beat off e-mail, literally.

[JDReign]

10:12 PM on 08/09/2011

Now that was funny!!!!

[mhtowe64]

12:10 PM on 08/10/2011

No pun intended?!

Good one, fanned just for that LOL

[hypnotoad72]

10:02 PM on 08/09/2011

I recently read an article discussing "the 10 tech skills that are going the way of the dinosaur"...

http://www.techrepublic.com/whitepapers/10-tech-skills-that-are-heading-the-way-of-the-dinosaur/2703433
(sadly, one has to sign up to obtain it.)

They say email is on its way down, in favor of "social media".  The graph up there would happily disagree.

Social media has skyrocketed but email use is pretty much stable.

One day the use of email might go down, but not any time soon.


Still, in 1998 I read a big chart saying how the need for PC technicians would be more paramount than ever by 2010.  (with thin clients, virtualization of desktops, et al, the need will go down and if the only jobs involve looking like a penguin wearing a bright orange necktie, no thank you...

[wilray]

08:29 PM on 08/09/2011

Of course, search is the most popular activity. How else can you find porn?

Didn't Zuckerberg say that email was dying out? I know not to trust that guy.

[Brad Young]

10:57 AM on 08/10/2011

which is funny because he has introduced an email client through FB. Im not sure if I can receive actual legit emails through it (never tested it out). but i have an actual e-mail ending with @facebook.com

[wilray]

11:19 AM on 08/10/2011

Yea, Facebook keeps saying that they're email is not email. With Facebook dismissing privacy concerns, I don't know that I would trust them with my email.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/15/facebook-email-addresses-_n_783697.html#s182606