Legal Research

Why do people go online?

This is a useful study I found on ProBlogger blog. It's from the results of an interesting study called the Ruder Finn Intent Index.

Basically they "classify people?s reasons for going online into 7 broad categories: Learn, Have Fun, Socialize, Express Yourself, Advocate, Do Business, and Shop.

Within the categories ?pass time? was the most responded to result with 100% of people saying that they go online for this reason.

You can also look at the results based upon gender and age. For example:

- Men go online to do business, be informed of news and be entertained more than women
- Women are more likely to go online to socialize and express themselves than men)
- Youth go online more for socializing, advocating and self expression than seniors
- Both Youth and Seniors are going online to have fun

Other highly rated areas (80% of responses or more) included:

- Educate Self (96%)
- Connect with Others (92%)
- Research (89%)
- Share (86%)
- Be Entertained (82%)

As I read through the categories and sub categories, I got a similar insight to ProBlobggers's, I realized that this 'list of reasons for people to go online is gold' for libraries. I don't think library portals and websites should cover everything here (shopping?) but it's a great filter to review your site(s).

Anyone out there know of any research about why people read? Do you think 'to pass the time' might cover 100%?

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on July 28, 2009 (boomark / email).