• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 30, 2002

Another Ten Million Go Online

Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll, summarized the Interactive Survey conducted in February and March of this year, concluding that the online population has grown at a modest rate over the last six months after a pause which coincided with the bursting of the dot.com bubble. The 66% of adults now online comprise 137 million, up from 127 million last fall. This includes more than half of all adults who access the Internet from home, almost a third who access it from work, and almost one in five adults who go online from a school, library, cyber cafe or other location.

The profile of Internet users still has a bias towards the more affluent, better educated consumers, but the profile by age is looking more like a cross section of all adults – up to, but not including, those over 65, who comprise 16% of all adults but only 5% of those online.

Taylor notes that one other interesting finding in this research is that there has been little change in the amount of time Internet users spend online. He says that a reasonable assumption is that as technology and Internet skills have improved, people can get more done now in the seven or eight hours they spend online than they could have a few years ago.

Some of the statistical tabulations include:

1. Online from home, work or other location (% of all adults)

	All Online	at Home	at Work	Other	Hrs/Week
February/ March 2002	66%	55%	30%	19%	8 hrs
September/ October 2001	64	52	28	19	7
October/ November 2000	63	49	29	17	7

2. Profile of online population (% of all adults February-March 2002)

	% Adults Online	% All Adults	% Point Difference
AGE
18 – 29	28	22	+6
30 – 39	23	22	+1
40 – 49	23	20	+3
50 – 64	24	18	+6
65 +	5	16	-11
SEX
Men	49	48	+1
Women	51	52	-1
RACE/ETHNICITY
White	76	76	=
Black	12	12	=
Hispanic	9	10	-1
EDUCATION
High school or less	37	52	-15
Some college	31	26	+5
College graduate	32	22	+10
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
$25,000 or less	18	25	-7
$25,001 - $50,000	25	29	-4
$50,001 and over	46	32	+14

Source: THE HARRIS POLL #18, April 17, 2002

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