• by Gavin O'Malley , December 10, 2004

A BURST! Media survey released yesterday found that 32.3 percent of employed men, and 24.9 percent of employed women, ages 25 to 34, say they spend three or more hours each day surfing the Web at work.

"The Internet is the only place where you're going to reach 25-34-year-old professional who are so difficult for marketers to get to," said Chuck Moran, BURST! market research manager.

BURST! also found that 27.4 percent of employed men and women ages 18-24 spend three hours or more per day on the Internet, and 23.2 percent of employed men ages 35-44 log three or more hours of Internet use per day. About one out of five -- 20.7 percent -- of men and women ages 45 and over say they spend three or more hours per day on the Internet while at work.

What do workers do online? Most popular among various types of Web activities is e-mail and instant messaging -- 60 percent of respondents say they have, over the past three months, used the Web at work to connect with others.

Other popular online activities at work include checking local or national news, done by about 54 percent of respondents; researching the weather, done by 41 percent; and looking up information about products, which 35 percent of respondents did.