Who consumes our information, anyway?
Today’s info consumer is an omnivore with a very big appetite, according to a new report by John Horrigan, of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Roughly two-thirds of the households in America have cable TV, a cell phone, and a home computer with an Internet connection for email and web browsing. Half have a DVD player. And DVD recorders are about to be hot items at Best Buy.
The majority of Americans, then, like to have a lot of info gadgets in the house, with many different sources of information. Contrary to Richard Saul Wurman’s hypothesis in his book, Information Anxiety, Horrigan finds that the more info people have, the less overwhelmed they feel. Being able to explore, manipulate, and control the flow makes people crave more info tools, and more ways to communicate with others.
In fact, most Americans feel more attached to their electronic sources than to newspapers and magazines. Only 19% said that it would be hard to give up their daily newspaper, and only 11% said it would be hard to give up magazines. Print is clearly losing its power in American homes, no matter how influential the Wall Street Journal may be in the clubrooms of the rich.
Horrigan identifies a “technology elite,” roughly 31% of the general population, who are leading the country in this direction, trying out the newest electronic gizmos, developing innovative uses for the information, swapping ideas in imaginative ways. Despite the general population’s appetite for information, most people trail the elites in hardware and usage, because of a lack of time, interest, or money.
If you are selling content over the Internet, then, the technology elite are your most eager, engaged, and active audiences. They spend the most, too.
Horrigan distinguishes four groups within the tech elite, each with its own interests, attitudes, and activities.
· The Young Tech Elites: 6% of the US. Average age 22. Most engaged with interactivity on the Internet (downloading music, creating online content, participating in online groups, streaming audio or video). Spending for information goods and services averages $161 a month.
· Older Wired Baby Boomers: 6% of the population. Average age: 52. Very active information gatherers, looking for news and work-related information. Very open to spending money online. $175 a month.
· Wired Generation X’ers: 18% of the population. Average age: 36. Less online experience than the first two groups, but quick to embrace a wide range of information goods and services. Pursue interactivity. $169 a month.
· Wired Senior Men. 1% of the population. Average age: 70. Have already been online for about ten years. Focus on information gathering, and online transactions such as shopping, bill paying, and handling finances. $124 a month.
All these groups are open to the idea of paying for online content. Already 13% of them have paid for such content, compared to 7% of the general population.
The early adopters, within the technology elite, are the group Horrigan calls the Young Tech Elites, and they clearly want active participation, with plenty of audio and video, but also a lot of exchanges on discussion boards, through email, and in chats. But all four groups expect to find a lot of information online, and feel at ease buying on the Web.
So growth areas for web writers and editors will probably be on sites related to music and video. Continuing moneymakers will be news and business information, particularly on sites that offer lots of interactivity. Print is becoming a sideline, or an after thought, still prestigious, but increasingly irrelevant for most people--in my opinion.
The report: Consumption of Information Goods and Services in the United States is at http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Info_Consumption.pdf
7:33:30 PM 
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