A surprise: Internet users resume growth, Harris says
After plateauing, Internet penetration grew smartly in the last six months, says a Harris Interactive consumer survey conducted in June and August. Harris Interactive reports that 73% of adults are now online, up from 69% eight months earlier, 67% in late 2002, 64% in 2001 and 63% in 2000. That translates into 156 million users, up 7% from late 2003. In addition, Harris reports, broadband use continues to grow rapidly—44% of adults use broadband at home.
Harris reports that the growth in Internet penetration is a result of increased Internet access at both home and work. The proportion of adults online at home has risen to 65%, up from 61% in 2003 and 57% in 2002. Those online at work have risen slightly to 34% from 31% in 2003 and 28% in 2002.
“By far the most striking change in this new Harris Interactive research is the big increase in those with broadband connections,” Harris said in its report. Two years ago, only 22% of adults online had broadband connections. By October/December 2003, this had increased to 37%.
As expected, broader usage is also broadening the demographic profile of Internet users until today it resembles the country as a whole. But there are still a few striking discrepancies: 7% of those online are over age 65 compared to 15% of all adults who are over 65, 39% of those online did not go to college, compared to 47% of all adults, and 16% have incomes under $25,000, compared to 22% of all adults.
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