- 83% of users have done a search online to answer a specific question, according to our latest survey on the subject in September 2002.
- The number of those who have used the Internet to answer questions grew 24% from 79 million to 98 million between the fall of 2000 and September 2002.
- English-speaking Hispanic users are among least likely to use the Internet this way.
- There are more searchers among those with higher education levels (college degrees) than among those who completed high school.
- Those with the most experience online and those with broadband connections are more likely than others to do online searches for information on any given day.
The act of using the Internet to answer basic questions is second only to email in its popularity as an online activity and easily one of the most essential functions of the Internet. More than eight out of ten online Americans say they have searched the Web for answers to their questions. That translated into 98 million Americans who had turned to the Web for their queries in September 2002, up from 79 million in late 2000. About a fifth of Internet users or about 22 million people go online on a typical day for this reason, according to our survey in September 2002 (up from 16 million in 2000).
Often one of the first activities that new users try, searching is an important step in how newcomers to the Web come to value the Internet as an everyday reference for finding useful information. Also, it is an important exercise in learning how to sift through the sometimes unreliable or irrelevant information that one can encounter during Web browsing. In the past, we have identified this activity as part of the early “search and learn” mode that allows new users to become comfortable with the fundamental workings and navigation of the Web.
Internet searching is an umbrella activity that encompasses many of the other more specific activities we ask about. For example, the people who do this activity might also say they use the Internet to look for health information, do research for school, or research a product. These searches might begin by using a general search engine like Google or by navigating directly to a more specialized resource site like WebMD.
When using a search engine, users need not have a specific question in mind, but may simply type a subject or name of interest into the search field. In January 2002, we asked: “Do you ever use an online search engine to help you find information on the Web?” At that time, 85% of Internet users had used search engines and 29% were using these searching tools on a typical day. The act of searching the Internet to answer questions appeals equally to men and women. However, over time, men have become increasingly more likely to report that they do these focused searches on a typical day (22% of online men do this on an average day vs. 15% of online women in September 2002).
African-American Internet users have become more likely to conduct Internet searches since we first started polling on this activity. The last time we asked this question, 85% of online blacks said they went online for answers, while 84% of white users said so. In comparison, English-speaking Hispanic Internet users have remained the least likely to search; the portion that says they submit their queries online has consistently been around 73%.
Age is of little import when it comes to posing one’s questions online. All users aged 18-64 have generally been equally as likely to say they have conducted online inquiries to find the answers they need; a little over eight in ten said they did so in September 2002, up slightly from 2000. Online Americans who are 65 and older have been less likely to do Internet searches compared to their younger counterparts. Still, the vast majority of wired seniors have probed their questions online; 7 in 10 wired seniors said they had made these queries in our September 2002 survey.
Other demographics
The higher an Internet user’s level of education, the more likely it is that she has used the Internet to help answer a question. For instance, we found in mid-2002 that 80% of those with high school educations said they had used the Internet to answer questions, compared to 87% of those with a college degree.
Similarly, the more experience online that an Internet user has, the more likely it is he has gone online to answer questions on any given day. In September 2002, 23% of Internet users who had been online for 4 or more years reported searching for answers to specific questions on a typical day, compared to only 4% of those with 1 year or less of online experience who did so.
Having access to a high-speed connection at home can make one’s online searching a more seamless part of everyday life. Our September 2002 data indicate that a higher proportion of broadband users go online for answers and do so more often than dial-up users. Twenty-six percent of home broadband users went online the day prior to the survey to search for an answer to a question they had, while 18% of dial-up users did so.
For more information on Internet searching, please visit the following reports and see appendix: