- 77% of Internet users have searched for hobby or interest information online as of January 2002.
- That represents growth of 40% from 65 million who had pursued hobby information online as of March 2000, to 91 million who had done so by January 2002.
- Online men are more likely to have done this than online women.
- A lower proportion of online African-Americans have looked for hobby information online than whites or English-speaking Hispanics.
- Young adult users are more likely than older Internet users to have sought hobby information.
- A higher proportion of home broadband users have sought hobby information online than dial-up users.
Approximately three-quarters of those who are online have sought hobby information on the Web at one time or another. Hobby searching has been a popular activity in the online world since we started measuring it in March 2000, and its prevalence shows no signs of waning. However, while the sheer number of people who have sought hobby information swelled (from 65 million to 91 million Americans) as Internet penetration increased between 2000 and 2002, the proportion of Internet users who are hobby-seekers has generally stood between 75% and 80% of the entire Internet population. Similarly, the number of users researching their hobbies on a typical day has increased (from 15 million to 22 million people), but the share of the Internet population that does so has generally been about 19%.
However, when the convenience of high-speed Internet connections enters the picture, users are dramatically more likely to consult the Web for hobby or interest information. What might normally constitute a trivial information search not worthy of the time and patience required for a dial-up session becomes a quick and easy inquiry for high-speed users — any fleeting interest might deserve a quick Google search. Our recent data shows that home broadband users are more than twice as likely to look for information relating to their hobby on an average day compared to dial-up users (41% of broadband users compared to 18% of dial-up users in February 2002).
Pursuing a hobby online can take many forms, and may encompass many of the more specific Internet activities we ask respondents about, such as checking sports scores, looking for information on leisure activities or researching religious and spiritual life. Yet, regardless of a user’s unique interest, there is likely to be something online to help him pursue new activities. In our May 2002 report on the use of the Internet at major life moments, we found that 33% of Internet users who had recently started a new hobby said the Internet played a crucial or important role in their taking up a new activity.
Throughout all of our surveys, men have been more enthusiastic hobby pursuers than women. When we last asked about this activity in January 2002, 81% of men had pursued their hobby online, compared to 73% of women. A slightly more prominent gap exists for those who look for hobby information on a typical day (24% of men vs. 14% of women). Likewise, we reported in May 2002 that twice as many men as women claimed the Internet played an important role when they decided to begin a new hobby.
African-American users are significantly less likely to seek hobby information online compared to other Internet users. This trend has been apparent every time we have asked this question of African-Americans who use the Web. Online whites and online English-speaking Hispanics have recently reported the same level of experience with this activity; in January 2002, both groups had hit 78%. However, at that time, only 66% of online blacks said they had done hobby searches on the Web.
The younger the Internet user, the more likely he or she is to have sought out hobby information online. This holds true with all of the adult age brackets, however, our research on teens’ online activities revealed that they are significantly less likely to go to hobby Web sites compared to adult Internet users. Though wired seniors tend to trail far behind the younger age demographics when it comes to seeking out information on hobbies, it has still been one of the more popular activities among those aged 65 and over. For instance, there were more wired seniors who had sought hobby information than those who had sought financial info, gone online for fun or bought a product in January 2002.
Other demographics Combing the vast amount of hobby information available online is popular both among new users and veterans. Education and income generally have a mild effect on how likely people are to visit Web sites that relate to their hobby.
For more information about Americans’ pursuit of hobbies online, see the following Pew Internet Project reports: