Do you know that 90% of Broadbanders send email regularly and 62% watch television (US 2006) regularly? Do you know how many people they connect with regularly online? Are blogs and forums as popular as some might have you believe? Like a map, this Netpop Guide points you to graphs concerning communication online – the applications they use to connect, and the number of people they reach.

Discovery

First, we recommend you understand the amount of time broadband users spend on communication-related activities online compared to other basic areas of involvement, such as leisure & entertainment and information: Email has been regarded as the “killer app” that compelled many, many people to get online initially. Email use is ubiquitous today but other communication tools have risen recently, challenging email’s supremacy, especially among younger users. IM is preferred over email among teens and college kids; and text messaging (though not a net-based exchange per se) also stands as another popular communication tool among connected consumers.

The following graph compares the percent using various communication tools regularly: What percent of people keep a personal page on a social networking site (e.g., MySpace, Facebook) or send electronic greeting cards? This graph covers over 30 online activities to compare the percent doing these communication-related activities to other types of activities like watching videos and banking online: The “viral” nature of online communication demands that word-of-mouth marketing be included along with traditional advertising strategies in comprehensive marketing plans. How many people do Broadbanders connect with in a typical day via email, IM and text messaging? Are certain demographic segments better targets for word-of-mouth marketing strategies than others? These graphs provide the answers:

Descriptive

Once you know how people are doing communication-related activities regularly, you may want to learn how often they do them. Is this a daily activity for most Broadbanders? Or is it something they only do a few times a month? In the graphs below, every communication activity is broken down based on the frequency with which regular users do them, ranging from several times a day and once a month or less.

Select the graphs that cover the information activities you are interested in. You might also be interested in knowing where they do them – at home, at work or at school? Every communication activity is broken down based on the location where regular users do them – at home, at work or at school - in the graphs below.

Select the graphs that cover the information activities you are interested in.
How much does the desire to communicate motivate users to go online? The following graphs offer some clues:

Dimension

Are you curious to know which websites broadband users rely on for various communication-related activities? Are they using Yahoo! for email, Google for IM, or a specialty site for their personal page? Every communication activity is broken down based on the site regular users go to for that activity – Google, Yahoo, MSN, another search engine or a specialty website. Note: Graphs are restricted. Subscribers must have access to Competitive Landscape Data.

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