Navegar por diversão

Um relatório do Pew Internet & American Life Project verificou que dois terços dos utilizadores americanos (40 milhões de pessoas) navegam por diversão - o que inclui pesquisar em motores de busca, utilizar o e-mail e ler notícias.

Web surfers just want to have fun
By Frank Barnako, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:57 AM ET Feb 16, 2006

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Blame it on the broadband.
A new research report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that "surfing for fun" is now one of the most popular activities online. "Fun" trails only using search engines and doing e-mail, and is tied with reading the news.
Two-thirds of all Internet users who have tried the Web, said they were "surfing for fun" on a typical day in December 2005. In whole numbers, 40 million people said they were hanging out online, an increase from the 25 million in November 2004 who said they were on the Internet just looking around.
"Broadband access and an ever-growing volume of Web content make the Internet a tempting go-to place, and they are likely drivers behind this changing Web surfing habit," said Deborah Fallows, senior research fellow at Pew. "People can break up their workday by snacking on the Internet at their desktops. Or they can kill a little waiting time by browsing the Web through their cell phones. Or they can fill a lazy few hours just going online to see what's up."

in Marketwatch.com - Internet Daily

A utilização da Internet nos EUA

A sondagem anual sobre estilos de vida conduzida pela Gallup concluiu que 20 por cento dos americanos visitam regularmente blogues, mas as principais utilizações da Internet nos EUA são: ler notícias e consultar o tempo (72%), fazer compras on-line (52%), pagar contas on-line (40%), jogar jogos (28%), participar em leilões on-line (23%) e fazer downloads de música (22%).

20 p.c. of Internet users read blogs
Feb 10, 2006, 19:52 GMT

PRINCETON, NJ, United States (UPI) -- About 20 percent of Americans say they read Web logs, at least occasionally, but the percentage has remained stagnant for about a year, a Gallup poll shows.
The Gallup annual Lifestyle survey indicates 9 percent of Internet users read blogs frequently while 11 percent said they are occasional readers. However, 66 percent said they never read blogs and 13 percent said they only rarely read them.
The survey also found 72 percent of Web users regularly go online for news and weather, 52 percent shop online, 40 percent pay bills online, 28 percent play games, 23 percent participate in online auctions and 22 percent download music.
The survey conducted Dec. 5-8 queried 1,013 people at least 18 years of age nationwide. Gallup gave the survey a 95 percent confidence rating and said the error rate was 3 percentage points.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

A revolução Google continua

Gmail Chat = chat + e-mail. Todos os utilizadores de contas Gmail podem utilizar o novo serviço de chat incluído no correio electrónico dentro de duas ou três semanas.

O artigo
Google takes aim at chat rivals

Google is to integrate its popular e-mail service with instant messaging, allowing users to chat and send e-mails from the same web browser window.
The company hopes the new feature, known as Gmail Chat, will attract users by offering instant messaging without having to use a separate program.
Google's existing chat service lags behind rivals AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft.
The new facility will be visible to existing subscribers from within Google's Gmail browser window.
People will only be able to start conversations with fellow Gmail account holders, or those contacts using services compatible with Google's messaging facilities.
They include US-based Earthlink, the Jabber.org network and e-mail providers in the Philippines, China and Italy.

A citação

"We are breaking down some of the artificial barriers between e-mail and web browsing"
- Salar Kamangar, vice-presidente do Google

Utilizadores de Internet Messaging

AOL - 53 milhões
MSN - 27 milhões
Yahoo - 22 milhões
Google - 866,000

Fonte: Neilsen/Netratings