According to a representative survey of U.S. adult internet users in mid-autumn 2009, social communication is a much more important online activity than is watching video content. Asked to rate independently the importance of various online (Internet) activities, 63% of adult Internet users described “communicating online with friends and family, even if they are far away” (social communication) as “very important”, while only 10% described “watching TV shows, movies and other video online” (watching video) in that way. At the other end of the importance scale, 6% and 42% described social communication and watching video, respectively, as “not at all important.” The future of the Internet may be both social and video. But social communication seems to be valued much more highly than impersonal video content.
Sex, household size, and rural/urban location are associated with significant differences in reported online activity importance. Consistent with a wide variety 0f evidence indicating greater female propensity for social communication, 69% of women, compared to 57% of men, described social communication as a “very important” online activity. In contrast, 8% of women and 11% of men described watching video in that way. Larger households (one adult vs. three or more adults) and urban households (compared to rural households) are associated with a larger share of respondents reporting both social communication and watching video to be “very important” online activities. Both larger households and urban households probably are associated with more frequent personal interaction among adults. Somewhat surprisingly, greater personal adult interaction seems to be positively correlated with greater importance attached to online activity. Perhaps, like a preference for texting over real-time voice conversation, social intensity may be significant. Online activities might provide relief from more demanding real-time, live social interaction.
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Data: reported importance of online activities, with demographic breakdowns (Excel version)