Search and email remain the top online activities

A May 2011 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey confirms what you might suspect, namely that Internet users make extensive use of search engines to find information. In fact, the study suggests that 59 percent of U.S. users use search on a daily basis. If you wanted confirmation of why search engine optimization gets so much attention in content marketing circles, that heavy degree of use explains why.

The normal Internet user should be expected to frequently employ a search engine to find information, products and companies on the Web. Since the Pew Internet Project began measuring online activities in the last decade, search has been a top end user application.

The notable new change is rapidly-growing use of social networks since 2007. The content marketing angle is that social network users frequently share information and items they find on the Web.

A study by Nielsen found that 60 percent of content-sharing messages specifically mention a brand or product name, for example. Also, 53 percent of time spent online is directly attributable to content consumption, according to Nielsen. Read more here.

92% of Online Adults Use Search