A recent study published by Pew Internet & American Life has revealed that the average Internet user from the United States has almost no idea of the meaning of terms such as RSS, podcasting or phishing.

Out of the people that participated in the interview, about 2000 persons, only 9% knew exactly what a RSS feed means, and the phishing phenomenon has been described correctly only by 29% of them. Things are by no means better in the case of podcasting, and only 13% of the participants knew what this phenomenon was all about.

A lot more serious is the fact that in the case of phishing, 15% of the survey's subjects had never heard of it. Maybe they're just some of the lucky few!

In the case of the RSS, things will turn out for the best, since Longhorn will integrate RSS feeds, and the same can be said about podcasting, because this study has been carried out before Apple launched its iTunes 4.9, with support for this type of service. However, the study's findings are rather awkward, since a previous study from Pew Internet & American Life has pointed out that there are about 6 million Americans tuning in to this type of broadcasts.

Nevertheless, even if they're not so good when it comes to novelties, the American Internet users have a much higher level of awareness regarding online security: 88% know what spam means, 78% are aware of the significance of terms as firewall or spyware, while Internet cookies mean something to 68% of the participants.

The study's conclusions as well as other details are available here.