14 DAY TRIAL // As much as we'd hate to admit it, many of our fellow Internet users aren't very in touch with all the facilities the Internet has to offer, actually some are clueless as to what they can find online. That's what researchers from Pew Internet and American Life Project realized after completing a survey about using Internet search engines.
Many of the Internet users don't use a search engine because they don't know how to use it or how the results are being displayed. And if you think the participants to this survey were only kids or uneducated folk, you will be disappointed to find that all 2.200 of those willing to answer Internet related questions are adults.
According to the survey, 44% only use one search engine when looking for information, 48% use 2-3, and 7% use four or more and only 38% of users are able to distinguish between paid advertising results and search engine results. At the same time, 45% of searchers said they would stop using a search engine if they thought that the paid ads and search results were not clearly differentiated.
Younger Internet users--below 30 years old--are more actively engaged in search activity, according to the study. They search more often and consider themselves confident and successful in their searching.
And even if they use a search engine, that doesn't mean the most interesting topics to be looked into online, are nuclear fusion or The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde.
Last year's most wanted online topic was Britney Spears for Google fans and according to America Online, the popularity prize was awarded to...horoscopes. Isn't it nice to have so much information at your fingertips?