Good News for Web Writers: Internet Use on the Upswing. (Anyone Surprised?)

Posted by
Lima Al-Azzeh
Jan 22, 2009

The current state of economic uncertainty has recently monopolized the bulk of online and offline media coverage. We’ve been following one aspect of this storyline quite closely: the demise of traditional print media. While it’s tempting to focus on this alone, it’s also interesting to look at how the Internet is taking the place of print media as the new global standard for communication.

A recent Gallup poll run by Gallup.com has confirmed that use of the Internet has almost doubled over the past five years. The results show that 48% of Americans now use the Internet for more than an hour each day, a staggering increase from 26% in 2002. Not only that, but it seems that the demographics of Internet users are changing. According to the same study, gaps in Internet use between formerly infrequent users, like non-working, unmarried and post-graduate users, boast double-digit gains with an increase by 13% of the non-working demographic, 10% of unmarried and 12% of post-graduates, all between 2007 and 2008.

On a global scale there has been an increase in Internet use. In 1995, a mere 0.4% of the world population reported using the Internet. Now, according to statistics reported by Internet World Stats, an estimated 23.3% of the population uses the Internet on a regular basis; a trajectory that will likely only rise over time.

In short, while communication tools such as newspapers, magazines and print media may be facing serious challenges, the Internet continues to flourish. Good news indeed for journalists and writers everywhere who are making the transition to writing for the web.

Nov 3, 2009 9:30 PM

John Howe :

Surely trumpeting the decline of print journalism/writing is a little premature all that I have read indicates that people still want a physical presence in their hands when they read. Something that is tactile and tangible, easily portable and can be stored for convenience and easily retrieved on demand.

Even netbooks and those reading devices (whatever they are called) will not take the place of good quality print magazines, journals and newspapers.

And even though I have a small number of sites I use to publish written and photographic material the earnings from such are meager proving to me that for the writers and photographers internet publishing can not compete with the fees from print magazines.

I for one dread the day when there is no print media if it ever comes and I doubt it will because most of the world’s population do not have access to a telephone let alone the internet and the skills to use it properly.