Dotcom HR professionals concerned about the recent bad press given to on-line companies can take comfort from the first complete set of annual data on Internet usage in the UK.
The research, carried out by MMXI Europe, shows home Internet usage in this country has leapt by over a third in the past year, from 7.8 million in October 1999, to 11 million per month in September 2000. The average amount of time spent on-line each month has increased from four hours 17 minutes in October 1999 to five hours 47 minutes in September 2000.
The research also identifies the most popular web sites in the UK, with MSN.com, Yahoo.com, Freeserve.com, Microsoft.com and Passport.com taking the top five places. Other major players include Lycos.com, BBC.co.uk and AOL, with Lastminute, BT, Barclays and British Airways all ranking as successful British brands on-line. Boom areas are sports, entertainment and travel.
Men continue to dominate use of the Internet, but figures prove that women are catching up with 36.1 per cent of women users and 49.2 of men, compared with a 39 per cent and 54.4 per cent ratio last October. Children aged two to 17 are the fastest growing Internet user group, with research showing an 89 per cent rise in unique visitor numbers.
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Mari Kim Coleman, UK managing director of MMXI Europe, says, "As the population grows and evolves, we can see people spending more time and viewing more content on-line. The first year of data shows how eagerly the British have embraced the Internet."
Charts and graphical analysis of Internet usage can be found at MMXI’s web site www.mmxi.com
