Communication preferences have changed since 2005 – for example, adults are now more likely to prefer to check their bank balance online (30% vs. 22%) and less likely to prefer to check their bank balance by making a home / landline phone call (12% vs. 18%). Booking a holiday online / by email is now as popular a preference as booking a holiday in person (36%)…

Just over eight in ten (81%) internet users say they have saved money by using the internet for certain tasks that we asked about; most commonly buying something online rather than in the shops (65%), comparing prices online (63%) or booking travel online (51%). Half of internet users say they have made significant savings by comparing prices online or buying something online rather than in the shops (48%).

Cross-posted from the Mandate blog

Cross-posted from the Mandate blog

The latest Ofcom survey of internet usage is packed full of useful statistics and – even more helpfully – they are based on (a) proper research and (b) people in the UK. Many of the figures quoted are American – or American masquerading as global – and not infrequently are from selective sources of data.

Ofcom’s series of reports are therefore particularly welcome, with the latest one based on a quantitative survey that involved 812 in-home interviews with adults aged 16 and over from April to May 2009.

So what does the latest report tell us?

Choice of social networking platform

Amongst users of social networking, 89% have a Facebook profile (+27% on 2007), 21% on MySpace (-25%) and 19% on Bebo (-13%). Bebo and MySpace do still have particular niche strengths, but given the absolute figures and the trends, it is no surprise the Facebook is often the default choice for people looking to use social networking with their company or band.

Women more active then men

Females are more likely than males to have a social networking site profile (42% vs. 34%) and this gender gap also applies to the wider category of online content creation (i.e. creating content through a social network profile or through other services).

Overall 34% of internet users create content online (+12% on 2007), but amongst female internet users that figure rises to 39% and amongst males it drops to 28%.

There is also a clear trend across age groups, with 58% of 16-34 year olds creating content online.

Widespread content creation

The most popular form of online content creation is photo uploading (43% of internet users have done this), followed by setting up a social networking page or profile (38%) and then contributing comments to someone else’s blog (26%). The last figure is the most intriguing given how often blogs have a sea of “0 comments” messages next to posts. It suggests there is a lot more to learn about where and why people comment online.

Perhaps surprisingly, internet users in the DE socio-economic group are more likely to create content online than those in the AB group (38% v 27%), though that may be due to the younger age profile of DE internet users compared with AB internet users.

But websites, videos losing some popularity

However, it isn’t all a story of growth. For three types of content creation, more internet users now say that they are not interested in them than in 2007: uploading photos to a website (44% vs. 39%), setting up a website (71% vs. 67%) and making a short video and uploading it to a website (81% vs. 77%).

The website drop is not surprising given the other options now available for people to put content online, though the drop in interest in photo and video uploading is more surprising given that the technology to create and share photos and videos has continued to get cheaper, easier and more widespread.

It though a healthy reminder that the snapping and filming iPhone user is a very atypical internet user – and in some ways becoming more atypical.

Being active on social networks has become more popular than reading blogs amongst the active internet users in the UK. That’s the result from the latest Universal McCann international survey of internet usage.

Looking at those people who use the internet every day or every other day, the survey found that 64% spend time managing their social network profile compared to 58% who spend time reading blogs. This is the first time blog reading has slipped behind using social networks. Watching video online is even more popular, with 79% of regular internet users having done this.

The lesson? Whilst there is still much that can be done by companies to improve their use of blogging, increasingly social networks and video content also need to be considered.

Effective use of the internet requires a meld of two factors: what do you want to get from it and what does your audience want from you?

You don’t have to take your audience’s current needs as an absolute given – you can hope to alter them over time – but similarly you can’t take your own online needs as absolutely set in stone, because they need to reflect the realities of what your audience is like.

So what does your audience want? One useful piece of information to consider is their internet usage habits. How often are they online? What do they look for online? And so on, including most basic of all, what tools do they use online?

The latest report from Enders Analysis gives some overall figures for the UK:

87% of internet users have used email in the last three months
77% of internet users have used social networks in the last three months
45% of internet users have bought a product or service online in the last three months
23% of internet users have downloaded or watched a video in the last three months

These figures are not surprising, but are easy to overlook. Think of the number of times, for example, when someone talks about wanting to do a ‘viral video’, but never mentions doing anything with email. Or look at how few local council websites have a prominent email sign up box.

There is a role for a wide range of tools, especially when targeting specific audiences with different habits from the overall internet population, but your mix is going to be more effective if you remember what people like to do (email) rather than what is currently the in thing to talk about (anything but email).

British internet users are far more interested in information about local services than they are in information about politicians. That’s the finding of the 2009 Oxford Internet Survey.

Of current internet users, 35% have used it to get information about online services whilst only 13% have used the internet to look for information about an MP, local councillor or other politician. Information about central government services was looked for by 33% and information about government policy by 19%.

Providing information about who you are and how to contact you is certainly important for politicians with websites. Indeed, the contact details page is frequently the most popular on such sites. But to really interest your audience in yourself and your work you need to meet the public half-way.

Talking about services, particularly local ones, what’s happening with them, what might happen to them and what you’re doing about them is the way to get their attention and then interest.

The issue of digital exclusion – and its close correlation with wider social exclusion – has been steadily moving up the public policy agenda over the last few years. Last year the Government published a detailed report into digital exclusion for example. But what do the latest internet access statistics tell us?

The 2009 Oxford Internet Survey was released last week and it paints a picture of continued, steady growth in internet take up. It provides good grounds to believe that this growth will continue – but there are some sharp social divides.

In 2003, 58% of households had access to the internet, growing to 61% in 2005 (+3), 66% in 2007 (+5) and now 70% (+4). This steady and continuous growth does not – at least as yet – show any sign of plateauing.

Overall internet access is slightly higher, with 5% of internet users not having access at home and so being excluded from these figures.

Moreover, whilst only 21% of households without access say they will probably or definitely get access in the next year, this figure is up from 18% in 2007. Overall, this statistic seems to be a poor indicator of future trends, for in 2005 the figure was 44% and yet that sharp decline in 2007 did not result in a sharp change in the trend of internet access overall.

Where growth has slowed is in the proportion of households whose internet access is via broadband, but that is because there is little room left to grow. That increased from 59% to 85% in 2005-07, and then up to 96% in 2009.

Whilst therefore the overall numbers are fairly positive, there are some very sharp social divides. As the report says, “People in the highest income category were more than twice as likely to use the Internet in 2009 (97%) than those in the lowest income category (38%). Internet use remained in general the same in all income groups between 2007 and 2009. The only considerable increase was among households in the highest income group. From 91% in 2007, Internet use increased to 97%.”

There are though in the details more hopeful signs, for the top reason ex-internet users now give for having stopped is that internet access was too expensive. That’s a figure that has gone up as the economy has gone down, but in turn is likely to come down as the economy recovers. Amongst those who have never used the internet, the top reason given is that people do not think it would be useful, which again suggests that there is scope for future growth – if people are offered services they find compelling or important.

The other big difference in internet access is between those households with and without children: “Households with children were more likely to have access to the Internet, especially if the children were teenagers. 88% of households with children between 10 to 17 had access to the Internet, compared to 78% of households with under 10s and 63% of households with no children.”

Meanwhile the gender gap has nearly completely closed. In 2003, internet usage was 9 percentage points higher amongst men than women, a figure which has fallen steadily and now stands at 3 percentage points. With the Oxford report coming out every two years, it is quite possible that the next one will show no gender gap, as well as revealing how hard a nut to crack digital exclusion turns out to be.