| incorporate llc - Approximately 133 million U.S. adults -- 66 percent of the adult population -- have access to the Internet either at work or home, according to Mediamark. Of those 133 million, 101 million reported using the Internet in the past 30 days. This means that 50 percent of U.S. adults, who total 201.7 million, used the Internet in the past 30 days. Ninety million U.S. adults reported using at least one online service (such as America Online, CompuServe, MSN and Prodigy) in the last 30 days.
Mediamark's Spring Cyber Stats data were collected between March of 2000 and April of 2001.
Seeing the Internet become a part of everyday life for Americans of varying ages and backgrounds solidifies its potential as a medium for content, communication and commerce. But an even more encouraging sign looms on the horizon. Among college graduates from the class of 2001, the next group of consumers to have spending power, Internet use is ubiquitous.
A survey by Harris Interactive, commissioned by Northwestern Mutual and conducted among a nationally representative cross section of 2,001 graduates, found that while
| two-thirds of the United States can claim to be online, nearly 100 percent of the class of 2001 can make the claim.
The Internet usage of the class of 2001 has nearly doubled since they were freshmen, from an average of 6 hours per week to 11 hours. Four out of five students turn on their computers instead of the radio (57 percent) or TV (55 percent) to get their news and information. Print media such as newspapers and magazines, meanwhile, are the least favored (37 percent and 39 percent, respectively) sources of news and information.
The Internet is also the preferred method of communicating with the world. Nine out of 10 students send and receive e-mails on a daily or frequent basis, compared with only 13 percent who write letters by hand. More than half (54 percent) have visited the career-planning Web site monster.com, and significant numbers have frequented other career sites.
Finally, while nearly half (46 percent) of the Americans who access the Internet are very concerned about the privacy and security of their online activities, only 23 percent of the class of 2001 students share this concern.
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