A new study released this week indicates that widespread access to communications  technologies has led to widely varying uses of Web 2.0-type expressive and social networking activities. The study defines Web 2.0 as people expressing themselves online and participating in the "commons of cyberspace."
In general, the report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project classified about 31 percent of Web 2.0 participants as Elite Tech Users, meaning they often use these kinds of functions. Another 20 percent were classified as Middle-of-the-Road Tech Users, and 49 percent fall into a category called Few Tech Assets.
A full 85 percent of American adults use the Internet or cell phones, according to the new report titled "A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users." It sought to categorize users of information and communication technology (ICT) by the number of ICT devices they own, how they use them, and their attitudes about these devices.
The 'Elites'
The devices under study include desktop computers, laptops, digital cameras, video cameras, Webcams, iPods or other MP3 players, cell phones and PDA/smartphones. The sample size was 4,001 adults, aged 18 and older, and they were surveyed via phone interviews taken over two months in winter and spring of last year.
Eighty percent of Elites have high-speed Net access at home, which the Pew researchers noted is twice the national average. One group of Elite users, which the report calls Omnivores, has the most technology and uses it "voraciously" to express themselves and to engage in a wide variety of Web 2.0 activities like content-sharing and social networking. These most fully-actualized tech citizens were mostly men in their mid-to-late twenties.
Another seven percent among the Elites were labeled as Connectors, and they had "high levels of satisfaction" about using ICTs to connect with people, pursue hobbies and manage digital content. Lackluster Veterans, at 8%, frequently use the Internet but aren't as enthralled about cell phones. While they are also Elites, they "are not thrilled" about the connectivity and productivity that ICTs offer.
Productivity Enhancers, another eight percent, have a "strongly positive view" about how the technological tools allow them to keep up with others, do their jobs and learn new things, and they use the technologies frequently and happily.
'Middle-of-Roaders,' 'Few Tech Assets'
The Middle-of-the-Roaders include Mobile Centrics, who, at 10 percent, embrace their cell phones as their primary communication device. They use the Net infrequently, with 37 percent having high-speed home connections, and they do appreciate their the interconnectivity. (continued...)
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