Emailing has traditionally been the internet's strongest draw. But according to a new report from the Pew Internet Project, searching on the web is quickly closing in on email use as the most popular activity among surfers - due in part to broadband adoption.
The study found that 49% of internet users are using search engines on a daily basis, up from around 30% in 2002, while the use of email on a typical day for the same six-year period increased from 52% to 60%. These new figures show search is growing at a faster rate than any other activity on the web, including checking the news and use social networking sites - which 39% and 13% of users do on a typical day, respectively.
This is certainly good news for companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and others who are actively looking to increase its search-engine advertising revenue. Even more so considering that, according to the study, search engine users are typically college-educated people with incomes of at least $50,000 a year.