According to a study by Nielsen Media Research (10/95), there are 24 million people in Canada and the United States that use the Internet. 18 million of these are WWW users. Close to 11% of those 16 years and older have used the Internet in the past three months.
The same study showed two-thirds of those accessing the Internet within the last 24 hours had done so from work; 44% from home, and 8% from school.
The typical internet user according to the third annual WWW survey is male, 31, earns $65,000, lives in North America, has a college degree and a professional or technical job.
A study by Management Forum International indicates internet users spend about 18 hours a month on the Internet, and want easier navigation and reliable information. The most popular applications are e-mail, newsgroups, and the WWW.
However, a fall (95) report by Yankelovich Partners shows a broader, more inclusive population. They found that a growing percentage of new online users are female and minorities. Over 49% had an income of more than $50,000. Only half of these people have used the Internet directly, with most still relying on proprietary networks such as AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe.
The Nielsen study showed that Internet users spend 5.5 hours on-line per week. About 25% had an income of more than $80,000, and 64% had a college degree.
Approximately half of those 16 and older who had used the WWW had done so for business purposes, such as gathering information, research, and communicating with others.