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                              Message forwarded by
                                  Anne L Barker
                     DILS, University of Wales Aberystwyth
                         email: [log in to unmask]
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NUA INTERNET SURVEYS NUA INTERNET SURVEYS NUA INTERNET SURVEYS
Weekly free email on what's new in surveys on the Internet
By Nua Email: [log in to unmask] Web: http://www.nua.ie/surveys/
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August 30th 1999 Published By: Nua Limited Volume 4 No. 34
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<snip>
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ISPS
Archives: <http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=22 >
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Inverse Network Technology: UK ISP Performance Improves

The UK Benchmark report from Inverse Network Technology has found that
Internet users in the UK find it easier to connect to their ISP since
last April.

In March call failure rate was at 9.5 percent and in June that figure
was 5.2 percent. Web throughput performance, namely how quickly
information gets to the user, improved from 3.25 Kbps in March to 3.39
Kbps in June.

The improvement in performance was attributed to the slump in free ISP
services which spurred high traffic from January to March.

Inverse measure ISP performance by placing 60,000 calls to the UK's 18
most popular ISPs each month. The calls attempt to be connected to each
ISP and if successful, go on to access and download a series of popular
web sites in the UK, Europe and the US.

In the last six months BT Click.com has performed consistently well and
received seven A+ ratings for performance. UUNET, AOL and MSN also
performed consistently  well.

<http://www.inversenet.com/news/pr/19990803.html>

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PORTALS
Archives: <http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=44>
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LA Times: Distinct User Paths Emerge Online

Figures from Nielsen/NetRatings show that in June 35 percent of all
surfing time was spent on just 50 sites thus endorsing the contention
that a handful of sites are garnering an increasing amount of eyeballs.
The figure is up from 27 percent last year.

While Nielsen/NetRatings study found that the top ten mega-sites got 20
percent of entire surfing time, PC Data found that the top 10 sites,
apart from AOL, got 32 percent of all surfing time. They also found
that Yahoo! gets five minutes of every hour of online surfing.

Analysts predict that this trend will continue. The exponential growth
of the Web means that users need the services offered by portals to
navigate and find what they want. In addition, recommendations from
friends and colleagues who use portal facilities compound the
popularity of these sites.

Despite the popularity of the mega-sites none of them index anything
near a fifth of the Net's entire 800 million-plus pages and most of
them index the same sites. As a result there are a select number of
beaten paths emerging in each vertical industry.

<http://www.latimes.com/CNS_DAYS/990823/t000075103.html>

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USAGE PATTERNS
Archives: <http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=FS&cat_id=34>
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ABC News: 11 Million People Addicted to the Web?

A study claiming to be the largest ever study of Internet users
purports that 6 percent of all Internet users, 11 million people, are
addicted to the Web.

The findings were released at a meeting of the American Psychological
Association last week and spurred much debate on whether Internet
addiction is a psychological disorder itself or whether it's a symptom
of a psychological disorder.

The study was authored by David Greenfield, a therapist and
psychologist, in conjunction with ABCNews. According to Greenfield the
Internet is causing real problems for families across the US.

The study was conducted using over 17,000 responses to an online survey
at ABCNews. The questionnaire asked whether participants had ever
turned to the Net to escape problems, whether they failed in attempts
to reduce the amount of time spent online and whether they thought
about the Internet when they were offline. If five out of ten such
questions were answered with "yes", the respondent was deemed addicted.

The research methodology has been discredited by many analysts online.

<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/netaddiction990823.html>

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Reuters: One Third of Workers Use the Net to Slack

A survey by a US based IT recruitment company has found that one in
every three employees wastes time on the Internet.

A group of 466 people with Internet access at work were asked "How
often do you surf non-work related sites?"

32 percent said they surfed "a few times a day", 21 percent said "a few
times a week" and 37 percent said "constantly". One in ten responded
"never".

The most popular sites visited are dogpile.com, kungfuonline and
various porn sites.

<http://www.reuters.com>

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This newsletter is copyright 1996 - 1999 Nua Ltd. Permission is given
to reproduce this newsletter in any format pending full recognition
of Nua Ltd. Nua do not accept responsibility for the accuracy of
information contained in this newsletter. The content has been
obtained from sources Nua Ltd. deems reliable.
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