Internet Users Prefer Information To Graphics

According to a report by NOP at last week’s Research ’96 conference, Internet users are more interested in receiving good information than fancy graphics and clear layouts. In a survey of 3.6m Internet users, 43% said that information was the most important feature on the Internet with ease of use coming in closely at 37%. Only 17% believed the quality of graphics was important and 8% said sites should not have too many graphics.

The following points were also highlighted in the research:

• 1.2m used the Internet at work, 1.1m at educational establishments and 0.72m at home. 46% used it for leisure or personal purposes, 31% for business, 16% for study and 7% for work at an academic institution.
• 68% of users were men, 55% were in the 18-34 age range, 9% were teenagers (although it was highlighted that this area showed strong growth) and 4% were aged 55 or more. 77% were ABC1s.
• The figure for usage of the World Wide Web grew from 1.1m last December to 1.6m.
• For first time users, 66% used the Net for browsing, 47% for personal use and 35% for business communications.

NOP has carried 6 monthly tracking studies of Internet users since December 1995. A wide range of households were surveyed and interviews were conducted with over 30,000 households.

NOP: 0171 612 0200