Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Once a novelty, internet now a big part of life, poll shows

The San Jose Mercury reports:
The next Bill Gates is more likely to come from China or Japan than the United States, according to a poll of Americans' Internet attitudes released today.

Most Americans polled also think that new camera and Internet technologies are turning the United States ``into a nation of voyeurs and paparazzi.''

And by a 2-1 ratio, Americans say they would rather watch an old-fashioned TV evening news report's coverage of an event than the sort of ``citizen video'' that has become increasingly popular.

The nationwide poll of 1,203 adults was conducted this month by Zogby International for a Washington firm, 463 Communications, that works with the tech industry. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

An overwhelming majority of those polled (83 percent) believes a typical 12-year-old knows more about the Internet than the average member of Congress. That may reflect YouTube's widely viewed clip of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, describing the Internet as ``a series of tubes.''

Even with YouTube's popularity, however, most Americans still favor a traditional news source -- an evening news broadcast -- over citizen videos for coverage of the same event.

But the poll shows a generational divide emerging: One out of four younger Americans (ages 25 to 34) would prefer the video over conventional news coverage.
Demographics is destiny.Best of luck to the evening news cast.