The World Online How UK citizens use the internet to find out about ...

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ContentsForeword 2executive summary 3Introduction 4Background 4The research process 4The sample 4Main findings 5The role of the internet in daily life 5The internet relationship 5Websites at the heart of regular usage 5The dominance of Facebook 6Accessing the news online 6Online connections to the wider world 7Finding out about the developing world online 8The research task and the development context 8The online literacy issue 8Successful online communication and content delivery 9Government sites as a source of information 10Conclusions 12Appendix 13Pen portraits used for recruitment 13AcknowledgementsThis report was written by Alice Fenyoe (TWResearch) and edited by Mark Galloway (IBT). Our thanks to TWResearch for conducting the audienceresearch and to DFID for funding this project. Design by birdy.International Broadcasting Trust, CAN Mezzanine, 32-6 Loman Street London SE1 0EH www.ibt.org.uk1
forewordWe live in the age of the internet with awealth of facts, figures, images and storiesfrom around the world available at the touchof button. But does this proliferation ofinformation lead to greater knowledge andunderstanding about what is happening inother parts of the world? That’s the questionwe set out to answer in this piece of research.Although researchers have written a greatdeal about online behaviour and, in particular,about a new generation of ‘digital natives’, noone has investigated whether the majority ofpeople in the UK are now more engaged withwhat is happening in other countries than theywere in the past.We discovered that most people in the UKuse the internet to find out about subjects inwhich they are already interested – they do not‘surf’ and come across interesting informationby accident. In this respect, online behaviouris very different from the way in which we usetraditional media, particularly television.So those who already have an interest in thewider world use the internet to deepen theirunderstanding. But the rest of the populationrarely read anything online which tells themabout the lives of people in other countries.This research poses a major challenge forthose of us who would like to see a nationof global citizens. If the internet is to fulfil itspotential we need to look for new ways ofdrawing people to its international content.Mark GallowayDirector, International Broadcasting TrustJanuary 2010.2
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