May 31, 2006

48 Million Internet Users Now Creating Content

One of the premises behind many of my posts is that one of the best ways to capture the attention of dance enthusiasts is to engage them directly in the process of creation. The latest research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project supports my premise with hard numbers.

Among the findings In a May 28th Pew research report, "Home Broadband Adoption 2006," (PDF) is that 48 million Internet users have posted content to the Internet. This number represents 35% of all Internet users. The most popular forms of user-generated content include having a blog, having a webpage, working on a blog or webpage at work, and sharing one's own story, artwork or video.

John Horrigan, associate director of research at Pew Internet & American Life Project, is quoted in a news story yesterday in ClickZ:

[The Web is] shifting now to user-generated content; it shows people engaging with the Internet in a number of different ways in their lives. It shows that people are pretty interested in using the technology to put something of themselves on the Internet, not just pull down information from the Internet.

I think this Pew report is fascinating and I hope it encourages dancers and other artists to think about their Internet initiatives not so much as opportunities to disseminate information but as a forum where they can inspire their audiences to become active participants in the creative process.

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