Web 2.0 still a minority pursuit for the wired world

Although most US adults have a mobile phone, a computer and internet access only a small percentage are participating in web 2.0 activities, according to a study.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released a study of people's "evolving relationships to cyberspace" called A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users.

Pew found 73 per cent of US adults own a mobile phone, 68 per cent have a desktop computer, 30 per cent possess a laptop, and 73 per cent connect to the internet but very few use them to express themselves publicly via web 2.0 applications.

The study defines web 2.0 users as people who take advantage of technology "to express themselves online and participate in the commons of cyberspace", including maintaining a personal website, blogging, vlogging, remixing media or sharing new-media creations.

Only eight per cent of US adults are "deep users" of web 2.0 features, the study found, though many US adults do own the gadgets that enable those functions and use the devices to express themselves privately.

For example, 37 per cent regularly use instant messaging, and 41 per cent have sent a text message from a mobile phone. More than a fourth of US adults have downloaded music files, and 19 per cent have shared photos, stories, artwork or videos.

About 55 per cent of US adults own a digital camera, and a fifth have a digital-media player such as the iPod. Eleven per cent of US adults own a PDA or similar device such as a BlackBerry.

Teenagers, considered to be heavy technology users, were not included in the study. The data was gathered by Princeton Survey Research Associates International through phone interviews of 4,001 adults from February 2006 and April 2006.

The study backs up recent research by web audience measurement company Hitwise, which found the vast majority of visits to web 2.0 sites involve people coming to consume content rather than create it.

Candace Lombardi writes for CNET News.com