Interest in online business news on the rise - JNIR
31 March 09

Online business news has experienced a surge in popularity, according to the latest Joint National Internet Research (JNIR) report.

The survey showed that 17 per cent of Ireland's now1 .9 million internet users went online for business news in the last six months of 2008, a jump of 6 per cent from the last report, which covered the second half of 2007.

Some 38 percent of users are going online for general news and current affairs, a rise of 5 per cent. Social networking usage has also surged ahead, with 28 per cent of those online using them, or a rise of 9 per cent.

There has also been a 5 per cent increase in the number of people going online for work related research and for government services.

Travel information remains a key reason people go online, cited by more than half of all users.

Broadly speaking, the survey shows that increased broadband access has driven significant growth in internet usage, particularly in the number of people using the internet every day.

Ian McShane of Behaviour and Attitudes, who compiled the report, noted that 250,000 more people were now going online, compared with the last six months of 2007, when just 1.66 million said they were net users.

In the same period, the number of adults who go online daily has shot up at twice this pace by 29 per cent from 770,000 to 990,000.

Meanwhile, the number of adults living in households with broadband access has risen from 1.1 million in July to December 2007 to 1.56 million in July to December 2008, a leap of 39 per cent.

The survey also showed increases in the number of people reading blogs (7 per cent) and watching TV online (10 per cent). House searches were down 2 per cent at 11 per cent.

Online sales appear to be holding up, although there are shifts within this category, as spending on flights has gone down 3 per cent, and hotel bookings are down 1 per cent, while people are buying more clothes and books online.

 source thepost.ie