America's New Digital Divide

The year 2006 was a good one for digital democracy. Citizens around the globe, equipped with broadband, new distribution channels and powerful search tools, reclaimed power they had ceded to well endowed, giant institutions. But what about everyone else?

In the United States broadband penetration has reached 75% of online users. According to Nielsen NetRatings, this is encouraging people to take up new pastimes such as games, instant messaging, e-mail and social networking. The report doesn't cite it, but clearly video on the Net is booming as well. Annual US revenues from Internet video services are expected to top $7 billion by 2010.

Dig deeper, however, and you will find that the majority of the broadband connected population is passive, not active. Despite all of the wonderful advances in technology, publishing and aggregation tools have been adopted only by only a small minority of users. It's this tiny community, more than any other, that is shaping the technology, media, business and even the geopolitical agenda. Our voices, not always the broader populous, is what rings loudest.

Consider RSS, for example. This is a fantastic resource brings virtually any kind of information you can think of to your desktop. Nevertheless, recent research shows that only 1 in 10 people have even heard of the term and a mere two percent actually use it.

OK, RSS is geeky you say? Fair enough. But consider that several studies conducted by the Pew Internet Center for American Life reveal that millions lurk but don't publish. For example, only 35% of Americans post their photos online and only eight percent have ever published a blog.

In 2007 our challenge is to bridge the digital divide that exists between the technophiles and the technophobes. It's staring us right in the face wherever we go. Consider how many of your friends blog or post to Flickr or even know what the heck del.icio.us is.

The Web may feel democratic. After all, if we're all connected by broadband the same tools are available to everyone. However, there's a chasm growing and my wish for 2007 is we bridge it.

Comments

[Brittain]

Can you clarify the source numbers please ... "75% of online users", how many Americans are considered "online"?

Isn't the real digital divide in America between those online and the balance of the remaining 295 million Americans?

[Steve Rubel]

According to Wikipedia, there are 204 million Americans online out of 273 million who are at least two years old.

So, yes, there are two divides. However, I am writing about one that exists in the "haves."

[Eric]

I appreciate where you're coming from, Steve, but it is quite likely that the majority of Internet users will be lurkers be going forward. It's about personality, not technology.

The market research firm Roper Starch figures that about 10% of the population are "influentials" -- people who particularly enjoy the exchange of ideas and creative expression.

I betcha that we'll never see too many more than that availing themselves of the opportunity to their message out.

But hey, even 10% amounts to an incredible democratization of expression, and a whole new paradigm for everybody in the markteting and pr biz.

Merry Christmas. Looking forward to reading your blog every day next year, too.

[Ken Yarmosh]

I agree with Eric's thoughts. Not everyone wants to share content (text, photos, video, etc.) online. I'm definitely a techy but even in my case, I like social bookmarking (on BlinkList) for the easy access knowledge sharing it offers me and not because I like to see what others are doing.

RSS is a different story - I agree with you on it being extremely useful yet vastly underutilized right now. But it is a passive technology. It doesn't require you to do anything once you subscribe to it. So, even those who get behind RSS will likely still be lurkers - and actually, they'll become uber-lurkers.

[Colin Henderson]

Despite the fact I am an RSS fanatic, I believe its a technology seeking a solution at this point, and takes your highly valid point off track.

Broadband is there but the usage will evolve with experience and demographic shifts.

RSS needs to be reduced to the messaging that it is, and at the same time, elevated to the potential applications that it can support.

[Michael Vu]

The digital divide is probably one of the most underrated social problems ever. When the first Bubble burst, the blow could have been cushioned if more emphasis was put on decreasing the Digital Divide. A lot of good technology products failed because they weren't useful or effective, but because the usefulness/effectiveness wasn't quite so obvious to the mainstream user.

I've found that recent web technologies such as RSS, Blogs, Wikis, and Web 2.0 Applications need to be demonstrated to people first hand in order it for to really sink in. A lot of friends, family members, and clients didn't really "get it," until I helped them set-up their own set of feeds on Netvibes or showed them how to post songs or videos to their blog. But once I did, they really understood the value of such a technology, and are now excited to be using it.

[Deepak]

I agree with some of the commenters above who suggest that the majority of internet users will likely remain passive. That said, the internet does make it easier for more people to participate and as the tools available become more accessible (whether it be RSS or blogs), it is entirely possible that 20-25% of users will be actively involved online.

[Taran Rampersad]

Globally, internet access itself is at 16.7%. Not even 20%.

Solving that divide will help solve other nationalist divides simply through evolution. This, of course, is the problem of nationalist divides - they segregate rather than connect, which is exactly the problem.

Find better ways to connect people, and you'll find less of a divide.

[Mike Abundo]

"Blogging requires passion and authority. Which leaves out a lot of people." -- Hugh MacLeod.

That's just the way it is, Steve. The barrier to having a voice is no longer money -- it's heart and brains.

I say let's just keep pwning the n00bs. Leaves room for people who actually have something to say.

[Bumskontakte]

Despite the fact I am an RSS fanatic, I believe its a technology seeking a solution at this point, and takes your highly valid point off track.

Broadband is there but the usage will evolve with experience and demographic shifts.

RSS needs to be reduced to the messaging that it is, and at the same time, elevated to the potential applications that it can support.

[Bumskontakte]

Despite the fact I am an RSS fanatic, I believe its a technology seeking a solution at this point, and takes your highly valid point off track.

Broadband is there but the usage will evolve with experience and demographic shifts.
http://1481.free-toplist.de/
RSS needs to be reduced to the messaging that it is, and at the same time, elevated to the potential applications that it can support.

[David Scott Lewis]

RSS is geeky.

Anyone trying to get "RSS" adopted by the masses who still uses the phrase "RSS reader" is a moron -- and demonstrates that they're NOT in touch at all with the masses.

How about "news reader" rather than "RSS reader"? Wow, what a marketing breakthrough!! I would hope that you PR guys get this, get the OBVIOUS.

The masses don't see value and are too concerned about easy-of-use/UX (user experience) issues. Demonstrate value, demonstrate ease-of-use. Result: An iPod? Well, this is along the right path. When Flickr can be packed like an iPod, then you'll see much greater adoption and diffusion.

[Latina]

RSS needs to be reduced to the messaging that it is, and at the same time, elevated to the http://5832.free-toplist.de/ potential applications that it can support.