The Internet continues to grow at a rapid rate and this has increased the opportunities available to marketers and advertisers. Users continue to evolve, though, presenting new challenges at each stage of this growth.
However, in order to make optimal use of this opportunity, the marketers must stay up-to-date with the changes taking place, not only on the web, but also in user behaviour.
Microsoft Advertising has conducted a study on this subject in conjunction with Mindshare and MEC. The study is called Living with the Internet: A Global Study of What’s Driving Web Behaviour
The study was conducted in two stages. The first part of the study was conducted in 2007 and the second part was conducted three years later, to see the changes in behaviour of web users over a period of time.
It was found that the basic motivations of web users viz. information, communication, creation, transaction, entertainment and surfing remain the same, but the difference between communication and creation is gradually diminishing.
As the internet grows, users try to get the maximum benefit out of it, without spending more time on it and hence each session on the internet is becoming more organised than it used to be.
In the past, planned internet use accounted for 61% of the sessions, but now it is 79%.
Even today email continues to be the most popular internet activity accounting for 23% followed by general browsing at 10% and social media activity at 6%.
Considering these facts, it is essential that marketers and advertisers should present their ads in such a way, that the ad is well assimilated with the content, so that it is appreciated by the user rather than being a distraction from the primary activity of the user.
