Virtual pals on the rise
The Center for the Digital Future announced that the average Internet user will make 4.6 “virtual pals” this year.
The survey also found that 43% of online networkers from the US felt “as strongly” about their web community as they did about their real-world friends.
It also found 40% of net-users were using the web to stay in contact with people, and 37.7% believed the internet was enabling them to communicate more with friends and family.
The survey also revealed 7.4% of those surveyed kept a blog, double the figure in 2003; and in that period, the number of people posting pictures online grew from 11% to 23.6%.
More than three-quarters of Americans are net users, spending an average of 8.9 hours online a week, according to the team. And, for the first time in 2006, the number of women logging on equalled the number of men.
bbc
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