How many Internet users are generating content online?

How many Internet users are generating content online? The Pew Internet & American Life Project pegs the figure at 48 million. The organization’s latest study, “Broadband Adoption 2006” concludes that "forty-eight million American adults have posted content to the Internet." The assessment stems from telephone interviews of 1931 Internet users done by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between November 29 and December 31, 2005.

According to the survey questionnaire accompanying the Pew report, 35% of the survey sample of 1931 American adult users of the Internet reported posting content to the Internet. As the Pew graphic below illustrates, Pew extrapolates the survey respondents to “all Internet users” and then concludes that “overall, 35% of Internet users posted online content that fall into one of the categories listed below; that comes to 48 million American adults.”

The survey methodology states: "In each contacted household, interviewers asked to speak with the youngest male currently at home. If no male was available, interviewers asked to speak with the oldest female at home." Pew’s definition of user-generated online content for purposes of the study is:

• Create or work on your own online journal or blog
• Create or work on your own Webpage
• Create or work on Webpages or blogs for others including friends, groups you belong to, or work
• Share something online that you created yourself , such as your own artwork, photos, stories, or videos

Pew did not address key factors such as posting frequency, content quality and interaction among the content generators.

Obtaining quality user-generated content on a regular basis and developing a meaningful community around it are key challenges of the social Web and the challenges grow as more and more Web communities compete for the attention and contributions of the most desirable contributors.

As I discussed in “Buzzwords 2.0”:

The average YouTube user is watching the content, not generating it; while more than 35 million videos are viewed daily, only 35,000 are uploaded, according to You Tube. You Tube's very low ratio of upload activity to viewing activity is similar to low contribution ratios across many Web 2.0 user generated content sites, such as tagging sites and local review sites.

Reflecting on user-generated content focused sessions at the “Buying and Selling eContent” conference, Michelle Manafy, Editor of EContent mused in the magazine’s June 2006 issue:

Unfortunately, even a roundtable peopled by content luminaries can’t produce a single replicable formula for creating online communities around content, much less inspire users to contribute.

How often do you post content online? Join the conversation: "Talk Back" below to share your thoughts.