Users' Web

If anyone's still in doubt that the Web is increasingly what its users are making it, the latest Pew Internet & American Life study might add some clarity. "User-Generated Content and Interactivity at the Cutting Edge" is one of the headlines, and another is "Home broadband adoption is going mainstream and that means user-generated content is coming from all kinds of internet users." Thirty-five percent of all Net users have posted content to the internet," the study found. For most of these (26%), it's something they've created – artwork, photos, stories, or videos; next it's their own Web page (14%); then a blog or Web page for friends, groups belonged to, or work (13%); finally, it's one's own online journal or blog (8%). In all, about 31 million people have posted content to the Internet, and this "user-generated" Web is driven by "young home high-speed Internet users" – people under 30. This highly creative, interactive Web 2.0 is clearly thriving and growing.