Research highlights

More users have 1-hour-plus daily Web habit
"The number of adults who log more than one hour a day on the Web increased from 43% in 2007 to 48% in 2008, according to a Gallup poll. The survey also showed major boosts in this level of usage among those who make less than $30,000; unmarried people; 18-to-29-year-olds; and those with a post-graduate education" Adweek

Pre-Shop Customer Reviews Important to Online Customers
Nielsen Online, studying the holiday mindset of the U.S. online shopper, found that customer reviews are an important research tool for online consumers. 71 percent of online shoppers agreed that consumer reviews make them more comfortable that they are buying the right product. 81 percent have read product or retailer reviews by other customers when doing their holiday shopping this year. 63 percent of online shoppers indicated that it was important to have multiple reviews for each product, 14 percent looked for reviews from an established source, and just three percent sought out reviews by people they knew personally.

News No Longer Newspaper's Forte
According to the Pew Research Center, the Internet has now surpassed all other media except television as an outlet for national and international news. Currently, 40% of the survey respondents say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew survey, more people say they rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspapers. Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news.