Number of online Americans using e-mail and search, daily (millions)
	2005	2004	2003	2002
E-mail	74	57	58	61
Search	59	38	37	33

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project

Searching the Net

The Internet: It's not just for e-mail anymore. A growing number of U.S. Net users are searching the Web on a daily basis, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That means search is closing in on e-mail as a primary Internet activity on a given day. The number of people using search engines jumped to 59 million, 41% of the Internet-using population, in September, from 38 million, or 30% of Net users in mid-2004.

People are still spending more time on e-mail, however, according to research by comScore Media Metrix. On an average day, Net users spent more than 24 minutes on e-mail, compared with 3.5 minutes on search engines.

Posted: 12/15/05

Also see:

E-Mail Is So Five Minutes Ago