The first report of the University of Southern California Annenberg School Digital Future Project in 2001 created a baseline profile of Internet behavior and attitudes. The survey looked at who is and isn’t  online, what media Internet users use and trust, how online consumers behave, what communication patterns could be teased from online usage and what social effects the Internet caused. Since 2001 studies have been conducted every year, except in 2004, and more than 100 issues have been appraised appraisal focusing on Internet users vs. non-users, and  light users  compared to heavy users.

Among the highlights of this years report:

• 24 percent of American households have at least three computers; only 15 percent of homes in the U.S. do not have a computer.
• The amount of time that Internet users spent online averages over 17 hours per week. Light users spend less than 3 hours per week online, while heavy users  average 42 hours.
• Users feel news pages posted by established media such as nytimes.com and cnn.com are less reliable than they were—the lowest level since 2001. Internet users who said that most or all of the information provided by search engines such as Google, on the other hand, is reliable and accurate rose slightly in the current study after a decline in 2007.
• Although web users hate online advertising, they prefer Web ads rather than paying for content. 51% of users agreed or strongly agreed.
• 15% of Internet users reported that they are members of an online community, usually hobby related, the peak level so far in the studies.