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Surveying the Web
Online sources for web research and demographics
9/7/98

by Jennifer Fleming

Where do you get your facts? As developers, producers, or even business owners, we often need to support what we do with research on demographics. We've collected some of the more interesting research sources for you in this mini-guide to finding the facts. Some offer their services for a fee (often a steep one) but there are still many places to find free research. Don't see one of your favorite sources listed here? Send us a note.

GVU Center's WWW User Surveys
The GVU surveys are the best place to start for current information on web users. These surveys are done every six months, and a new set of results was published this July. The trend reported in this most recent survey is mainstreaming. According to the survey results report: "demographics of the user population moved closer to the characteristics of the general population with a continued increase in the proportion of female users (38.7%), a decrease in the average income ($52,000 in the US), slightly lower level of educational attainment (50.1% college or more), and a diversification of occupations away from the domination of computer and education-related fields." Browsing through past surveys can also offer insight into how the web population has changed.

Nua Internet Surveys
Nua is an Irish web firm that provides free reporting on surveys and research. You can access this information via their web site or receive it in a regular email newsletter. Nua also keeps a worldwide count of "How Many Online," which is based on figures from a variety of research operations. Their current world total is 147 million web users.

Iconocast
One of the best free email newsletters you can get, Iconocast offers selected Internet news and research. Newsletters are archived on the site. Iconocast also tracks the web population (U.S. only) in a "real-time" Java counter that is based on population growth rates from many research outlets. Their last count? More than 70 million U.S. web users.

Relevant Knowledge: Top Domains and Properties
Have you ever wondered what sites are getting the greatest number of hits? Relevant Knowledge tracks this information and presents it in monthly reports of the Web's "Top Domains and Properties. Much of Relevant Knowledge's research is for subscribers only, but the top domains are normally available in their press release section.

Top Ten Web Sites
Shelley Taylor and Associates evaluated 100 web sites on a variety of factors that contribute to success. What sites came out on top in their survey? AT&T, Reuters, Mobil, Sun Microsystems, among others. Top sites were chosen because they had "good navigation and a high level of content for all three external user groups (customers, potential employees and investors)." The full study is available for a fee, but you can read an article about it in the Nando Times.

CyberAtlas: Top Web Ad Spenders
Who's spending the most money on banner advertising? CyberAtlas tracks this and other advertising demographics on their marketing-related web site.

Netcraft Web Server Survey
This survey reveals what server software is in use on the Web. Netcraft's August 1998 survey included responses from 2,807,588 sites. If you stop by their site, don't miss the "What's that site running now?" feature. Just type in a URL and find out what software is behind it.

Media Metrix - Top New Media Results
This monthly survey (from people who bring you the PC Meter) tracks the most popular sites by category. Categories include most popular sites viewed at home (vs. at work), most popular shopping sites, and most used directories.

Help us to find out about the developer community by taking our surveys here at Anchor. You can tell us about your experience with job roles or project management issues. The results of our surveys are freely available on the Web.