Recently, Consumer Reports WebWatch announced the findings of a "research report, prepared by Princeton Survey Research Associates" that involved 1,501 adult internet users. I knew of it, because it was all over the news-wire services. So, I picked two sources I liked best to link to here, so you would not have to read a lot of repeat information about the report topic: "Leap of Faith: Using the Internet Despite the Dangers"
While the report is mostly about fear of identity theft and credit card fraud, I found this general topic APROPOS, with my (so far) three part series on FiOS. My last post on FiOS was entitled "FiOS's "No Turning Back" To DSL Policy". It relates to the keywords "Trust", "Faith", and "Credibility", in my opinion, regarding a lack of Clear, Conspicuous, COMPLETE, and easily Comprehended Disclosure that is an issue (on one matter only) I have right now with Verizon-FiOS. Overall, I have been happy with Verizon over the years. But, every large company ($71,283,000,000 in sales in 2004 according to Hoovers.com) needs constructive, value-enhancing criticism, and suggestions-feedback for improvement, from their customers to help them keep growing, in my opinion.
The first link was going to be to the Direct Marketing Association's web page on this report entitled "Web Users More Wary and Demanding: Poll", which is a quick synopsis of the statistics in the report. But, the DMA has chosen to insist upon "signing on" before you can see the report (see pages 3 & 4 of the original CR WebWatch National Survey). For me, one of the more interesting statistics is "48 percent say knowing who owns a Web site is very important, up 16 points."
The second link is to a two page WashingtonPost.com article entitled "Internet Use Up, but So Is User Concern". It had some unique information in it that was not in other news-wire reports, such as the U.S. Census Bureau's findings on computer and Internet use. Here, a more interesting statistic for me is "Fifty-six percent of working adults used a computer at work, and 42 percent used the Internet on the job." The internet usage on the job and in the home will definitely increase with the wide spread adoption of fiber optic service. The question is will overall Trust, Faith, and Web Site Credibility increase proportionately? What do you think?
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