A recent Gallup Poll  shows that almost half of Americans are “frequent” internet users. While it is no secret that the younger generations, the better educated, and the more affluent are online, it's interesting to see the rise in less affluent, lesser-educated, and even “non-working” categories.

Across the board, we're now “all” online, and many are online a LOT.  More than 48% reported being online for an hour or more per day. Of course, to me (and many of us), an hour a day is not a “lot,” but, when you factor in that many Americans are working blue collar jobs which do not include internet access, 48% of respondents is more impressive. Along those lines, another interesting statistic is the rise from 22% to 32% of daily internet use among the “under $30,000” income group. Other key jumps? Men, and those over 65 are posting gains greater than the national average.

  Gallup poll results on Internet Usage for 2008

While this is interesting, the number polled—1009 via phone interview—seems small enough as to be insignificant. Granted, I'm no polling expert, and Gallup certainly is, but I'd love to see bigger numbers. I think it would also be extremely revealing to see where these people report using the “Net.” The question was specific to “personal use of the Internet,” but as we all know, “personal use” doesn't always equate to being done “on personal time.”