… is VIRTUAL WORLDS.

Surprised?

When you look at this infographic and data from Pew Internet, what jumps out to you?

1). <10% Adoption of Virtual Worlds ACROSS THE BOARD: Seriously, who uses them?

2) Instant Messaging: How different groups look at IM-ing is really interesting. Obviously the younger groups are much more likely to IM, but those over the age of 70 have very very low interest in doing so.

3) Where is online dating? Pew, that would be interesting to see.

4) Would love to see a cross-reference with Mobile.

5) Priorities-based ranking.  Travel, health information, banking and government sites top the charts. Getting real things done is a priority for each group.

Check out the cut-off point of adoption, showcased by the “ladder-like” black line on the chart above. What conclusions can you draw from this infographic?

Pew States:

Certain key internet activities are becoming more uniformly popular across all age groups. These include:

• Email
• Search engine use
• Seeking health information
• Getting news
• Buying products
• Making travel reservations or purchases
• Doing online banking
• Looking for religious information
• Rating products, services, or people
• Making online charitable donations
• Downloading podcasts

Some of the areas that have seen the fastest rate of growth in recent years include older adults’ participation in communication and entertainment activities online, especially in using social network sites such as Facebook. Among the major trends in online activities:

• While the youngest generations are still significantly more likely to use social network sites, the fastest growth has come from internet users 74 and older: social network site usage for this oldest cohort has quadrupled since 2008, from 4% to 16%.
• The percentage of all adult internet users who watch video online jumped 14 points in the past two years, from 52% in May 2008 to 66% in May 2010.
• 51% of all online adults listen to music online, compared with 34% the last time this question was asked, in June 2004. While Millennials used to be by far the most avid listeners, Gen Xers and Younger Boomers are catching up.
• As of May 2010, 53% of online adults have used a classified ads website such as Craigstlist, up from 32% in September 2007.