168 MILLION ONLINE IN U.S.
NEW YORK — Slowly but surely, Americans are getting wired.
That’s the word from Nielsen/Net Ratings, which reported Wednesday that two decades since the personal computer was introduced, 60 percent of people in the U.S., or 168 million Americans, now have access to the Internet from either home or work, an increase of 8 percent from October.
“The Web is now an integral part of the average person’s daily life,” said Allen Weinter, vice president of analytical services at Net Ratings, in a statement. “People are conducting a wide range of their day-to-day activities online.”
The penetration figures incorporate the overlap between users who go online from both work and home. Viewed separately, at-work access accounted for 14 percent of all ‘Net connections in the U.S. in January, or 41 million users, while at-home access constituted 58 percent of online hookups.
The Web properties luring the most visitors in January, Nielsen/Net Ratings said, were led by AOL Time Warner, which drew 68.4 million users, followed by Yahoo, with 59.4 million; MSN, 54.3 million; Lycos Network, 30.1 million, and Excite@Home, 27.6 million.
