Forty-eight million Americans have posted content on the internet

A report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project claims that 48 million American adults have posted content to the internet.

A telephone poll in November and December, 2005, quizzed Americans about their use of the internet.

Respondents were asked if they blog, had their own webpage, of if they had ever contributed to a work or social group website or blog.

The resulting report found that the vast majority of uploading to the internet was conducted from the home, rather than the office, and that access to broadband encouraged a greater frequency of uploading.

The Broadband Adoption 2006 report suggested that the prime reason for uploading content was so that users could share work they had created - rather than that created by a third party - with friends and family.

A quarter of all US internet users, nearly 36 million people, claimed they had uploaded work they had created themselves.

The survey suggests that a total of 31 million people with broadband in the US, nearly half of all home broadband users, have posted content to the internet.

This contrasts with just 27 per cent of dial-up users, about 13 million adults, having placed some sort content online. Fewer than five million users had uploaded content while at work.

The study also found that those living in less affluent homes - where the household income was less than $50,000 per year - were more likely to create and upload to the internet than those earning over that figure.

This is a stark contrast to the January 2002 study, which found that a 'broadband elite' of male technophiles were responsible for most uploading.

Then only 10 per cent of American adults had high-speed connections at home, now 42 per cent of Americans benefit from this luxury.

Age, however, remains a distinguishing feature among those who put things online. More than half of broadband users under 30 have posted online - a quarter of whom have their own blogs.

Yet, only 36 per cent of those over 30 with high-speed at home, have uploaded online content, with fewer than one in 10 having their own blogs.

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