Web users search for themselves onlinePosted 04/08/2004
More people have looked themselves up online than have looked up a member of their own family, according to a new survey.
Research conducted by MSN found that 39 per cent of those questioned had searched to see how well-known they were online, the BBC reports.
Over a third of respondents to the survey (36 per cent) had looked up long lost friends online, while just 29 per cent said they had looked up fellow family members. A surprising 17 per cent of people surveyed admitted to looking up old flames on the web.
The survey of American net users found that, although many web users look up prospective girlfriends and boyfriends before a date, most are more curious about themselves than anyone else.
Harris Interactive, which carried out the research for MSN, found that older people, those aged 59 and over, were more likely to use the web to find out about their family and ancestors.
The research found that, on average, people spend 11 minutes looking through results returned by most search engines and 29 per cent regularly abandon a search without getting any useful information at all. © DeHavilland Information Services plc
© 1998-2004 DeHavilland Information Services plc.
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