End-User Generational Analysis: How Age Relates to Information Habits

This report is aimed at publishers and information providers. It analyzes our latest research on information users’ habits, preferences, and spending based on age, and finds that age has become less useful as a predictor of behaviors and preferences over the last decade. The conventional wisdom that younger users are better searchers while older workers are wiser regarding information quality is increasingly inaccurate. To some degree, technology adoption is evening out across the generations. What this means is that, when developing products, publishers and information providers may be able to worry less about catering to distinctly different sets of attributes based on age. Outsell has been surveying knowledge workers since 1998, and this report is based on responses from 5,660 respondents to our most recent knowledge worker survey, in December 2008. The report contains:

- Data comparing users in three age groups (millennials, generation X, and baby boomers) in areas including search success rates, time spent searching for information, and attitudes about free vs. for-a-fee information;
- Data on adoption of devices, new media, and social networking among the three generations;
- Data on information purchasing habits and attitudes among the three generations;
- Essential actions for publishers and information providers.