End-User Update: 2011 Overview

Author: Joanne Lustig, Vice President & Lead Analyst

End-users constitute a key revenue stream for publishers and information providers. Understanding shifts and trends in users’ information consumption is essential for targeted product development, effective marketing strategies, and continued business. This report, tailored to publishers and information providers, presents findings from Outsell’s most recent research on information users. Conducted in January 2011, this survey-based research garnered 1,780 responses from the corporate, education, government, and healthcare sectors in the US. This is the latest wave of Outsell’s regular surveys of knowledge workers, investigating what they spend for information, what information they use in their jobs or studies, where they go to get that information, how they like to receive it, and a host of other attributes that are important to publishers and information providers. In this year’s report, we also take a deeper look into the impact of mobile devices and social media on knowledge workers’ evolving relationship with information. Outsell has surveyed tens of thousands of knowledge workers since 1998; this report draws on that history of deep research. This overview provides a directional sense of where professionals are headed and how their changing demands in aggregate impact publishers and information providers.

This report contains:
• An overall look at today’s end-users’ needs and habits
• Data and trends that depict a decline in end-users’ information quality of life
• Detailed data on use of mobile devices and social media
• Trends in individual content purchasing within the enterprise
• Data on spending related to devices, mobile content, and apps
• Essential actions for publishers and information providers who want to keep up with knowledge workers’ changing information expectations and habits

Open table of contents

Why This Topic?
- Methodology
Overview Profile of Information Users
- Barriers to Information
- Information Reliance and Gaps
- Uptake of Devices and Media
Users and Their Devices
- A Word on the Evolving Workplace
Users’ Buying Habits
- Spending Related to Devices
Essential Actions
Related Research

Tables & Figures

Figure 1. Survey Respondents by Sector
Figure 2. Survey Respondents by Industry
Figure 3. Obstacles to Getting Information, 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 4. Time Spent (Weekly) on Information Tasks, 2005 vs. 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 5. Obstacles to Getting Information: Age-Related Differences
Table 1. Most Relied-Upon Information Types by Sector
Figure 6. Unmet Information Needs, 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 7. Use of Handheld Devices: Current and Next 3 Months (Planned)
Figure 8. Use of Social Networking Sites, 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 9. Personal and Professional Use of Most Popular Social Networking Sites, 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 10. Use of Handheld Devices, 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 11. Percentage of Time Spent Using Handheld Devices for Work-Related Purposes
Figure 12. Average Hours per Day Spent Using Handheld Devices: Age-Related Differences
Figure 13. Personal vs. Professional Use of Handheld Devices
Table 2. Most Desired Content for Handheld Devices: Age-Related Differences
Figure 14. Where Information Purchasing Decisions are Made
Figure 15. Independent Information Spending, 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 16. Prevalence of Independent Spending by Respondent Job Level
Figure 17. Mid-Point Spending on Information for Past 12 Months, 2005 vs. 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 18. Information Spending Forecast, 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 19. Disposition of Information Purchased by Individuals, 2005 vs. 2008 vs. 2011
Figure 20. Preferred Pricing Model
Figure 21. Methods of Accessing Content on Mobile Devices
Figure 22. Circumstances that Drive Willingness to Pay for Mobile Device Content
Figure 23. Spending on Mobile Applications
Figure 24. Funding for Work-Related Apps