What are the numbers on website use for poor medical patients?
December 1, 2010 12:27 PM Subscribe
A medical organization that serves 1) the elderly and 2) economically disadvantaged people in general would like me to justify, using demographics data, the cost of a new website.
I used their service in the past and I found the outdated website frustrating. I know there should be some statistics that show that poor people still use computers, but I don't know where to look.
What data or information would you use to justify this? Like I said, I think it's absolutely worth doing but I want to make the case solid.
Data on website use, email use, etc. would be much appreciated.
This is in California, FWIW. Thank you.
I used their service in the past and I found the outdated website frustrating. I know there should be some statistics that show that poor people still use computers, but I don't know where to look.
What data or information would you use to justify this? Like I said, I think it's absolutely worth doing but I want to make the case solid.
Data on website use, email use, etc. would be much appreciated.
This is in California, FWIW. Thank you.
One word: fundraising.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:40 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by DarlingBri at 12:40 PM on December 1, 2010
DarlingBri is right. Seriously, circular, I wouldn't even bother trying to justify the cost. Instead, spend your efforts in finding someone who will take on the job for free or cheap (Jobs might be a good place to start), and if you need money then ask for donations. Of course, this assumes that the website isn't large or complicated, or the type that needs constant maintenance or supervision. But if it's not a Herculean task, I'm sure somebody will be happy to tackle it for a good cause.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:49 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:49 PM on December 1, 2010
Best answer: For data, I'd search using the phrase "digital divide", and you may want to check out OneEconomy, which does a lot of work around increasing access of people with low incomes to the web.
posted by emkelley at 1:38 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by emkelley at 1:38 PM on December 1, 2010
Best answer: I don't have stats on the poor, but I did have to pull some recently on the increasing use of the internet by seniors:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/six-million-more-seniors-using-the-web-than-five-years-ago
* Checked Personal Health Care Info - #7 most popular activity among seniors at 47.3% of their online population
* 8.2% of all social network and blog visitors are over 65, just 0.1 percentage points less than the number of teenagers who frequent these sites
http://www.holidaytouch.com/Retirement-101/senior-living-articles/internet-usage-among-seniors-increasing.aspx
* the number of seniors (65 and older) using the internet has “increased by 55 percent, from 11.3 million active users in November of 2004 to 17.5 million in November 2009”
* 40 percent of adults over the age of 50 consider themselves extremely or very comfortable using the internet (and 70 percent of online users say their online community, or network, is very important)
http://www.zerodivide.org/blog/tim/senior_citizens_ipadand_how_not_mistake_your_mother_porn_star
* American internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled in the past year, from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010
* For those ages 65 and older, use of social networking websites grew a whopping 100 percent. By comparison, the number of internet users between the ages of 18 - 29 who use social networking websites only rose by a mere 13 percent.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1532547/senior_citizens_and_the_internet.html?cat=12
* 72 percent of Americans ages 50 to 64; and 37 percent of those ages 65 and above use the internet regularly
* Boomers are not afraid to use computers anymore. Since nearly every occupation requires minimal PC knowledge and contact, a whole new user group has been created.
* the top categories of interest for the 55-plus group include; golf, investments, stocks, online pharmacies, and cruise travel
http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/WebsWeLike/2009/20090207-FastestGrowing.htm
* Fully 74% of internet users age 64 and older send and receive email, making email the most popular online activity for this age group.
* A few online activities previously dominated by either older generations or younger generations are now being done more equally across all generations under 73 years old
posted by Wossname at 1:49 PM on December 1, 2010
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/six-million-more-seniors-using-the-web-than-five-years-ago
* Checked Personal Health Care Info - #7 most popular activity among seniors at 47.3% of their online population
* 8.2% of all social network and blog visitors are over 65, just 0.1 percentage points less than the number of teenagers who frequent these sites
http://www.holidaytouch.com/Retirement-101/senior-living-articles/internet-usage-among-seniors-increasing.aspx
* the number of seniors (65 and older) using the internet has “increased by 55 percent, from 11.3 million active users in November of 2004 to 17.5 million in November 2009”
* 40 percent of adults over the age of 50 consider themselves extremely or very comfortable using the internet (and 70 percent of online users say their online community, or network, is very important)
http://www.zerodivide.org/blog/tim/senior_citizens_ipadand_how_not_mistake_your_mother_porn_star
* American internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled in the past year, from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010
* For those ages 65 and older, use of social networking websites grew a whopping 100 percent. By comparison, the number of internet users between the ages of 18 - 29 who use social networking websites only rose by a mere 13 percent.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1532547/senior_citizens_and_the_internet.html?cat=12
* 72 percent of Americans ages 50 to 64; and 37 percent of those ages 65 and above use the internet regularly
* Boomers are not afraid to use computers anymore. Since nearly every occupation requires minimal PC knowledge and contact, a whole new user group has been created.
* the top categories of interest for the 55-plus group include; golf, investments, stocks, online pharmacies, and cruise travel
http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/WebsWeLike/2009/20090207-FastestGrowing.htm
* Fully 74% of internet users age 64 and older send and receive email, making email the most popular online activity for this age group.
* A few online activities previously dominated by either older generations or younger generations are now being done more equally across all generations under 73 years old
posted by Wossname at 1:49 PM on December 1, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far! That will get me started on the right foot.
If I read those Pew stats right, one out of every two people who make under $30K uses the Internet to look up medical information, and one out of every three people who make under $30K uses the Internet to look up information on doctors. That's more significant than I thought.
DarlingBri and Faint of Butt: I neglected to mention that I'm an independent web developer, and their current website is fairly extensive and was done professionally, but it's outdated. So they want a good website but will need a bit of help justifying the (as yet unknown) cost to administrators who see no purpose in the website beyond brochure-ware.
posted by circular at 2:47 PM on December 1, 2010
If I read those Pew stats right, one out of every two people who make under $30K uses the Internet to look up medical information, and one out of every three people who make under $30K uses the Internet to look up information on doctors. That's more significant than I thought.
DarlingBri and Faint of Butt: I neglected to mention that I'm an independent web developer, and their current website is fairly extensive and was done professionally, but it's outdated. So they want a good website but will need a bit of help justifying the (as yet unknown) cost to administrators who see no purpose in the website beyond brochure-ware.
posted by circular at 2:47 PM on December 1, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Wordwoman at 12:31 PM on December 1, 2010