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German Web 2.0 Users Prefer Online Reference Works and Review Portals
New interactive Internet applications — summarized by the term "Social Web" — are becoming a fixture in Internet usage all over the world. In Germany, online reference works are currently the most popular Social Web applications. To finance these offerings, enterprises are relying primarily on income from pay-for-performance ads. These are the key findings from the Special Report on the Social Web from the "Deutschland Online" series of surveys, presented at DLD 2007 ("Digital Lifestyle Design"), a conference organized by Hubert Burda Media.
Currently the Social Web in Europe exists mainly in the form of user-generated content. This includes applications like wikis, blogs and podcasts, in which users put their own content on the Web to share with other users. 53 percent of international experts consider these applications to be already established in Europe. Communities (33 percent), mash-ups combining several different applications (30 percent) and localized services (30 percent) are less well-established throughout Europe. At a global level, the United States is ahead in all four categories, followed by Asia and Europe.
In Germany the use of online reference works is the dominant application: 52 percent of all users surveyed reported taking advantage of this option. Review portals are also popular, with a usage rate of 30 percent. And the latest Social Web applications like communities, podcasts and blogs all have over a million users in Germany already. Over the next few years, the Internet users surveyed expect to see a noticeable increase.
The study also focused on the various financing models for Social Web offerings. Here, 67 percent of the experts saw the biggest potential in pay-for-performance ads, with 57 percent naming commissions as a key source of revenue. While 48 percent cited traditional online advertising and 43 percent saw a plausible financing model in classified ads, only 10 percent believed that user fees could become a successful avenue for financing Social Web offerings.
The finding that new Social Web applications are changing the face of the Internet has been available since November. 84 percent of experts are convinced that the Internet will develop into a medium that is influenced by mutual user interaction to a high degree. 23.01.2007, Deutsche Telekom AG
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