Video telephony is coming. A survey this week from the influential Pew Research Center’s Internet and America Project in the US already shows that 19% of Americans have already tried it, either on a broadband line or a cell phone. This translates into 23% of internet users and 7% of cell phone owners who have participated in video calls, chats, or teleconferences.
Part of the reason is that the widespread user of camcorders have spread and the fact that cameras are being built into most smart phones. Video chat services including Skype, Google Talk, and Apple iChat have also become a feature of the online world.
The results in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between August 9 and September 13, 2010 and it established that 74% of American adults are internet users 85% of American adults have cell phones.
Interviews had to be conducted in both English and Spanish and Pew says that the results can be said with 95% confidence that there is no statistical error.
The figures come from adding up the number of adults who said they either had made a video or teleconferencing call online (17% of adults have done that) or made video calls on their cell phones (6% of adults have done that). In many cases people have placed video calls on both the internet and their cell phone. Those who answered yes to both questions were only counted once in the overall tally of video callers.
In the past Pew has asked solely about internet video-calling and this has risen modestly from 20% of internet users in 2009 to 23% today. On any given day, 4% of internet users are participating in video calls, video chat, or teleconferencing, up from 2% in April 2009. So the regular usage has doubled in one year.
Other key findings are that video calling online is especially appealing to upscale users. A third of internet users (34%) living in households earning $75,000 or above have participated in such calls or chats, compared with 18% of those earning less than $75,000.
Younger internet users are considerably more likely to conduct video calls. Some 29% of the internet users ages 18-29 have participated in video calls or chats or teleconferences, compared with 15% of internet users age 65 or older.
Online men are more likely than online women to participate in online video calls (26% vs. 20%). Urban internet users (27%) and suburban users (23%) are significantly more likely than rural users (12%) to have participated in video calls, chats, or teleconferences. Which is off, since rural communities probably need it more.
The iPad, its rivals and the increasingly widespread use of systems like iChat are likely to raise this figure substantially in the year ahead.