Almost half of all internet users sharing content on the web

That’s almost double the number of people who uploaded self-created content in 2008. The survey also shows that 40 per cent of web users have posted messages on chat sites, blogs and news groups in the last year, up from 20 per cent in 2008.

Emailing remains the most popular online activity, with 90 per cent of surfers using the internet to send and receive messages, while 21 per cent of those questioned said they also made phone calls on the internet using services such as Skype, or made video calls to friends and family.

The Internet Access report found that around 30 per cent of UK homes did not have internet access. Of those households that could access the web, 90 per cent used broadband connections, up from 69 per cent in 2006.

London was the region with the greatest number of internet-enabled households, with 80 per cent of Londoners connected to the web, while Scotland was the area with the lowest internet uptake, with just 62 per cent of households online. Only 63 per cent of homes across the country are able to access the internet through a broadband connection. The government’s Digital Britain report has pledged universal internet access of at least two megabits per second for all UK households by 2012.

The Office for National Statistics survey found that around 73 per cent of adults access the internet every day or almost every day, and that the levels of use were highest among those aged between 16 and 24, with 96 per cent of youngsters in this age group using the internet, 86 per cent on a daily or almost daily basis.

The number of older web users logging on to the internet every day or almost every day has dropped slightly, down from 54 per cent in 2008 to 52 per cent in 2009. Around 21 per cent of the UK population has never used the web, down from 25 per cent in 2008. People aged 65 and over are the least likely to have accessed the internet, with 64 per cent saying they had never logged on, down from 70 per cent the previous year.

The Internet Access report also looked at the way people bought goods and services online. Films and music accounted for 52 per cent of all products purchased from the internet by men, while clothes and sporting goods accounted for 54 per cent of products and services bought online by women.

Use of public Wi-Fi hot spots has increased in the last few years, with 2.5 million people now accessing the internet from wireless zones in cafés, airports and train stations, up from 700,000 people in 2007.

Around 42 per cent of internet users have watched television or listened to the radio online in the last three months, up from 34 per cent in 2008, and 86 per cent of UK households now have at least one television connected to a digital receiver. The analogue signal is due to be switched off by 2012, and areas of the country are being switched over to digital-only signals region by region. London, which will be the last region to go digital, is currently the area with the lowest level of digital television connectivity, with just 81 per cent of households boasting one or more televisions hooked up to a digital signal.

The report also reveals a continuing divide in internet access between those with degrees and those without formal qualifications. Around 95 per cent of people with a degree or equivalent qualification live in a house with internet access, compared to 52 per cent of those with no formal qualifications (Via Telegraph)