A new survey which came out this week from the Online Publishers Association provides further proof that consumers are now seeing the Internet as a major source for content.  The survey found a 37% increase in the amount of time consumers spent viewing content such as online videos or news, surpassing a 35% rise in the use of search engines.  Obviously with the rise of YouTube and online videos in general along with social networks like MySpace and Facebook combined with faster online speeds is fueling this growth, and it will only increase.  Overall consumers are spending 47% of their time viewing content (up from 34% 4 years ago).  Time on shopping sites like Amazon.com fell 5% and accounted for 15% of time spent online.  The increased use of instant messaging impacted the overall time spent on communications like email which came in at 33% of time spent online, down from 46% 4 years ago. 

The group has also created the "Internet Activity Index" which looks at consumer engagement online in four categories:  content, communications, commerce and search.  This is a great way to think about our efforts as PR professionals as well - as we obviously play in communications space, are moving in to the content space, should know about the search space and some clients are in the commerce space.  Using these four distinct areas to guide clients through new campaign ideas would also be a smart move.