Press Release

Pioneering Report Finds Remarkable Similarities and Significant Differences Globally

Online Purchasing Not Yet Part of the Global Internet Experience; A Majority of Users Believe Only Half of the Information they Find Online is Reliable

The World Internet Project (WIP), a comprehensive first-time global survey on the impact of the Internet, spearheaded by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication with 13 partner countries and regions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania, found remarkable similarities and significant differences in the way users utilize and rely on the Internet.

“This first international collaboration has revealed a broad and diverse range of insights about online technology, Internet users, and non-users,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “We believe this annual survey will build a new level of understanding about the worldwide use of the Internet.”

“We’ve been participating in this worldwide project for eight years. It does help us to look the Internet situation in Macao from a global perspective and find out our strength and drawbacks” revealed Angus Cheong, project director of Macao Internet Project (MIP), one of the longest longitudinal research projects in Macao’s history, by the University of Macau.

The World Internet Project marks the first time that a worldwide partnership of research institutions has compiled data on the behavior and views of Internet users and non-users.