A comprehensive survey of what Canadians do online challenges some assumptions the web and news.

The Canadian Internet Project report, Canada Online! The Internet, Media and Emerging Technologies: Uses, Attitudes, Trends and International Comparisons (PDF), looked at Internet habits based on a 2007 survey of more than 3,100 Canadians.

It found that new media is not displacing traditional media, saying that online newspapers do not seem to be replacing printed versions.

As Charles Zamaria, the project’s principal investigator and a professor at Ryerson University explained:

Conventional wisdom would suggest that Internet use has increased at the expense of traditional media. But the amount of time spent attending to conventional media by Internet users and non-users is virtually identical. In general, we found that Internet users are not finding time to be online by taking away from their traditional media diet. In many ways, media activity just begets more media activity.

One of the reasons for this multi-tasking. The study found that 75% of Canadians are doing something else while online.  It is particularly prevalent among the young, with 91% of 18-29 year-olds multitasking. Talking on the phone is the most popular activity while surfing the we, followed by listening to music or the ratio.

In the words of Fred Fletcher, co-investigator and professor emeritus at York University:

The Internet does not demand our attention in the same way television or other media do. Canadians seem to use the Internet casually or share time online with someone physically beside them. So it is becoming more difficult to isolate and measure specific media use for individuals as Canadians. More and more, Canadians are using many media simultaneously.

The Internet is firmly entrenched in Canadian life, with 78 percent of the country connected, spending an average of 17 hours per week online. Moreover, Canadian net users are typically very experienced, having been online for an average of nine years.

The CIP study found that news continues, along with communication, to be among the most predominant uses of the net.  It sheds some light on how Canadians get their news online:

• More than half use a search engine every day
• The three most popular home pages are Google, MSN and Yahoo
• 79% regularly go online to look for local, national or international news
• 78% feel offline printed newspapers are still a trusted source of news
• The youth spend less time than do older users reading traditional printed newspapers, but more frequently visit news sites online

CBC.ca emerged as the most popular Canadian news site, followed by CTV.ca and GlobeandMail.com. And surprisingly, the news sites favoured by young people were not significantly different from those preferred by adults.

Image via WikipediaPerhaps the most surprising finding was how social networks such as Facebook and Hi5 are transforming the online experience.  40% of Canadians have used a community or social networking site and almost a quarter do so at least weekly.

This is changing what people use the net for, particularly among young for whom going online is as much about exploring, socializing and experiencing new forms of interaction as it is about seeking or sending information.

As Professor Zamaria explains:

Our study demonstrates is that the Internet is becoming a destination or a place in itself, where many visit not only for information or to be entertained, but just to be there, and to be connected and share with others. Our finding hat almost three quarters of all Internet users surf online without a specific reason or destination,and more than half do so on a regular basis, supports our contention that the Internet, for many, as as much an experience, as it is a valuable source of information and entertainment.

This marks a significant evolution in online behaviour, with the Internet becoming part of our social and cultural fabric. The emergence of tools that allow us  to connect and socialise are turning the Internet into a third place in cyberspace.