I have spent a lot of time working in the area of the 'digital divide' (i.e. the significant part of the population not able to use Internet in any shape or form). It is so easy to take this problem for granted that it drops below the radar and doesn't get commented about.
This report from the ONS is a detailed and current statement of the problem.
In Q1 2015, 86% of adults (44.7 million) had used the internet in the last 3 months. While 2% (1.1 million) had last used the internet more than 3 months ago, 11% (5.9 million) had never used it.
As far as I am concerned, if you haven't used it in the last 3 months you are a non-user.
We are talking about a sizeable part of the population (13%). Now, a lot of those that classed as users are only doing the very basic things of the occasional e-mail and a bit of browsing, so the true size of problem, and it is a problem, becomes clear.
The next time you have a meeting to talk about your digital strategy and the latest wheeze in social networking it might be an idea to write the number of people that will be excluded from your strategy in a prominent position.
There is nothing you can do about the problem but you have to aware that it exists and realise the implications on your digital marketing's effectiveness
Coincidentally, you should read Kim Walker's blog post about the small number of older people in India who are not even using mobile phones.
If you are a global marketer then the digital divide issue is doubly difficult. Dick Stroud
No comments:
Post a Comment