Not the norm

Whenever I am selected as part of a survey panel, online or otherwise, I nearly always take the opportunity. I am “one of those people” who creates self-selection bias. I am a perennial student of surveys, and always interested in what researchers and marketers are trying to understand. I received an invitation this morning by a reputable magazine that I read frequently, and decided to take the dive. One of the many questions asked about online activities, specifically which of the following actions I have partaken in over the past 3 months:

• Sent and/or received an Instant message (IM)
• Sent and/or received a text message (SMS) on cell phone
• Accessed the internet from cell phone or PDA
• Downloaded/listened to or watched music/videos, podcasts or other audio files, webcasts, etc.
• Watched user-created videos online (e.g., youtube.com)
• Read a blog
• Posted to your own blog
• Have a MySpace or similar online profile page
• Created/uploaded art, photography, images, video, music, etc.
• Participated in chat rooms or forums
• Visited social networking sites (e.g. facebook.com, myspace.com, etc.)
• Use RSS Feeds
• None of the above

Suffice to say, I think that I am not the norm:

Perfect 12!! It’s always refreshing to be reminded that you are not average, especially when the media you consume, the people you interact with and the activities engage in suggest otherwise. Although it seems like many average internet users could fill up a large chunk of this list.