10 Types of Technology Users

Last month the Pew Internet and American Life Project posted a report called A Typology of Information and CommunicationTechnology Users in which they classified 10 types of tech users. Their survey began with 26016 random telelphone numbers, with 16,652 actual working numbers, and they received responses from 4001 people 18 or over, recording a 30 percent response rate. Here are their categories:

• Omnivores                          8%
• Connectors                          7%
• Lackluster Veterans             8%
• Productivity Enhancers         8%
• Mobile Centrics                   10%
• Connected but Hassled        10%
• Inexperienced Experimenters  8%
• Light but Satisfied              15%
• Indifferents                        11%
• Off the Network                  15%

I would say I'm either a "Connecter" or "Productivity Enhanncer" in terms of technology. The survey measured people and their technology use in terms of 1) assets, 2) actions, and 3) attitudes. The top 4 categories were referred to "Elite Technology Users" (which would be my category, I guess), which turned out to include 31% of American adults. Of course, reading the "Omnivores" category, I think a lot applies to me as well.