Survey Says Internet Users Confuse Search Results, Ads

irishdaze writes "ABC News is reporting that apparently only 18% of adult web searchers can tell the difference between actual search results and advertisements. In addition to this astounding conclusion, the Pew Internet and American Life Project's survey of 2,200 adults (only 1,399 of which are actual internet users, mind you) also indicates that 92% of web searchers feel they are confident in their own searching abilities."

Comments

How could anyone be confused?

[Anonymous Coward]

Google puts the search results in colored boxes, and the ads are all in black and white.

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

[froggero1]

It may also have to do with the fact that when these adults are surfing the pron, they dont really care what's an ad or a website, so long as it has boobs

Survey Says...

[ackthpt]

"ABC News is reporting that apparently only 18% of adult web searchers can tell the difference between actual search results and advertisements.

<Homer>Woo hoo! Finally above average! Take that Marilyn vos Savant!</Homer>

92% of web searchers feel they are confident in their own searching abilities.

Other useful stats:

38% believe Prince Magumbe Obada of Nigeria has $14,000,000 to share with them

56% believe that penis pills really work.

29% believe they have just updated their PayPal or bank account safely and securely

91% believe all that harddrive activity and bandwidth usage is Microsoft Windows ensuring their computer is safe and secure

44% believe the moon is still made of green cheese and the landings were staged in a warehouse in El Segundo

76% believe everything they read on the internet, which doesn't challenge their moral values, is true, the rest is all crap

Because

[American AC in Paris]

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. People don't pay that much attention to to what they are reading.

For example, re-read this post. Carefully.

Re:Quite true.

[govtcheez]

I feel like I'm watching one of those shittacular closed-circuit news shows produced by high schoolers, for highschoolers.

"Oh my god, and in the news today, CmdrTaco reposted a story about Linux and I saw Hemos cheating on his girlfriend after third period! What a total slut! OK, now here's CowboyNeal with today's lunch menu!"

Re:you insensitive clod !

[MightyMartian]

Well, when I was a kid, all we had was gears and sprockets. I mean, how the hell do you tell color on gears and sprockets? Loading a 1k web page took the better part of a week and forty tons of coal. Then some f*cker invented Javascript.