2011 Internet Usage Survey

Welcome to Plumbing Engineer’s 2011 Internet Usage Survey. Plumbing Engineer would like to thank those who took the time to participate in this year’s survey. The response was overwhelming! The survey gives us a unique view of the Internet habits of today’s engineer, and overall online trends. The questions range from work hours spent on the Internet to social networking to RFIs.

Nearly 35 percent of the respondents work at a company which has 50 or more employees; nearly 34 percent work at a firm that employs 1-5 people.

There is no debating that social media has changed how Internet users conduct business and spend time online. An large contingent of those rebonding claim that social media helps them network with their peers. Plumbing Engineer asked about social media use: Are you currently using social media? Thirty-five percent of those asked currently employ social media. Of the thirty-five percent, 24 percent use Facebook, 21 percent use LinkedIn, 9 percent use online forums and 11 percent use Twitter. The reasons for getting into social media? Increase brand awareness, build stronger relationships with customers, announce services, improve the customer service experience, network and maintain industry connections, Web meetings, education and all other forms of basic information.

1. How much time do you spend on the Internet as it relates to work? Eighty-five percent said everyday, of which 35 percent spend an average of 30-60 minutes. Twenty percent spend 1-2 hours online and 16 percent claimed 2+ hours.

2. Where do you go for product/technical information? Manufacturer websites garnered a 90 percent response rate. Trade publications and trade publication websites received 62 percent and catalogs garnered 55 percent of the tally.

3. Interested in the engineer’s purchasing habits over the Web, we asked: do you make online purchases and do you feel secure making those purchases over the Internet? Forty-six percent of the engineers surveyed do make purchases via the Web. Of those 46 percent, 71 percent claim that they feel secure making online purchases.

4. Do you use the Internet for project management purposes? A surprising 67 percent do not use the Web for any project management duties.

5. Do you use the Internet for Building Information Modeling purposes? Again, a surprising answer in that 63 percent of those polled claim that they do not use the Internet for BIM purposes.

6. Do you use the Web for education and training? The plumbing engineers in the survey responded that 84 percent of them use the Web for education and training.

7. Do you receive Requests for Information (RFIs)? Seventy-six percent said they receive RFIs.

8. Do you receive email architectural drawings? Increasing efficiency in their jobs, seventy-eight percent of the engineers tallied receive drawings.

9. Do you use the Internet from a mobile device? More than half (55%) claimed they went mobile.