Searching the Web for business information: the skills and preferences of end-users and information professionals

Abstract

Increased end-user access to external information products and services, boosted by the Web and the development of corporate intranets and portals, has been a feature of the business information market in recent months. This article describes an IRN survey of users of business information on the Web which compares the approaches used by end-users and information professionals and their relative effectiveness. The selected findings described here cover search methodologies, use of free and paid-for services, search engines used, gaps in Web coverage, time spent on the Web, and the use of mobile devices. There is also reference to other recent research in the USA and Europe which considers the use of the Web for business information searching and the growing participation of end-users in business information searching. Outsell Inc has just completed a survey of over 6000 end-users in the USA and Learned Information recently commissioned IRN to conduct a survey of European online information users. Some general conclusions arising from the various reesearch studies are presented.