DigitalCenter.org recently introduced their fourth Digital Future Report, highlighting the major findings in year four of the Digital Future Project's study of the impact of the internet on Americans.

This 105 free PDF report identifies key internet trends that will most definitely have a huge impact on the world of internet marketing as well.

In my mind one of the study's most important findings is the fact that over 40% of users believe that only about half of the information on the internet is reliable and acurate.

And even worse, only 9,5% of users believe that information on web sites maintained by individuals is credible.

If this is true, and I don't doubt that it is, internet is really becoming an elitist medium where trust only goes to the most powerful. I'm sure that many internet publishers won't agree with this statement, but it seems that history is again repeating itself.

Yes, the internet is the most democratic medium there is, but on the other hand, this same democracy is causing people to doubt the credibility of the information posted on the internet, thus actually destroying its democratic nature.

We all have voice, but only a small minority has voice that is believed.

For marketers this means that achieving credibility on the internet must become one of our key tasks and challenges.

More on what you'll find in the report ...

Internet access has risen to its highest level ever. About three-quarters of Americans now go online.

The number of hours spent online continues to increase, rising to an average of 12.5 hours per week ? the highest level in the study thus far.

Although the Internet has become the most important source of current information for users, the initially high level of credibility of information on the Internet began to drop in the third year of the study, and declined even further in Year Four.

The number of users who believe that only about half of the information on the Internet is accurate and reliable is growing and has now passed 40 percent of users for the first time.

The study showed that most users trust information on the websites they visit regularly, and on pages created by established media and the government.

Information pages posted by individuals have the lowest credibility: only 9.5 percent of users say information on those sites is reliable and accurate.

Television viewing continues to decline among Internet users, raising the question: "What will happen as a nation that once spent an extremely large portion of time in a passive activity (watching television) transfers increasingly large portions of that time to an interactive activity (the Internet)?"

Download the report today!

And thanks to Alain Jourdier of MarketingDriven.com for pointing me to this report.