For local purposes, the Internet is used most often as an information utility to find out about what is going on nearby.  The most popular local information surfing activity is shopping; 41% of Internet users say that they “often” or “sometimes” go online to look for information about local stores or merchants.  About one-third of Internet users go online looking for news about their local community or information about community events (35% in both cases).  A somewhat lower number (30%) go to the Internet in search of information about local government, with one-quarter of Internet users (24%) using the Net to find out about schools. They are useful.

Few people use the Internet to email public officials, with only 13% of Internet users saying they “often” or “sometimes” send an email to a public official in their community or state.  The low incidence of this kind of emailing may be due to ignorance of what is available on the Web about local government or some communities’ unwillingness to go online.  About half of all (52%) of all Internet users say that their town or local government has a Web site, and 3 out of 8 (37%) say they do not know whether their town has a Web site.  Just 12% say they are sure their town does not have a Web site. 

The low incidence of emailing public officials may also say something about the quality of local government Web sites.  Only 20% of Internet users who have gone to their local government Web sites find the information there very useful, half the rate at which members of locally-oriented online groups find the Web sites of their groups very useful, and well below the 50% of members of cyber groups who find their groups’ Web sites very useful.