Although it is clear that the internet is an avenue for mobilizing people’s social networks when they need help, the scope of this phenomenon isn’t specified in the February-March 2004 survey on social ties. To get at this, the Pew Internet & American Life Project fielded a survey in March 2005 that sought to explore the internet’s role in significant decisions people might face in their lives.

The March 2005 Major Moments survey cast the net widely in assessing how online resources aid in decision-making. The survey asked about a range of decision points that people may experience. Several are those included in the 2004 Social Ties survey, namely making a big financial decision, changing jobs, helping someone deal with a major illness or medical condition, dealing oneself with a major illness or medical condition, and finding a new place to live. Others are of a different sort, such as buying a car or choosing a school or college for oneself or a child.

The structure of the questioning unfolded by asking respondents first whether they had faced a decision pertaining to a particular item within the past two years and, if they had, whether the internet played a crucial role, an important one, a minor role, or no role at all. For five topics — buying a car, making a major financial decision, getting additional education and training for your career, choosing a school for oneself or child, and helping someone deal with a major illness — respondents were asked which occurred most recently, with follow-up questions probing specifically into how the internet played a role.

The table below shows how the internet fit in for eight of the decision events. Where the internet seems to matter most is for decisions that lend themselves to research by nonexperts. Getting additional training for one’s job or choosing a school for oneself or a child — in which the internet played a crucial role for one in five people who dealt with these issues — are arguably topics more easily grasped by nonspecialists than, say, medicine or finance. When it comes to health issues, a smaller percentage of those who have dealt with such problems turn to the internet, perhaps because of the complexity of many health issues.

Still, when extrapolated to millions of American adults who have turned to the internet in a significant way for a decision, the numbers are sizable. Some 21 million relied on the internet in a crucial or important way for career training, 17 million when helping someone else with a major illness or medical condition, and another 17 million when choosing a school for themselves or a child.

Looked at another way, the internet’s reach in playing a role in Americans’ decision making is striking. Fully 45% of internet users, or about 60 million Americans, say that the internet played an important or crucial role in at least one of the eight decision points listed above in the previous two years.

For the five topics common to both the February 2004 Social Ties survey and the March 2005 survey, 29% of internet users, or approximately 39 million Americans, said the internet played a crucial or important role in at least one of those decisions.