The bar chart compares the percentage of UK city dwellers who used the internet for seven distinct activities in 2007 and 2009.
Overall, mixed patterns can be observed; usage of the internet for shopping, job seeking and watching TV increased, while playing games remained unchanged and remaining activities declined over the two-year period. Shopping was consistently the most popular online activity in both years, whereas TV and learning accounted for the lowest proportions in 2007 and 2009, respectively.
In 2007 shopping was the leading online activity, rising from approximately 45% in 2007 to half in 2009. Job seeking also experienced a noticeable increase, climbing from around 25% in 2007 to 30% in 2009. Regarding using the internet for watching TV, the percentage displayed an upward trend from roughly 15% in 2007 to accounting for a fifth after two years. By contrast, the proportion of people playing games was the only figure that did not fluctuate, remaining steady at 20% in both years.
Turning to declining trends, banking was the second most popular activity in 2007 at 35%, before dropping to 30%. In 2007 the percentage of people using the internet for music stood at just under 40% and matched the figure for job seeking (30%) in 2009. Finally, usage for learning purpose followed a comparable downward trend, falling from 20% to 15% in 2007 and 2009, respectively.