People on the internet spend their online time in different ways than they did just four years ago, according to new information from the Online Publishers Association (OPA).

The OPA spent four years analyzing web surfing habits to create its Internet Activity Index (IAI), a monthly gauge of how much time users spend performing four online activities: viewing content, searching, e-commerce and communications. While there are slight changes in searching and e-commerce use, the IAI shows bigger changes in content and communications.

"The IAI has identified a very significant and sustained trend in where consumers are spending their online time," OPA president Pam Horan said in a press release. "The index indicates that, over the last four years, the primary role of the internet has shifted from communications to content."

The IAI shows that users are now spending 47 per cent of their time viewing content, a 13 per cent spike over the 2003 numbers. Conversely, time spent on communications, specifically e-mail, declined by the same percentage.

Horan suggested numerous reasons for the change.

"The dominant role of content is driven by several important factors. The first is the online transition of traditionally offline activities, such as getting news, finding entertainment information or checking the weather," she said. "Major news events such as Hurricane Katrina and high-profile seasonal events such as the NCAA Final Four Basketball tournament are clearly driving consumers to engage more deeply with online content."

The IAI also indicates the enormous popularity of video websites like YouTube accounts for increased time spent viewing content.

The OPA's findings also indicate the rising popularity of instant messaging services partially accounts for the drop in e-mailing.

The IAI records numbers from 2003 up until May 2007.