Another national study has confirmed that the gap in internet usage between African Americans and whites is quickly narrowing.
While the gap still exists, a report published Tuesday by eMarketer shows that the gap is narrowing, and will continue to narrow over the next decade.
African Americans Online: Crossing the Digital Divide, finds that usage among the African-American population is now 48.7 percent, which is still short of the 68.8 percent level among whites. However, as the number of African Americans online increases and growth among whites plateaus, that difference will decrease.
“The African-American online market is gaining some momentum as more users come online and as blue-chip advertisers reach out to this growing audience,” says the author of the report, Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer.
African Americans now make up 10.5 percent of all U.S. internet users.
“Put another way, there are nearly as many African Americans online as there are teens online in the U.S.,” says Williamson.