Ghosts of Horatio Alger

I recently conducted a survey for a research project in which I sought to determine the demographics of Amazon Kindle Users. I found the results generally surprising, and I have drawn a number of conclusions based on these results. I will reserve my reactions in a later post and list, primarily, the data of what I found.

*A quick note on the actual method of this survey can be found after the results.

This survey found that 66% of respondents identified as female. As has been discussed a number of places, I too found that Kindle users skew older, with 69% over the age of 40.

Education

This survey found that Kindle users tend to have significant higher education. 72% of respondents had at least a 4 year college degree. Compiling that 72% were those with only a 4 year degree (35%), while 23% had a Masters Degree and 14% had a Doctoral or Professional (JD/MD) degree.

Income

The level of education, which has been found to correlate with income, did not show any significant variance. The income mode fell in the $100,000 – $150,000 range (14% of respondents), but was actually quite evenly distributed among the ranges.

Other demographic information that may be of use:

63% of respondents are Married

79% are white

46% live in the suburbs

20% live in the Mid West (and 17% in North East)

I also attempted to look at a few other factors I found interesting that may correlate with Kindle Usage. Among these I measured Computer usage, Internet usage, and print verse online newspaper use. I largely found the results interesting. Given the release of the large screen Kindle DX, I think it is important to look at the newspaper usage statistics more closely to gauge the potential this product does or does not have with a Kindle reading audience.

Computer/Internet Use

57% of respondents indicated that they spend 6 or more hours per day using a computer. 31% said the spend 3-5 hours per day on the computer. Comparatively, 35% spend 6 or more hours per day using the internet, while 42% indicated 3-5 hours per day. Those who suspect Kindle users are computer friendly and internet savvy could certainly point to these results as indications that they are on to something.

Newspaper Use

This study also found some differentiation in how Kindle users use newspapers. While 47% of respondents indicate they access online newspapers at least once per day, only 32% said they use a print newspaper once per day. 33% of respondents never use a print newspaper as oppose to 16% who never visit an online newspaper. 41% of respondents access blogs at least once per day, while 22% never use blogs.

I also measured how respondents used their Kindle. Was it for pleasure, work, or school? Did they largely access books or use the newspaper and blog functions as well? How many products have they purchased through their Kindle since purchasing the product? And what is their overall satisfaction with those products.

Finally I sought to determine which functions users liked and which functions needed improvement on the Kindle. I will post these findings in a separate post, as I do not want to overload each section and have the results get lost or confused.

*Measuring the demographics of a product that can only be purchased online is a tricky endeavor. You are very limited in a number of ways. Amazon has not released sales figures, so I decided to rely, mostly, on estimates from Citi Bank analyst Mark Mahaney to determine the population size. Because there is no physical location to visit and observe those who are purchasing the Kindle, I decided to scout out forums, blogs and social networks to find Kindle users. While there is no way to confirm that respondents were being honest in answering, I did limit the survey to accept only one submission per IP address to try to prevent the manipulation of the survey by a single or a few users.

The sample size of this survey was 442 respondents. The survey was left active for one week and I felt this number was sufficient to generate a simple random sample of a projected population of 500,000-700,000 Kindle users. If there are any lingering questions on the method of data collection please feel free to ask them in the commenting section or email me.