Survey Looks at Hours Spent Managing Email

A survey commissioned by the developers of Fuser.com finds almost nine out of ten Internet users spend at least seven hours a week managing email and social networking accounts.

A new national survey conducted on behalf of Fuser.com finds that 87 percent of U.S. Internet users spend at least seven hours a week managing their email and social networking accounts. What’s more, some 79 percent of respondents said they had two or more email accounts, while also maintaining at least one social networking account.

Fuser commissioned a third party company (they don’t say who), which polled over 1,100 U.S. Internet users between the ages of 13 and 42 (and, again, Fuser doesn’t say how the poll was conducted). But, assuming for the sake of argument that the sample is sufficiently representative of U.S. Internet users in that age range, the results are food for thought: 43 percent of respondents said they belonged to at least two social networking sites, and 66 percent said they spent ten or more hours per week managing their online communications. And remember those 79 percent who said they have more than one email account and at least one social networking account? That number jumps to 92 percent amongst 18 to 21 year-olds.

"This recent survey validates what we all know to be true—that each of us spends a significant amount of time and energy managing multiple e-mail and social networking accounts," said Fuser president Jeff Herman,in a statement. "The irony is that the majority of these types of communication mediums were developed to make communications easier and more productive, yet many Internet users are feeling burdened by the task of managing their multiple accounts."

Fuser, of course, wants to help, by offering a free tool to bring email and social networking account management into a single service. A new update to Fuser supports .Mac, Earthlink, and Juno email accounts.