VoIP? IPTV? Huh?

Nielsen/NetRatings have published a report that reveals the first set of results on the level of knowledge of online and digital technology amongst Britons online.

HELP – WE DON'T UNDERSTAND!

• Although just over half (52%) of Britons online believe online and digital technology does make their life easier, half (50%) say they can't keep up with it all
• Only 27% of those surveyed know what IPTV is, another quarter (27%) has heard of it but doesn't know what it is and nearly half (46%) have never heard of it.

10 least-heard terms relating to online and digital technology

Rank	Term / Acronym	% of Britons online who have 'never heard of it'	What it is
1	V-O-D	75%	Acronym for 'video-on-demand'
2	Wikis	70%	Collaborative technology for editing websites
3	IPTV	69%	Acronym for 'Internet Protocol Television'
4	Really Simple Syndication	69%	Automatic news feeds
5	PVR	68%	Acronym for 'Personal Video Recorder'
6	Web 2.0	67%	Term for user-generated content phase of Internet
7	RSS	67%	Acronym for 'Really Simple Syndication'
8	Triple-play	66%	Internet, TV & phone in one broadband subscription
9	VoIP	59%	Acronym for 'Voice over Internet Protocol'
10	IM	57%	Acronym for 'instant messaging'

Blogging and podcasting, for example, are two recent activities talked about as though they are as commonplace as watching television. However, 'only' around half of the UK online population know what they are. It's also interesting to note that women are twice as likely as men never to have heard of blogging.



Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst comments, "In the relentless quest for the next big thing when it comes to new forms of digital consumption, there is a significant tendency for the industry to over-estimate consumer's knowledge and understanding of the seemingly limitless new terms and products out there."

With the rate of technological change there is a lot of confusion amongst consumers of what is referring to what. For example, 69% of Britons online has never heard of Really Simple Syndication, 67% has never heard of RSS yet 40% say they receive automatic news feeds to their browser or desktop – which is the service those terms refer to! Whether the industry is failing to adequately explain them or it is just a case that consumers simply can't keep up with it all is certainly an interesting debate.

NO ACRONYMS PLEASE!

Acronyms - so beloved by technology and marketing departments - are also likely to confuse the average Briton online and using the full term can result in revelatory understanding. For example using the term 'personal video recorder' instead of 'PVR' results in a 350% increase in the number of consumers who know what it is.

This is a very interesting report with additional figures. Click here to read the full thing.

Our thoughts? I have to admit that I don't find it that surprising that the general public doesn't know what a lot of these technologies are, especially IPTV. As most of our readers know, IPTV is still in its infancy. Additionally, as we wrote in one of our previous articles, "IPTV Acronym Soup," consumers are barraged with the various names of services that are built on the acronyms that make them up.