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This is not really a good summary of the question. For those interested in the question, I strongly suggest reading "Who Rules America" by G. William Domhoff

http://www.amazon.com/Rules-America-Challenges-Corporate-Dom...

The book in question also has a website: http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/

Am I missing something? That book seems very politically focused, and more about the power-elite structures than about what affluent people do online.

The question's context is a fairly simple "...and how can we effectively market our goods & services to them".

It is still probably more relevant than the article, which is about a group that the article considers not that rich and living from savings (essentially upper-middle class older people).
That makes no sense, they've selected a group that the article clearly considers rich, and is a large majority of the total amount of rich people.
It's not really politically focused as it is focused on it from an economic class perspective. While it surely does not dig into the exact question of what affluent people do online, it covers the actual economic and power based structure of america in much more depth.
I doubt a book from 1967 has a very good answer to "What do the rich do online?".
The Publication Date for that edition is: July 16, 2009

I think there's even a 2013~ edition available now.

I'm surprised that the article don't mention watching porn. I doubt rich people are immune to the main internet activity of the masses.
The report lists activities that wealthy people have a higher than average propensity to exhibit (index of 100 is average). It makes sense that the propensity to watch porn wouldnt depend on whether you are wealthy or not.

Also, here's a direct link to the report if you don't want to fill out a bunch of info - http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-d...

But perhaps the types and locations would be different. I think it's been avoided because you wouldn't advertise on pornographic sites anyway, and because people tend not to be very open about sex.

Maybe that's the big hole in the market though, advertising on porn websites! Most won't even tell others "I found X through porn site Y"! Someone test this? Porn sites everywhere need your advertisement moneys haha

The rich are likely to be older and therefore statistically less likely to use porn. Rich people are also more likely to have been married for a long time and porn habits don't usually help keep things going.

For these two reasons I would be very surprised if the rich were using the internet for porn more than the general population does, however, I am sure that there are plenty of idle rich that spend their whole lives wrapped up in some porn-fantasy.

> The rich are likely to be older and therefore statistically less likely to use porn.

Right...

So, ah, how do you think sex drives work? People just stay the same from age 20 to age 70 and then it turns off overnight after the birthday party?
I'm sure there is a peak in there somewhere.

But 'older' and 'wealthier' does not equate to 'does not consume porn' or even 'consumes significantly less porn', at least, if the adult companies that I have stats about are anything to go by.

And that still side-steps the question of which age bracket spends the most money per-person on porn which further skews it.

The 50+ demographic is good for approximately 20% of all visits to porn sites and good for a dis-proportionally large percentage of the money spent.

So no, I don't think it turns off overnight after the birthday party.

> But 'older' and 'wealthier' does not equate to 'does not consume porn' or even 'consumes significantly less porn', at least, if the adult companies that I have stats about are anything to go by.

Which are?

> And that still side-steps the question of which age bracket spends the most money per-person on porn which further skews it.

I think it's a reasonable first approximation that the demographic which has the highest sex drive may also be the one which spends the most. It could be wrong, of course, but it's one's prior expectation.

> Which are?

Not in here but by mail if that's ok with you, I'll drop you a line in a minute. (edit: done, sent to email from your profile).

> I think it's a reasonable first approximation that the demographic which has the highest sex drive may also be the one which spends the most. It could be wrong, of course, but it's one's prior expectation

You'd be surprised. One way to find a cause here is that desire does not automatically mean that it will be fulfilled and the older generation is more at risk of seeing their desires go unfulfilled than the younger one.

The article should be more accurately called "what do the mass affluent do online"; especially since two paragraphs talk about how the "mass affluent" are not that high income and older people living out of savings.

I get it - a person who has property worth a half a million is arguably not rich in the USA, but that is a whole different (political in a wider sense) discussion and I didn't want it sneaking up on me like that.

Edit: the "mass affluent" are essentially upper-middle class retirees and older workers who have some property and savings.

"Once retired, the mass affluent also seem to replace the time once spent online doing business research with gambling, trivia, card games[...]."

I'm not sure if this is meant to be taken literally, or in the same sense you'd say, "As people age, they stop liking rock music and replace it with big band".