Online Communities to Surpass Porn - Economist Suggests Shift in Web Usage

New research from the Economist suggests that the web isn’t just for dirty sites anymore. In fact, traffic to net communities and chat sites are trending to surpass porn in the next few months.

In 2006, Hitwise reported that 13% of web traffic was directed at dirty sites, this year, that number is on the decline. Web surfers are migrating their traffic to sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

However, if you think sex is on its way out you’d be incorrect. The article also points out that a significant proportion of activity on social networking sites is related to dating and sex. Using Second Life as an example, 30% of the transactions are related to sex or gambling. Users must pay to enhance their avatars by adding genitals… And apparently, that’s big business. As a result, the Economist concludes by suggesting, “Porn sites may have reached a climax, but sex remains as potent online as ever.”