eBay commissioned a study from AC Nielsen last September, with the research being completed shortly after their purchase of a minority ownership in Craigslist community was announced. The research was probably commissioned before the stock purchase, but signifies their their continuing thirst for knowledge about how online communities are evolving. The only source I’ve found for this is ClickZ, which probably interviewed an eBay marketing manager, although no one is cited.

The study covered just over 1000 Americans (about as small a sample as would be viable). 87% of these people said they participate in a community, and 39% said they participate in an online community. From that point, the data starts to be harder to interprete, partly because of the vagueness of the terms, and partly because we only have second-hand reports of the research.

66% (of ??) said they visited online sites for "shared personal interests," 62% for hobbies, 55% for health-related issues, and 49% for public issues. Although 42% said they visited social or business networking sites, only 23% admitted to visiting dating sites. Hmm…

47% (of ??) said their offline communities (including churches, social groups, neighborhood groups, etc.) also had an online components such as an emailing list.

And most interesting, of those who participated in online communities, 30% reported DAILY activity, while only 7% of offline community users reported daily interaction.

If anyone else has knowledge of this research, please comment!