EQUTE — Advertisers and marketers often get caught up in the newest, fastest most hyped internet trend. But the most current survey from the Online Publishers Association shows that users still spend a majority of their time looking at content.

The percentage of time spent reading articles and watching videos actually grew, even amid the explosion of social media and the increased adoption of internet communication tools such as instant messenger.

“In the six years that the IAI has reported on how consumers are spending their time online, we have seen some significant shifts, most notably the emergence of Community,” said Pam Horan, president of the OPA. “While Community has grown, data from the IAI proves that Content is still king; these sites continue to be a place where consumers spend the majority of their online time and provide an environment for brand marketers to reach and engage with consumers.”

Based on the six-year analysis of usage, internet uses spent 42 percent of their time at content-driven sites in 2009. OPA’s Internet Activity Index also tallied time spent at e-commerce sites, time spent using online communications, at online community sites and time spent searching the internet.

Horan said communications dropped so precipitously because services like Instant Messenger are slowly giving way to sites like Twitter, MySpace, etc. since people can do basically the same thing in real time or at their own leisure.

“In 2008, we introduced the Community category based on the emergence and popularity of sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn,” continued Horan. “These new sites have had significant impact on the Communications category, which saw a 41 percent decline, due to the fact consumers are using Community sites where they can conduct these same activities more efficiently.”

The most interesting thing I found from the numbers was the minute amount of time people actually spend searching the internet. The average user spends so little time searching that marketers need to be at the top of their game (and the rankings). The survey gives solid evidence that internet searchers are quite fickle, making it even more important to give them your results.

The biggest thing that anyone in business on the internet should take from these numbers, however, is simple: focus on content. Users want to read the latest news, the most interesting articles and the most informative blogs. Hiring a social media guru or spending hours on Facebook can be instrumental, but you should never neglect your content for the newest internet gizmo.