I’m glad it’s not just me, as whenever we have a video tele-conference at work I always try to hide out of the way of the camera, and just can’t bring myself to look at my own face on screen. I can just about cope with my photo in private, but seeing myself on the big screen is just too much for me! This fact in the headline was one of the interesting facts to come out of a recent survey by Cross Marketing Inc and reported by japan.internet.com on the subject of web cameras.

Demographics

On the 18th and 19th of July 2007 300 members of Cross Marketing Inc’s online monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, and 20.0% in their teens, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, and 20.0% in their fifties.

As a cross-reference, back in October of last year MyVoice looked at video calling on mobile phones, and there they found a similar lack of enthusiasm for video calling on mobile phones.



Research results

Q1: Do you have a “web camera” for connecting directly to your PC for video chat, etc? (Sample size=300, multiple answer) Votes Percentage Don’t have one (to SQ) 183 61.0% Use an alternative solution (video camera, digital camera, etc) (to SQ) 45 15.0% Use a web camera bought separately (to SQ) 28 9.3% Use a web camera that came with the PC (to SQ) 9 3.0% Didn’t know about web cameras 40 13.3% Q1SQ: Have you ever used a web camera for doing video chat, etc? (Sample size=260, multiple answer) Yes, using my own equipment 12.3% Yes, using borrowed equipment 5.0% No, never done it 82.7% Presumably the borrowed equipment includes using internet cafe terminals. When all of the sample was asked if they felt resistance to using video chat on computers, 182 people, or 60.7%, registered their opposition to it. This group of 182 people were asked the following question. Q2: Why do you feel opposed to video chat, etc? (Sample size=182, multiple answer) Votes Percentage Seeing my own face is embarrassing 123 67.6% It’s troublesome, or don’t have the budget, to get all the equipment 87 47.8% Seeing the other person’s face is embarrassing 43 23.6% The picture is never smooth 43 23.6% It’s troublesome learning how to use the software or system 34 18.7% Other 7 3.8%