Search has become one of the most common activities among U.S. online users, 49 percent of which use search every day, according to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Search trails only e-mail, which is accessed by 60 percent of respondents, according to the survey of 2,251 adults on their online habits in April and May 2008, Media Week reported.

Usage has soared from 2002, as the percentage of daily searchers increased by 69 percent over the past six years. However, during the same period, the percentage of daily e-mail users only increased eight points, from 52 percent to 60 percent.

Although search and e-mail are still far and away leaders of daily Web activities, significant numbers of online users visit news sites (39 percent) and weather sites (30 percent) on a regular basis, according to Pew. In addition, though the social networking sites have lured lots of subscribers, only 13 percent of users log in every day, Media Week reported.

In the report, Pew pointed out three core reasons for search's prominence: accessibility, speed and relevance.

“Users can now expect to find a high-performing, site-specific search engine on just about every content-rich Web site that is worth its salt. With a growing mass of Web content from blogs, news sites, image and video archives, personal Web sites and more, Internet users have an option to turn not only to the major search engines, but also to search engines on individual sites, as vehicles to reach the information they are looking for,” the Pew report stated, Media Week reported.