Updated: March 5, 2014 12:30 PM
The internet is a dangerous place. But not that dangerous.
A recent study conducted by a coupons website (yes, a coupons website) found that 11 percent of Americans thought HTML was a sexually transmitted disease, according to The Los Angeles Times. So let’s be clear. HTML, also known as hypertext markup language, is not an STD. It is a standardized markup language used to create web pages.
The study, conducted by Vouchercloud.net and involving 2,392 adult participants, also found that 77 percent of respondents could not identify what SEO (search-engine optimization) means, 27 percent of respondents thought a gigabyte was an insect found in South America, and 15 percent thought “software” was comfortable clothing.
Update: A website called iMediaEthics is now raising questions about the survey — and whether it was conducted as claimed. TPM will update this post if we can determine more about it.
Needless to say, there is still no question that HTML is not an STD.
Late update: A representative of 10 Yetis, the British PR company which conducted the survey, responded to questions from TPM by saying that “it was just a fun survey sent by email to an opt-in database of American nationals, all over 18 yrs old.” The company also sent TPM a document showing the questions it asked, and a breakdown of the results.
