ELON, N.C., July 6 (UPI) -- A recent survey found a large majority of Internet users indicated they believe online options would improve their social lives.

Of 895 Internet users polled, including some experts, 85 percent indicated the digital landscape was "mostly a positive force on my social world," a study by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University found, InformationWeek reported Tuesday.

Craig Newmark, founder of Internet classified advertising Web site Craigslist, said, "The Net is about people connecting online for commerce, politics and personally, and we already see that enhances real-life relationships."

"It's now easy for me to find people who share characteristics or interests, whereas for much of my pre-Internet life, I mainly felt like I didn't fit in anywhere," said study participant Amy Gahran, a writer, editor and community manager at Reynolds Journalism Institute.

Some who agreed the Internet was a positive influence were concerned about negative factors, such as time lost on Internet activities and lost privacy, the study found.

"Social networking encourages people to have a greater number of much shallower friendships," said Gervase Markham, a programmer at the Mozilla Foundation.

"If this trend continues, people in 2020 will have hundreds of acquaintances but very few friends," Markham said.