Tuesday, November
7, 2000
Significant Shift in Online User Population
A new Report from the Yankee Group, Interactive Consumer
Survey (IAC) 2000, indicates that the face of the average
online consumer no longer reflects
that of the stereotypical "Internet geek," and that the Web is no longer
the virtual playground of well-educated males and technology aficionados.
The major trends identified in the Report that illustrate
the online consumer population is undergoing a major
shift include:
-
33% of today's online U.S. households
have been online for less than one year,
-
60% of these new home-based Internet
subscribers are women,
-
Many new online consumers earn average
or below-average annual incomes.
In addition, the survey results reveal that the Internet
has become an integral part of the daily lives of household
users. Eighty-seven percent of those surveyed said they log
on at home at least once a day.
"The results of the Interactive Consumer Survey (IAC) are
significant because it shows that the Internet has begun
to reach into the mass consumer market in the United States," said
Lisa Melsted, an analyst in the Yankee Group's Internet Market
Strategies Planning Service. "We're just now beginning to
cross the divide between those segments of the population
that have been deemed the technology haves and have-nots.
What's more, for those consumers online, the Internet is
becoming as much of a daily habit at home as turning on the
television."
The Yankee Group believes that consumer adoption of online
access may be due in part to factors such as the decline
of PC prices over the past few years, as well as the proliferation
of affordable or free ISP services. According to IAC 2000,
47% of newcomers have a free Internet account.
Online Consumer Activities
In addition to determining current online demographics, the Report also examines
the activities of online consumers. Consumer usage trends include:
- Surfing is a virtual myth. Most consumers are
going online with a specific purpose in mind, and only
3% of at-home users "always" spend their time using random
sources. Over 50% of IAC respondents "always" or "usually" use
the same online sources both at home and at work.
- E-mail is still the killer application. E-mail
is the most widely used application on the Internet and
the first thing that people do when they go online. Sixty-eight
percent of respondents rated e-mail is their top online
activity.
- E-commerce is catching on with online consumers.
According to the survey, shopping is the most popular e-commerce
activity online – ranking high above online banking, stock
trading, and paying bills online.
- Consumers primarily look to the Web for information.
Education and learning ranked second only to e-mail as
the top online activity in our survey. News gathering activities
ranked high in the survey. The Web is quickly becoming
the preferred source for quick information gathering and
research.
Also included in the Report is a segmentation of the online
consumer market, as well as the Yankee Group's conclusions
regarding what the shift in the online consumer population
will mean for businesses.
The Interactive Consumer Survey 2000 was e-mailed to a panel
of 3,500 online households in the United States and included
questions to determine where, when, and how consumers access
the Internet. In addition, the types of applications and
activities consumers engaged in online were identified.
UCLA Research Analyzes Pros and Cons of Internet
UCLA's comprehensive report on the impact of the Internet released last
week paints a portrait of a society in which two-thirds of Americans
have access to online technology and use it extensively without sacrificing
their personal and social lives - but users and non-users alike continue
to have strong concerns about their online privacy.
The long-term UCLA report, the cornerstone of the World
Internet Project organized by the Center for Communication
Policy, also found that adults are generally satisfied
with their children's habits on the Internet, but they
believe that children continue to encounter inappropriate
material online.
"Our findings refute many preconceived notions that
persist about how the Internet affects our lives," said
Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA Center for Communication
Policy and founder of the World Internet Project. "Yet
deeply rooted problems still exist that have long-range
implications for this powerful technology."
The UCLA Internet Report, titled "Surveying the Digital
Future," was designed to create a "baseline profile of
behavior and attitudes" about both Internet users and
non-users: what users are doing online, media use and
trust, consumer behavior, communication patterns, and
social and psychological effects.
The 2,096 respondents in the study, both Internet users
and non-users, will be contacted each year to explore
how Internet technology evolves for continuing users,
those who remain non-users, and those who move from being
non-users to users.
"Our goal for the first year of the UCLA Project was
to create a detailed snapshot of the Internet in America," Cole
said. "With next year's project, we will begin to create
a more vivid 'moving picture' of users and non-users."
Internet users: General Satisfaction, Broad Use
The UCLA Internet Project found that more than two-thirds of Americans
have some type of access to the Internet, more than half use e-mail (54.6
percent), and 51.7 percent of Internet users purchase online.
The study reports that nearly two-thirds of users (66.0
percent) and nearly half of non-users (49.3 percent)
believe that new communication technologies including
the Internet have made the world a better place. And
users of the Internet are satisfied with the technology,
with the Internet overall achieving a rating of 4.0 on
a scale of 1 (not at all satisfied) to 5 (completely
satisfied).
According to the study, the higher the income or education,
the greater the access to the Internet. However, the
Internet is far from being a bastion of highly educated,
well-paid users. Users with less education and lower
incomes log on in impressive numbers; more than half
(53.1 percent) of those with only a high school education
are users. Some 60 percent of adults with incomes of
$15-49,000 use the Internet, and 41 percent of adults
with incomes under $15,000 are users.
The Internet in the Household
In its first five years of broad public use, the Internet has become a
shared household activity.
The study found that nearly half (47.1 percent) of users
report spending at least some time each week using the
Internet with other household members. And there are
few concerns about the Internet reducing household members'
time together; nearly all users (88.4 percent) say that
since being connected to the Internet at home, members
of the household spend about the same amount of time
together.
At the same time, the Internet has joined television
as a catalyst for some household discord. While most
people do not feel ignored because other members of the
household are watching TV or using the Internet, more
than one-third ( 36.5 percent) say they are ignored by
another household member watching television. About one-quarter
(24.9 percent) say they are ignored "sometimes" or "often" by
another household member using the Internet.
Children and the Internet
Adults in the UCLA Internet Project say that children spend about the right
amount of time online (89 percent), that grades stay about the same for
children who use the Internet, (70.5 percent), and that Internet use
does not result in spending less time in person with their friends (93
percent).
However, both users and non-users agree at nearly identical
levels that children can gain access to "a lot of inappropriate
material" on the Internet. On a scale of 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), users' responses averaged
4.2 and non-users' responses averaged 4.3.
Privacy
Privacy of information online remains a significant problem for both Internet
users and non-users.
"Of all the issues explored in the UCLA project, privacy
raises the greatest concern about the Internet," Cole
said. "Historically, Americans have been quite concerned
about their privacy, but those concerns focused on government
intrusion in their lives. Today, the concerns about privacy
are quite different, and focus directly on perceptions
of private companies collecting information and tracking
our movements on the Internet."
Concerning privacy:
-
When asked if "people who go online
put their privacy at risk," almost two-thirds (63.6
percent) of Internet users and more than three-quarters
(76.1 percent) of non-users agree or strongly agree.
- 97.8 percent of Internet users who have not purchased
online express some concern about security of credit card
information.
- More than nine out of 10 Internet users are somewhat
or very concerned about credit card security.
E-mail
The UCLA study found that in less than a decade, e-mail has become a f undamental
communication tool in America.
Two-thirds of Americans use the Internet, 81.6 percent of
Internet users have e-mail, and 76 percent of e-mail users
check their electronic mailboxes at least once each day.
This means that 42 percent of all Americans use e-mail every
day.
"The fact that e-mail is now used daily by nearly half of
all Americans raises intriguing questions about how we communicate,
how we disseminate information and how we maintain relationships," Cole
said. "We are only beginning to explore, let alone understand,
the social significance and communications power of e-mail."
Media use: Television vs. the Internet
Although users and non-users spend about the same amount of time talking on
the telephone, and reading books and newspapers, Internet users watch 28
percent (about 4.6 hours per week) less television than non-users.
Online use and Experience: The Key to Dispelling Concerns
Trusting the Internet is directly related to online time and years of experience;
many concerns about the Internet - including privacy - decline considerably
among users with four or more years of experience online or are online a
large number of hours per week (more than 14 hours).
"We learned that users with more than four years of experience
have different attitudes about the Internet than users with
one or two years online," Cole said. "Experienced users have
more confidence in the technology, have fewer concerns about
privacy and credit card security, and buy more online."
Adult Supervision of Children on the Internet
Adults report that they keep a close eye on children's Internet use, or that
they acquire software to help them manage children's access to information.
More than 30 percent (32.8) of adults say they use nanny or filtering software,
about two-thirds (66.8 percent) require children to ask permission before
they log on, and 66.3 percent limit the number of hours children can use
the Internet.
Respondents under 18 report considerably less online supervision
than do adults. For example, 88 percent of adults say they "keep
an eye" on what children do on the Internet, while 63.8 percent
of children ages 12-17 say that adults in their household
keep on eye on their Internet use.
The UCLA Center for Communication Policy created and organizes
the World Internet Project, which includes the UCLA Internet
Report and similar studies in 21 countries. The first year
of the World Internet Project focuses on the United States,
Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan. Beginning
in 2001, the project will expand to an additional 15 countries,
including China, Australia, Germany, France, Hungary, Finland,
Russia, India and Brazil.
The UCLA Internet Project is supported by both public foundations
and private organizations, including the National Science
Foundation, America Online, Microsoft, Disney, Sony, Verizon,
Pacific Bell, DirecTV, Merrill Lynch and the National Cable
Television Association.
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