Public Finds the Internet More Important Than Ever

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 16:34:00 -0800
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Public Finds the Internet More Important Than Ever


Public Finds the Internet More Important Than Ever
But U.S. Web Users Are More Skeptical
Of Content, Study Says, Even as Use Rises

Associated Press
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043967265186425424,00.html>

NEW YORK -- Americans who use the Internet consider it at least as
important as newspapers and books, even as they've become more
skeptical of what they find online, according to a survey conducted
by the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Internet now exceeds television, radio and magazines in
importance among online users, the third annual nationwide telephone
survey of 2,000 households determined. Also, while the percentage of
Americans who go online was essentially flat at 71% in 2002, Internet
users are spending more time online, averaging 11 hours per week, up
by more than an hour, or 10%, from a year earlier.

Only 53% of users believe most or all of what they read online, down
from 58% a year earlier, according to the survey, which was to be
released Friday by UCLA's Center for Communication Policy
(ccp.ucla.edu1). Further, nearly a quarter of those who expressed
concern about using credit cards over the Internet say nothing can
ease their fears.

The increased skepticism is healthy and reflects people "getting
burned finding they haven't been trained to look at what the sources
are, whether it's credible," said Jeff Cole, director of the UCLA
center that conducted the study.

Beau Brendler, director of the nonprofit Consumer WebWatch online
credibility project (www.consumerwebwatch.org2), points to newspaper
headlines announcing the latest scams and incidents of identity
theft. Only last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced that
complaints about identity theft doubled last year3, with victims
reporting hijacked credit cards, drained bank accounts and tarnished
reputations.

Mr. Brendler considers the increased skepticism good for consumers,
but bad for Web sites. "I don't think anyone wants to see this medium
become the equivalent of advertising, where people take everything
they see with a grain of salt," he said. "It should be a potent
signal to Web sites that they should do a better job ensuring that
information is credible and Web sites are safe and secure."

In another indication of the Internet's mainstream prominence among
media sources, some 37% of parents say they have punished their kids
by denying them access to the Internet, while 46% used television as
a similar punishment tool. "Parents are viewing the Internet more
similarly to how they view television," Mr. Cole said of the
punishment findings.

The survey was conducted in English and Spanish from April to June
and included follow-up interviews with respondents to previous UCLA
Internet studies.

Chief among its findings:
* About 61% of Internet users find the Net "very" or "extremely"
important as an information source, compared with 60% for books and
58% for newspapers -- within the margin for error of plus or minus
three percentage points.

* By comparison, 50% of the Internet users find television important,
40% think that of radio and 29% of magazines.

* Among the most experienced users -- those online at least six years
-- 73% found the Internet important, exceeding the 67% for books and
57% for newspapers.

* Newcomers with less than a year of experience, on the other hand,
consider books, newspapers and television more important than the
Internet.

Among other findings:
* Nearly 30% of Americans do not use the Net, most commonly because
they don't have a computer or one good enough. But nearly half the
nonusers say they are likely to go online within a year.

* The Internet may be cutting into television time, with Internet
users watching 11 hours per week of TV, or one hour less than in
2001. Internet users also average five hours less of TV each week
than nonusers.

Archives at: 
<http://web.wireless.com/index.php?name=Mailing_List&fn=viewml&mid=4>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>


------ End of Forwarded Message

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To unsubscribe or update your address, click
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/