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We've all seen the impressive statistics that reveal theInternet is growing by leaps and bounds. But now that we know usageis widespread, exactly who is out there cruising the Internet andhow and why are they using it?
A recent survey conducted by Find/SVP, a research, advisory andbusiness intelligence firm located in New York City, reveals thatmore adults are online than ever before. Some 27.7 million U.S.adults are Internet users, comprising 31.3 percent of the totalonline community. Of these adults, 59 percent use the Net to sende-mail every day, up from 47 percent in 1995. The number of adultusers who surf the Web daily has also grown, from 36 percent in1995 to 49 percent this year.
Another significant finding of the survey shows a gradualshrinking of the gender imbalance that's existed in the onlineworld for years. Just two years ago, 70 percent of adult users weremen. But in the past year, 40 percent of those who began using theInternet were women.
The survey results show that by and large, local content, suchas regional news, weather, business and entertainment-relatedinformation, is what attracts people to the Internet. And itappears small businesses are the biggest group going online to findlocal content. According to the survey, 60 percent ofsmall-business users searched for local information online during athree-month period (February through April, 1997), while only 53percent of big-business users did so.
Thomas Miller, vice president of the Emerging TechnologiesResearch Group at Find/SVP and the survey's director, says thelink between small businesses and local information has to do withentrepreneurs' strong neighborhood ties. "Because theirterritory is typically close to home, small businesses areinterested in local business news, new services in town, and eventsthat directly affect their business," he explains.
Moreover, Miller believes that small businesses are placing morestock in the Internet than others. "Many small-business userssee the Internet as a way to increase their marketing power, reducecosts and do more things at once, so they're using it to findways to do business smarter," says Miller.
But while the Internet is all business for some, personal usestill significantly outpaces business use for many. The surveyfound that 88 percent of adult users go online to send e-mail tofriends and conduct other personal matters, while only 56 percentuse it for business.
A Closer Look
By now, you've probably heard all the hype about the NetPC--maybe you've even seen one. In fact, Hewlett Packard,Compaq and several other vendors should have released theirversions of the Net PC by the time you read this.
There are a few key differences between Net PCs and traditionalPCs: Net PCs lack expansion slots or drives for CD-ROMs and floppydisks, and their cases are sealed so they can't be tamperedwith (although there are some exceptions). They're alsodesigned to connect to a network and be managed remotely by asystems administrator.
But while these and other features were intended to make Net PCscheaper, smaller and easier to manage than traditional desktopmachines, industry insiders are now pointing out that thisisn't necessarily the case--leading some to question the realdifference between the two. "Net PCs have all the majorcharacteristics of the PC, like memory and hard drives, sothey're actually not much cheaper," says Roger Kay, seniorresearch analyst with International Data Corp., an informationtechnology research firm in Framingham, Massachusetts. What'smore, Kay says many models aren't smaller nor do they have anyadditional features that make them easier to manage.
With the benefits still unclear, particularly when it comes tosmall business, most industry analysts are recommending await-and-see approach.
Contact Sources
Find/SVP,(212) 807-2603, sgibbel@findsvp.com
International Data Corp., 5 Speen St., Framingham, MA01701, http://www.idcresearch.com
