Users
User Characteristics
Despite the constraints listed above, between ten and twenty million
users are already connected to the Internet according to various surveys
conducted in 1995 and 1996. One limiting factor for more widespread
Internet use is the cost. To connect to the Internet a typical home-based
user needs a computer, a modem, a telephone line, and an account with
an Internet service provider. Even more desirable is a faster direct
connection using Ethernet or ISDN instead of modem-based phone dialing,
but because of costs associated with direct connections, most home-based
users suffer from slow and unreliable connections via ordinary phone
lines. While the telephone companies and cable companies have proposed
to set up an information superhighway that will solve the transmission
bottleneck for many years, their willingness to invest in this has been
limited by the current use of the Internet, which is more informational
than commercial, and thus reduces consumers' willingness to pay for
upgraded services.
In the meantime, reduced personal computer prices are leading to a rapid
increase in the number of home PCs, another prerequisite to Internet
hookup. According to a 1996 survey, almost 40percent of all U.S. homes
now have one or more PCs, and this increase is still growing. The number
of homes with PCs in 1995 was 16 percent. Growth is also seen among
low to middle income families as well as among the over 60 population.
Some key demographic figures of Internet users were revealed by the
5th World Wide Web survey done by the Graphic, Visualization & Usability
Center of Georgia Tech University. In 1996, the average user was 33-years-old
with a mean household income of $59,000. Over half of the respondents
had either educational occupations or computer-related jobs (60 percent).
Among the rest, 30 per cent belonged to professional or management occupations.
Of all the respondents about 32 percent were female. Even though this
survey has a clear sample selection bias (based on voluntary participation),
it generally confirms that Internet users are young, male professionals
with higher than average income. Nevertheless, the trend from the last
two years shows that the percentage of female Internet users and users
in other age groups has been increasing. The same survey also polled
users on how willing they were to pay for access to web sites. Interestingly,
a full 65 percent said they would not pay a higher percentage than found
in previous surveys. The authors attributed this to the fact that people
primarily used the WWW for entertainment and browsing and that they
already paid connection charges. About 12 percent said that they were
willing to pay some fees on a subscription model, while another11 percent
would agree to pay on a pay-per-view basis. Although different payment
systems would likely be based on the type of information sold rather
than on consumer preference—a subscription model would be relevant for
large databases or newspapers that offer updated information, whereas
for one-time use information, pay-per-view would be appropriate—the
survey findings raise the important question of how access charges and
payment for contents will be managed in the future.