Audience Activity Among Users of the World Wide Web

This study looks at two aspects of audience activity:
selectivity and involvement. Drawing
upon uses and gratifications theory, the study was
designed to determine whether the concept of
audience activity is still valid when applied to a
new medium of mass communication. The
study also considers the motivation of users of the
Web the purposes behind their choice of
medium. An online survey collected data from a
volunteer sample of 288 Web users. Survey
questions were similar to those used in previous uses
and gratifications studies of audience
activity among television viewers. The study found
that Web users, like television viewers, exhibit two
broad types of motivation: instrumental and
ritualistic media consumption. Generally, a user with
instrumental motivations wants to gain something from
exposure to media content, while ritualistic users
use media to escape or pass time. The study also
found that instrumental Web users are
somewhat selective before their time online, but so
are ritualistic users a surprising finding. Overall,
the study showed that the idea of an active audience
does hold when applied to a new communications medium.