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					Media Relations
	                                Georgia Institute of Technology
					Office of Communications
					Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0181
					404-894-2452    FAX 404-853-9187
		

For more information contact:
Toni Lynn Mills
Georgia Tech Media Relations
404-894-8324     
E-mail: toni.mills@vpea.gatech.edu


NEWS RELEASE EMBARGOED FOR 
JULY 5, 199	                  			July 3, 1995


** Not Just for the Computer Elite: Major Commercial Browsers,
Local Providers Broaden Base of World Wide Web Users**

	ATLANTA -- Data collected by the Georgia Institute of Technology 
(Georgia Tech) this spring from more than 13,000 users of the World Wide 
Web suggests commercial online services are significantly broadening the 
population of people using this rapidly-growing part of the Information 
Superhighway. The work is believed to be the first to examine the impact 
of Web access provided through major national services such as Prodigy.
	Web access offered by the large national services and expansion 
of local Internet service providers is helping change the age, gender, 
income, occupation and other demographics of Web users. Though African 
Americans remain poorly represented, the research suggests more women are 
now entering the traditionally male-dominated computer network.
	"The respondents we are seeing now are less technically- oriented 
and more likely to be female than those we have seen in the past," said 
James E. Pitkow, a Georgia Institute of Technology researcher who has been 
studying demographic trends on the Web for more than a year. "Overall, 
there are more people coming from outside the educational domain. This 
shows that the people browsing the Web are becoming more like the general 
population."
	One key finding: Since similar research was conducted in 
October 1994, Windows has replaced Unix as the predominant computer 
operating system for those browsing the Web.
          The information was gathered from questionnaires posted on the 
Web from April 10 to May 10, 1995. At the time the questionnaires were 
posted, only Prodigy had made its Web browser software widely available, 
and approximately 20 percent of those answering the questions entered the 
Web through that service. The researchers advertised the questionnaire 
on Prodigy, and in other Internet locations and popular sites on the Web. 
	"We found that Prodigy brings both a younger population and an 
older population, compared to the typical Internet user," Pitkow explained. 
"The service brings a larger population in the K-12 age, as well as more 
older and professional people."
	The responses demonstrate that the World Wide Web has grown beyond 
the college and university groups that have been the predominant users, 
noted Laurie Hodges, a collaborator in the work and a research scientist 
in the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Though the Web demographics appear 
to be changing, she believes marketers will still use it to reach "niche" 
audiences.
	"These numbers shouldn't be overapplied to direct the development 
of Internet and World Wide Web applications," she suggested. "I think 
successful business and government applications will be directed at the 
hundreds and thousands of micromarkets that exist online."
	More than half the respondents answering questions about it said 
they had learned HTML -- the code used for creating Web pages -- in less 
than three hours. This shows the Web's potential as a new form of 
communication, noted researcher Colleen Kehoe.
	"Unlike other forms of media which are basically one-way 
communications channels into the home, the Web is two-way," she said. 
"The average Web user in the future will be a producer of information as 
well as a consumer." 
	The new data also shows significant differences between North 
American users of the Web and their European cousins. European browsers 
of the Web, for example, tended to be younger and better educated, but 
had lower incomes and were less likely to be female.
	Because the respondents were not randomly selected from the total 
population of Web users, the information lacks the vigor of a true 
scientific survey. However, the data collected by the researchers in 
Georgia Tech's Graphics, Visualization and Usability (GVU) Center provides 
one of the best available pictures of who is using the hypermedia system. 
An earlier survey in October of 1994 obtained approximately 4,500 responses 
and established a baseline for comparison.
	Results are available on the Web at 
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-04-1995/. Key findings 
of the third survey include:
	Age: The average age of Web users increased by four years since the 
October survey. The average U.S. user was 36 years old, while the average 
European user was just 31. The average Prodigy Web browser was 39 years old.
	Gender: Overall, 15.5 percent of the users were female, up six 
percent since the October study. However, nearly 20 percent of those who 
browsed the Web from Prodigy were female.
	Occupation: Computer (31.4 percent), educational (23.7 percent) and 
professional (21.9 percent) occupations are the three largest job categories 
filled by Web users. That changed significantly among Prodigy's Web users, 
where the top three were professional (28.7 percent), other (20.2 percent) 
and management (19.5 percent). 
	Primary Use: Browsing (82.6 percent), entertainment (56.6 percent), 
work (50.9 percent), education (47 percent) and business research 
(38.2 percent) were the top reasons for using the Web.
	Frequency of Use: Nearly three-quarters of the respondents browsed 
the Web at least once a day. Forty-two percent said they browsed 1-4 times 
daily, while 15.9 percent visited the Web more than nine times a day. 
Women and Prodigy members reported less frequent use.
	Marital Status: About half (50.3 percent) of the Web users are 
married; among Prodigy users, the figure is 61.4 percent.
	Internet Experience: Nearly a third of the users (31 percent) have 
been using the Internet for less than six months. Among female users, 
39.5 percent were relatively new to the Internet.
	Computer Systems: Fifty-two percent of the respondents used a 
Windows computer; 26.2 percent used a Macintosh and 8.8 percent used Unix 
machines. These numbers changed dramatically from the second survey, 
reflecting widening access to the Web. The earlier numbers were Unix 
(44 percent), Windows (29 percent) and Macintosh (19 percent).
	Beyond the demographic data, "The GVU Center's 3rd WWW Survey" also 
collected information about consumer purchasing practices and attitudes 
toward transaction security in an effort being analyzed independently by 
Dr. Sunil Gupta of the University of Michigan's School of Business.
	Among the most significant findings in this part of the research 
was that Web users showed an overall median income of between $50,000 and 
$60,000. Prodigy users had a higher income range: $60,000 to $75,000, with 
15.7 percent reporting an income of more than $100,000. Gupta's data is 
available on the Web at http://www.umich.edu/~sgupta/survey3/.

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-- 
MILLS,TONI L. (Information Specialist II, Media Relations) (404) 894-8324
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332-0181 
uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!tm29
Internet: toni.mills@vpea.gatech.edu          Have a great day! :-)