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Patterns of On-line Information Use As the use of on-line information increases in respect to traditional media sources, it becomes important to determine exactly what kinds of on-line sources are actually being used, and how they are utilized. The types of sites that users are visiting have a great effect on the information that they are getting and how that information is being presented.
Among those users who are going on-line to get their political information,
the pattern of usage did not change much between April and October, 1996 (see
Fig. 2). Additionally, the most-used sources on the Internet tend to be those
that closely resemble traditional media sources, the general news and
information sites. The most popular on-line sources of information, in both
April and October, were on-line newspapers.18 In October, 27 percent of on-line
users reported having at some point accessed the web sites of national
newspapers.19 These sites, such as
USAToday and the New York Times are generally on-line
duplications of their print-media namesakes and their content is for the most
part identical to that in the print versions.
The survey question does leave some questions about patterns of use for
on-line sources, however. Three choices for "frequently used political sites"
are particularly suspect. The choice "PoliticsUSA," while valid in the April
survey, was no longer an available site by October. In June, PoliticsUSA
merged with ElectionLine to form a devoted political site called PoliticsNow.
During the October survey period, no users could have been using PoliticsUSA.
Interestingly, PoliticsUSA received nearly a many responses in October as it
did in April. This is probably the result of responds who were aware of the
change from PoliticsUSA to PoliticsNow and chose the available option to
represent their current use. However, a large number of users were probably
not aware of the change, or did not choose to answer in this way, probably
answering "other" instead. This partially accounts for the large number of
"other" responses. The other political powerhouse site on the web,
AllPolitics, also did not appear on the survey questionnaire. However, its
parent sites, CNN Interactive and Time Pathfinder, each appeared separately.
AllPolitics users may have responded to one or both of these sources, or may
have chosen "other." These factors make it nearly impossible to compare the
use of these sites with that of the on-line newspapers and federal government
sites.
Despite the discrepancies in the polling data, there are a number of
conclusions that can be drawn from this information. First, those who are
using on-line sources of political information are staying on more familiar
ground, utilizing resources the most that are almost exclusively based on
off-line media. This trend is true beyond the high use of on-line newspapers.
Despite the discrepancies concerning the CNN entry, it is apparent that this is
also a popular source of information. This trend in on-line usage closely
mirrors the use of traditional media sources, with newspapers leading the pack
and TV news sites pulling in about 23 percent of users.20 Even the exclusively political
sites, such as AllPolitics and PoliticsNow, are based largely on traditional
media reporting and editorial content. AllPolitics gleans nearly all of its
news from the CNN news desk, and analysis is culled straight from the pages of
Time magazine. Similarly, PoliticsNow's content is a combination of
material from the National Journal, the Los Angeles Times, ABC News, The
Washington Post, Newsweek and the Associated Press.
On the low end of the usage spectrum are political candidates' and parties'
home pages and sites maintained by agencies and departments of the federal
government. During the 1996 election cycle, only seven percent of on-line
voters either the Clinton/Gore or Dole/Kemp sites.21 The FedWorld site, which serves as an index and clearinghouse for all
federal government information on the Internet, was used as a source of
political information by only four percent of Internet users. While the amount
of information accessible through FedWorld about the federal government and its
programs is vast and often very detailed, it has not been greatly used by
voters.
The White House web site, which contains press releases, transcripts of
briefings and transcripts of Presidential speeches, was only cited as a source
of political information by 9 percent of all on-line users22 and 15 percent of users who voted.23 Even among regular on-line news
consumers, who tend to also be heavier users of specialized political news,
only 18 percent used the White House site to get information about the 1996
elections.
The Dole/Kemp and Clinton/Gore sites received fairly equal usage during the
election cycle, although slightly more regular on-line news users visited the
Dole/Kemp site. Among all users who visited the two sites, the Clinton/Gore
site was judged to be a better source of information, with 30 of users
responding that they found it "very useful," a response shared by only 16
percent of Dole/Kemp site visitors.24
Based on the low use of candidate, party and federal government sites, it
appears that Internet users are not making an effort to seek out primary-source
information about the government, nor are they using the available resources to
learn what the candidates themselves have to say about the issues. In fact, 66
percent of on-line voters did not visit web sites that provided information
about specific issues.25 Instead,
users are flocking to the sites run by the established traditional media One
likely reason for this trend is that voters tend to stick with names they know
and trust. Coverage provided by the general news and information sites is
predictable, familiar territory for most users. Information provided by
recognized news organizations can also be viewed as more reliable than many
other sources, although 56 percent of users believe that new and current-events
information on the Internet is more accurate than that in daily newspapers and
on the network news.26
Additionally, 53 percent of those who read on-line political news do so because
the traditional media does not provide enough information. At these sites the
coverage of the race is little different that what can be found in the
traditional media. The content is largely identical, only the technology has
changed. One result of the changing technology is that is has given us a media
that cane provide information as up-to-the minute as television is able, yet
allows users to browse at their leisure, much in the fashion of a newspaper.
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