Arthur Goldstuck
Give it to me straight: how many people really are on the Internet? How many people will get my marketing message and buy my product?
That remains the single most vexing question about the potential of the Internet, at least when you get past the hype about pornography and security. If you still believe that you have instant access to that mythical population of 30-million people, as most Internet marketing has it, then you also still believe in the Easter Bunny.
To get some perspective on the subject, it would help to take a closer look at the surveys that have probed Web access and use. The best known, since it actively campaigns for participation by World Wide Web users, is that of the Graphics, Visualisation and Usability (GVU) Centre in Georgia, United States, which ran from October to November 1995 and reached around 23 000 people. It found that the average age of the Web user was 32,7, average income $63 000, and more married than single people. More important was its findings on the buying habits of users, of whom 68% said they were willing to pay for access to information if the content was meaningful or entertaining.
GVU can be found at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user-surveys
O’Reilly and Associates interviewed almost 30 000 individuals through a digital phone sampling method. They, too, found an average income of $63 000, although an average age of 36, but put the figure for Internet usage in the US at 10-million — since they ignored online services like America Online and CompuServe. Add them up, and the figure comes back to 30-million.
More details at
http://www.ora.com/gnn/bus/ora/info/research/index.html
The screw seemed to turn ever tighter when the legendary Nielsen Media Research joined forces with the electronic consortium CommerceNet to come up with what it believed would be a definitive survey. It declared that, while 37-million North Americans had access to the Net, only 24-million had used it in the previous three months, and only 18-million had used the Web itself. Lurking between the lines was this message: for marketers to achieve maximum potential penetration of the Internet, they could not rely on a Web presence alone.
Survey details at http://www.commerce.net
Business professor Donna Hoffman, who was consulted on the survey, pointed out that the sample did not match the demographics of the population as a whole. She put the figure for Internet use in the US at 10-million — despite the fact that America Online and CompuServe alone account for that many. For her take on the topic, visit http://www2000.ogsm.vanderbilt.edu
What about South Africans on the Net? Alas, no survey has yet been done. When the topic does come up, Internet Service Providers squabble over exactly what questions need to be asked, and how Internet access is defined. The currently accepted estimate is up to 250 000 South Africans with Internet access.
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