NEWSPAPER SITE USERS MORE LIKELY TO OWN WIRELESS DEVICES

By: Staff Reports Survey Finds Experienced Web Users Turn To Online Newspapers



If newspaper publishers are still skeptical about the potential
for wireless content, they might want to consider this: Visitors
to newspaper Web sites are more likely to own a wireless device
than other Internet users. At least that's the conclusion of one
study.



NetSmartAmerica.com's latest survey of 1,000 Web surfers finds
that 72% of those who visit newspaper sites own a wireless device.
That compares with 68% of all Internet users. Sixty-three percent
of newspaper Web site visitors own a cell phone, 27% own a pager,
and 20% own a personal digital assistant (PDA).



'I think it shows that they're more interested in information and
staying in touch with the world,' said Bernadette Tracy, president
of NetSmartAmerica.com, a New York-based consulting firm. Newspaper
Web site readers are also a more affluent group than the average
Internet population, Tracy added.



Tracy's survey also found that the more experienced the Web user,
the more likely he is to visit a newspaper site. Of those users
who've been online for at least three years, 61% said they visited
newspaper sites. But only 44% of Web newbies visited online
newspapers.



That's good news for newspapers, Tracy said. 'For the past five
years, we've followed these trendsetters [those that have been
online for 3-plus years], and they've enabled us to predict what
is going to happen in the future.' So as the general population
becomes more Web experienced, it will increasingly visit newspaper
sites, Tracy believes.



The survey has some bad news for newspapers, too. 'Last year, 64% of
our survey respondents visited newspaper Web sites, compared with
only 38% for TV sites,' Tracy said. 'This year, 78% said they visited
TV sites vs. 57% for newspaper sites.'



Tracy points to promotion as the culprit. 'You can't turn on a TV
program from Ted Koppel to 'Survivor' to 'Wheel of Fortune' without
them promoting their Web sites,' she said. 'Newspapers have not
embraced the Internet in the same way yet. Every single page of the
paper should promote the Web site.'



A consultant for two decades, Tracy's clients include CNet, The Wall
Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and Hearst.



To order the 33-chapter report covering the gamut of consumer Internet
use, or to receive a free executive summary, e-mail
btracy@netsmartamerica.com.





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Scott Angus is editor of The Janesville (Wis.) Gazette. He serves as
president of the Wisconsin Associated Press editors group.









(c) Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher