The internet audience: Web use as mass behavior

J. Webster, S. Lin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We conceive of the Internet as a medium of mass communication, and we analyze 2 behavioral features of its audience: size and duplication. Internet audiences are highly concentrated in the most popular Web sites, conforming to Pareto's Law. Duplication across pairs of Web sites is explained by the size o f the audiences unique to each site in the pair, conforming to Goodhardt's duplication of viewing law. In addition, similarities o f content or domain modestly increase duplication across Web sites. A 4-variable model explains over 80% o f the variance in duplication.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-12
JournalJournal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
Volume46
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

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