Original version is accessiable from: http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/061196/info6_11618.html
ATLANTA (Jun 11, 1996 00:11 a.m. EDT) - The average user of the World Wide Web is a 33-year-old white English-speaking male with an income of $59,000, but this cyber-population is diversifying, a Georgia Institute of Technology study said Monday.
The survey found more women are using the Web, the popular graphical section of the worldwide Internet computer network.
Women accounted for 31.5 percent of people "surfing" the Web, up moderately from 29.3 percent in a similar survey last autumn. In Europe, however, female users rose by 45 percent.
"It's becoming more diverse in terms of age groups and gender," said researcher Colleen Kehoe.
Still, 89 percent of those surveyed said English was their native or first language and 87 percent were white.
Search engines, which index the vast amount of information on the Net, are the most popular destination for Web surfers.
Of those surveyed, 65.6 percent said they visited search sites frequently. Online newspapers were read by 37.9 percent and CNN's web site was frequently visited by 35.9 percent.
Despite the popularity of these sites, Web users still get most of their news from traditional sources, led by newspapers (63 percent) and television networks (58 percent). On-line sources were third (53 percent).
"I think people are more inclined to flip on the TV when they come home or they get a daily newspaper," said Kehoe.
Surfers value their privacy and don't want to pay extra to get information through the Web, the survey found.
Two-thirds of respondants said they don't want to pay an extra fee to obtain information once they are connected to the Internet. Many prefer not to divulge information about themselves as a condition for using a Web site.
"People are far more concerned with controlling their own demographic information than in being somehow compensated for giving it up," Kehoe said. "They're willing to reveal that information, but they do require that they be given some statement about how that information is going to be used."
Four out of five people said their main problem with the Net was the amount of time it took to retrieve information.
The survey of 11,700 surfers was conducted by Georgia Tech's College of Computing between April 10 and May 10.
The researchers admit their on-line survey is not a random sampling of computer users, but they believe the findings are representative. "We're not overlooking some large segment of the population," Kehoe said. This is the fifth such survey conducted by Georgia Tech researchers.