The Rush to Social Networks. The social networking audience is growing rapidly. eMarketer estimates that in 2008 nearly 80 million people, 41% of the US Internet user population, visited social network sites at least once a month, an 11% increase from 2007.
By 2013, an estimated 52% of Internet users will be regular social network visitors. “The steady stream of social network updates and news is now a weekly—or even daily—habit for many online users,” says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Social Networks: Five Consumer Trends for 2009. “That stickiness is good news for social networks.” American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? » The Bivings Report. We have recently completed the 2007 study of America's top 100 newspaper websites, entitled "American Newspapers and the Internet; Threat or Opportunity?
". As the newspaper industry continues to suffer declines in readership and circulation, using the Internet to expand a newspaper's reach is becoming more and more important. While many industry experts fear that the Internet will spell the end of newspapers as we know them, our team here at TBG feels that the Internet presents newspapers with a unique opportunity to make up for lost circulation and readership. This study explores these concepts, as well as the difficulties facing newspapers regarding online advertising, shrinking staffs, and reaching out to consumers. Our research examined the websites of the top 100 newspapers in the United States, as determined by circulation (via the Audit Bureau of Circulations).
We evaluated all of the websites on the presence of lack of various web features. JCMC Vol 13 Issue 1.