Commentary
Minorities Agree On Importance of Web; Only 4/10 Regularly Use
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 14, 2010
Frequency of Internet Use (% of Group) | |||
Use | Total | Black | Hispanic |
Regularly | 42% | 40% | 44% |
Occasionally | 30% | 27% | 32% |
Less | 28% | 33% | 24% |
| |||
Use it all the time | 16% | 19% | 14% |
Pretty regular | 26% | 21% | 30% |
Occasionally | 30% | 27% | 32% |
Rarely | 13% | 11% | 14% |
Never | 16% | 21% | 11% |
Source: Belcher | |||
Belcher, principal author of the report, said "In this... survey we found that members in two of the country's largest minority communities believe that Internet access is essential for many critical daily activities, including staying in touch with family, online education and research, job hunting and networking, and accessing information about health care, weather and traffic... "
Most Important Activities On The Internet (Scale 0-10: 10=Extremely Important, 5=Somewhat) | |||
| Mean Score Importance | ||
Activity | Total | Black | Hispanic |
Staying in touch with family | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.6 |
Mainly education related activities, including online classes & research | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.1 |
Accessing information sites like weather, traffic and directions | 7.0 | 6.7 | 7.2 |
Mainly work related activities, including job hunting & networking | 7.0 | 7.4 | 6.6 |
Accessing health information, health care and treatment | 6.9 | 7.2 | 6.7 |
Financial activities/banking, investing, etc. | 6.7 | 6.6 | 6.7 |
Keep up with news, current events, celebrity gossip, etc. | 6.2 | 6.3 | 6.0 |
Accessing government services | 5.9 | 5.7 | 6.0 |
Community organizing and volunteer activities | 5.1 | 5.6 | 4.7 |
Social networking and to reach friends, like MySpace, Facebook etc. | 5.0 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
Maintaining home videos and photography | 5.0 | 4.8 | 5.1 |
Political activities | 4.9 | 5.2 | 4.6 |
To download music | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
Online shopping & selling including trading & auction sites like EBay | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
Monitoring family/children through GPS | 4.3 | 3.8 | 4.6 |
Hobbies like arts & crafts, scrapbooks and home décor etc. | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
Gaming activities | 3.8 | 4.2 | 3.5 |
Access broadcast television and movies on demand | 3.8 | 4.3 | 3.5 |
Blogging, chats, issue groups and message boards | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
Accessing twitter/tweeting | 2.1 | 2.3 | 1.9 |
Adult entertainment | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.6 |
Source: Belcher Study, December 2009 | |||
Members of African American and Hispanic communities believe in the value of high-speed broadband Internet, as opposed to outdated, slower dial-up service. In fact, nearly one-in-five respondents (18%) identified ‘speed of connection' as the one thing they would change to make it easier to access the Internet - even more so than if Internet access were free (10%).
One Thing To Change To Make It Easier To Access The Internet (% of Respondents) | |||
Change | Total | Black | Hispanic |
Speed of connection | 18% | 10% | 22% |
Free | 10% | 7% | 11% |
Cheaper | 7% | 6% | 8% |
Wi-fi everywhere | 7% | 9% | 7% |
Easier access | 3% | 2% | 4% |
User-friendly | 3% | 4% | 3% |
Better security | 3% | 1% | 4% |
Other | 7% | 8% | 7% |
Nothing | 18% | 18% | 17% |
Don't know | 16% | 21% | 13% |
Source: Belcher Study, December 2009 | |||
IIA Co-Chairman Bruce Mehlman notes that "... the top answer given by those polled for how to ‘make it easier to access the Internet' was faster speed of connection... robust investments in infrastructure and effective network management... are essential for both access and adoption."
For an open-ended question on ‘one thing you could change that would make you more likely to want to access the Internet,' affordability ranked near the top of the list. This result points to the fact that many communities are price-sensitive and that costs of broadband access could hurt adoption if communities of color are deterred from capitalizing on the benefits of broadband.
Change To Make It More Likely To Access The Internet (% of Respondents) | |||
Change | Total | Black | Hispanic |
Better privacy | 8% | 2% | 12% |
Affordable | 7% | 1% | 11% |
User-friendly/learn to use | 3% | 8% | 0% |
Learn to make money | 2% | 1% | 3% |
Other | 5% | 7% | 3% |
Nothing | 29% | 32% | 27% |
Don't' know | 24% | 21% | 26% |
Don't use | 18% | 21% | 15% |
Source: Belcher Study, December 2009 | |||
IIA Co-Chairman David Sutphen concludes that " It's clear that digital literacy programs... are a crucial part of the formula for closing the digital divide... of those respondents who do not have Internet access... 43% cited not knowing how to use the Internet or not seeing the need for the Internet as the reason why they are not online... 44% of these respondents said they would be more likely to subscribe... if they were provided free lessons on how to use the technology... 30% would be more likely to adopt if they had more information about how they could benefit... "
Reasons For Not Having Internet Access (% of Group) | |||
| Total | Black | Hispanic |
Do not have a computer or Internet enabled device | 25% | 22% | 29% |
No need for the Internet | 32% | 29% | 38% |
Don't know how to use the Internet | 11% | 14% | 6% |
Cable access too expensive | 7% | 9% | 4% |
Too old to use Internet | 5% | 7% | 0% |
Do not have or can't get cable Internet service | 4% | 1% | 8% |
Wireless access through phone too expensive | 2% | 3% | 0% |
Something else | 8% | 7% | 8% |
Don't know/ refused | 3% | 3% | 2% |
Source: Belcher Study, December 2009 | |||
Poll respondents strongly agree on several Internet-enabled, life-changing benefits that make access so valuable. Key findings include:
- 64% of those polled strongly believe the Internet is important, because students with access can receive tutoring and help with their homework
- 43%% of respondents strongly agree that students with Internet access achieve higher grades
- 61% strongly feel households with Internet access have greater access to commerce, education, health care, entertainment and communication?
- 48% strongly agree that Internet is valuable, because tech-connected families receive more health information
- 62% strongly believe individuals with Internet access have more opportunities to work from home
- 68% respondents strongly agree that small business owners with Internet access are better able to reach and expand their customer base
- 51% strongly feel Internet access increases awareness and access to government services
78% of the respondents said they accessed the Internet from home, and 68% said they access the Internet from a private portal, as opposed to a public portal, such as at anchor institutions like the library.
Location Where Generally Have Access To The Internet (% of Group) | |||
Location | Total | Black | Hispanic |
Home | 71% | 71% | 70% |
Work | 22% | 23% | 22% |
Library | 11% | 15% | 7% |
Mobile device | 8% | 8% | 9% |
School | 7% | 9% | 5% |
Cafe | 2% | 2% | 2% |
Someplace else | 4% | 4% | 5% |
Don't know/ refused | 1% | 1% | 1% |
Source: Belcher Study, December 2009 | |||
"It is clear that home Internet connections are critically important to expanding broadband access and adoption in communities of color," said Sutphen. "Policy makers would be wise to keep this reality in mind as they consider ways to continue closing the digital divide and ensure that all Americans can benefit from broadband."
To view Mr. Belcher's PPT presentation at the Internet Innovation Alliance's biannual symposium, please visit here.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.
I'm going to take issue with your use of "minorities". I'm Asian, but according to your study, this survey only included African Americans and "hispanics" with no indicator of your sample size.
#1 - African American and Hispanic does not constitute "minorities" but only SOME minorities. Your title is misleading. You need to label it as SOME minorities or else be specific - "African Americans and Hispanics Agree on Importance of Web; Only 4/10 Regularly Use"
#2 - You lack supporting demographic details to validate any of your findings. What is the sample size? What are the ages? Those details are not there. therefore, your conclusions are invalid and irrelevant.
I personally know many African Americans who are highly active online. In fact, they are among the most active in the social media scene - as with other minorities. And incidentally, minorities of all races including hispanic and asian are among the most active in Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and the other major social media sites.
I recommend you do your research a little more thoroughly. Maybe take market research 101.
I second Al's observations. If this research is real, the U.S. is in more trouble than many people think. If it is not accurate, then this mis-information is damaging to those who use it for their campaigns. None the less, I know, too, know many people of various races who use internet devices regularly, but I don't live in a rural area - also not included in your information - and this reading audience seems to be unaware of how millions of other people live. What also is not included in your info is the degree of computer use. People use computers even is very small companies to enter information while considering using the internet as a different activity.
I'm inclined to agree with Al Kao -- though I suspect the numbers are overall (wave hands) "representative" (and while I don't doubt the existence of a 'digital divide,' per se -- or indeed of several digital divides based on different framing assumptions about user age, socioeconomics, location, race and other variables). I also question whether this report, which I guess focuses on the conventional web, isn't missing a trick by broadening to consider non-web mobile applications (eg., texting, email) as part of internet usage.
In generalizing from these specific numbers, though, at least one thing jumps out at me as a home truth, which is that the internet is a social phenomenon, and that -- regardless of perceived benefit in terms of access to information/enfranchisement/etc., and regardless of cost, etc. -- people avail themselves of the internet far more readily if their family/friends/community are there. Failing that, it's hard for many people to see the point -- and the numbers shown here differ in no great way from general-population internet-usage surveys of the 90s, in that regard. All other things being equal, therefore, one would expect quantities to migrate from "don't need" and "nothing" and "don't know" to categories indicating more regular usage over the next several years.
I want to know why some people don't feel the need to even have the Internet in their life. I think in the world we live in, this a very foolish thing.
Rodney, you really need to get out more.