Overview

This report finds that the most enthusiastic new Internet users in March 2000 were women, and that new users then were most comfortable engaging in fun activities online (e.g., playing games, listening to music). Relative to long-time users, new users are reluctant to conduct financial or commercial transactions over the Internet. Additionally, people’s willingness to engage in transactions online is found to be a significant threshold point for online activities; once new users who have chosen to make an online transaction, their Internet usage patterns are similar to more experienced users. Finally, new users of March 2000 are different from new users of November 1998; in 1998, new users quickly engaged in fun activities, but also used the Internet as an information utility. New users in 2000 were relatively less engaged in the information utility aspect of the Internet than their counterparts in 1998.