Daily Research News Online no. 4677 - African Americans and Parents-To-Be Among Heaviest Web Users

African Americans and Parents-To-Be Among Heaviest Web Users

October 12 2005

African Americans spend nearly twice as much time online as the rest of the population, according to the AOL African American Cyberstudy, conducted by IMAGES Market Research. Separate research from Yahoo! about online use at key life stages finds parents-to-be and college students heavily reliant on the Internet.

The AOL study shows that, while fewer African Americans have access to the Internet (80% vs 88% of the general population), those who do have access spend an average of five hours a day online (vs 2.9 hours for the general online population). In addition, 64% of online African American households have a high-speed connection, compared with 53% of the general population.

Online African Americans are far more likely to use the web to access news (68% vs 56%), entertainment (55% vs 26%), health-related issues (72% vs 53%), financial information (60% vs 40%) and sports (39% vs 26%). They are also more likely to cite the Internet as the best source of information for automotive-related issues (63% vs 44%), and for travel-related information (79% vs. 73%).

According to Bret Moore, publisher of AOL Black Voices, the study 'clearly demonstrates that African Americans have turned to the Internet to save time and make their lives more efficient and enjoyable'.

However, the study also finds 'an overwhelming number' of African Americans who say there is not enough online content that speaks to them as a distinct culture with its own needs and values. It also finds that almost three-quarters (73%) of African Americans were much more receptive to culturally diverse advertising.

The first qualitative phase of the study consisted of six focus groups among African Americans with a home Internet connection. The groups took place in three cities with participants in two age groups - 18-34 and 35-54. The quantitative phase, which took place in May 2005, involved a web survey of 1,016 African American Internet users, along with a simultaneous study of 550 phone interviews (300 African American, and 250 general market) to provide comparison.

IMAGES Market Research provides research and consulting for targeted and ethnic minority groups, particularly the African American, Latino, and Asian markets. The company is online at www.imagesmarketresearch.net

The Yahoo! Search Marketing Life Series research is designed to explore the relationship between life experiences and online search behaviour. The first two life events covered by the study are going to college and having a baby.

For both groups, the Internet proved important. 86% of new parents-to-be said they use the web to search for information about pregnancy, compared with 68% who use books, 53% who rely on friends and family, and 37% who use magazines. 54% of this group said online searching simplified their lives - more than said the same about either magazines (17%) or TV (10%).

Similarly, 81% of college students rate online searching as the best source of information, followed by friends and family (64%), newspapers (36%), and TV (24%).

David Karnstedt, Senior VP at Yahoo! Search Marketing, explains the impact of the research: 'To own a customer's point of entry into a product category and develop long-lasting relationships is every marketer's goal. What we are doing now is gaining more insight into how our customers can accomplish this via search'.

The qualitative portion of the research was conducted by Greenberg Brand Strategy using an ethnographic approach (documentary-style interviewing) with consumers from each group. Hall & Partners then surveyed more than 450 people, in order to understand the need for information during these life events. Respondents were asked to rate various research sources on a range of attributes to gauge importance, credibility, relevance and functionality.

Using a panel of two million US Internet users, Compete Inc then examined the online shopping and search behaviour of people in each life segment, and compared them with users in similar demographic profiles.
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