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that can range from direct/identified, direct/anonymous (chat rooms, for example)
and indirect and/or time-shifted formats (such as e-mail and bulletin boards).
A Third General Area of Media Gratification
A rich tradition of previous U&G research has brought a generalization that
gratifications generally fall into two specific areas: process-related or content-
related (e.g., Cutler & Danowski, 1980). Based on the current study, we are
suggesting the existence of a new, Internet-specific, media gratification: socializa-
tion.
There are powerful implications for this third general gratification: the Internet
is at once an interpersonal and
a mass exposure medium, and this new medium can
provide simultaneous commercial and noncommercial opportunities for parties to
any interaction. "Personal ads" in newspapers are presented as "interpersonal"
messages in a commercial format, but it is not
an interactive venue. The telephone
is highly interactive, and conference calls are available for group interaction, but
there are generally no commercial applications during private phone calls.
However, Web-based interpersonal interactions carry the potential for
exposure to all manner of site-based advertising and promotional messages during
interpersonal encounters between one or more individuals on-line. Marketers may
find commercial Web opportunities analogous to the “personal ads”
of print media,
by offering sites that facilitate interpersonal interaction; a handy example is America
Online’s “push”
for user participation in Instant Messaging technologies during
sign-on processes. The Internet is the first true interactive commercial medium, and
it appears that the general gratifications frequently identified in studies of non-
interactive media must now be supplemented with the third general media gratifi-
cation of socialization.
LIMITATIONS, FUTURE RESEARCH AND
CONCLUSIONS
While this study began the process of identifying key underlying uses and
gratifications of the World Wide Web, there are limitations. First, self-selection in