Technology, trends make Internet more attractive

Established businesses, as well as new entrepreneurs, are taking a closer look at the Internet as a way to solicit customers and sell their products or services according to Chris Dean, director of the University of Missouri's Tri-Lakes Telecommunication Community Resource Center in Reeds Spring.

"A recent study published by the Online Publishers Association showed that there are some noteworthy patterns developing in American homes. These patterns merit businesses taking a new look at the Internet," said Dean in a University of Missouri Outreach and Extension news release.

For example, one of those patterns shows that television is still the dominant medium in America, but there has been a significant increase in the number of Internet users between 5 and 11 p.m. television's prime time.

"One of the most interesting findings is that women ages 25 to 54 are a large part of the users during this time. That statistic, coupled with the knowledge that women influence 80 percent of all purchases made in the United States, gives businesses a new incentive to develop effective marketing techniques on the Internet," said Dean.

According to the study, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. there are 3.84 million Internet users per minute (mainly work-related). During the evening, 5-11 p.m., there are 2.79 million users per minute. The Internet has also become a challenge to television news, according to David Scott, a Boston-based strategic communications consultant.

Scott wrote an article, "Forget the Remote, I'm Going Online," about the Columbia Shuttle disaster for the May issue of E-Content, an online magazine.

"Online news organizations had already developed detailed information and links to NASA pages, radar maps and diagrams of the shuttle so their coverage of the Columbia Shuttle disaster was much better and more immediate," Scott said.

Internet news sites are growing, according to Scott, because of their ability to provide instant updates, as opposed to other news publications and stations that have a longer cycle for gathering information.

Technological advances are also making the Internet more attractive to retail business.

"These trends in usage, along with the wider bandwidth that increases the speed of access to the Web, brings new opportunities as well as new challenges," Dean said.