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07/24/96 - 10:36 PM ET - Click reload often for latest version

'Surfing' popular but not way of life

The number of people going online is skyrocketing, but most don't find cyberspace compelling, a new study suggests.

About 35 million in the U.S. ages 16 and over said they used online services or the Internet in the first three months of 1996, says Brian Sharples, president of IntelliQuest, (http://www.intelliquest.com) the Austin, Texas-based research company whose Worldwide Internet/On-line Tracking Service announced its first findings Wednesday. Numbers will be updated four times a year.

"The growth rate is tremendous," says Sharples, noting 26% - 9 million users - went online just this year. About 39% said they did last year.

Still, few users are spending much time online - 40% (14 million) spend less than two hours a week online; only 8% (2.6 million) spend more than 20.

Generally, younger people spend the most time online for personal use: Of 13.8 million who say they're online at least five hours a week, 29% (4 million) are age 16-24.

"The industry has an obsession with the number of people coming online, but they need to focus a lot more on satisfaction," Sharples says. Growth in electronic commerce will depend on "converting people who already have access into medium or heavy users." He says 60% of online users have household incomes over $50,000, vs. 38% for non-users.

Compared with other recent Net studies, the Intelliquest numbers "make sense," says online marketing expert Donna Hoffman of Vanderbilt University, a marketing professor who's been following Internet demographics and is considered one of the foremost experts in the field. "Their study looks very reasonable. All the numbers make sense. We welcome the rigor that they've approached this with."

But she emphasizes that although 35 million may be online, that's not the number marketers should be looking at: "What's important is how many people are getting online every day and using this thing. And it's small, that's the real story."

Intelliquest 's findings are based on did random phone surveys in April and May with users and non-users in 4,750 U.S. households. Margin of error is plus or minus 3.5% or less. plus or minus 1.1% for broad demographic findings

Among other findings:

* 18 million (53%) users go online primarily from home, vs. 9 million (27%) from work and 5 million (14%) from school. (About 14.8 million do go online at work, but most say it's not their primary usage location.) * More than 21 million non-users said they intend to go online in the coming year. * Most users are very focused in their online use; only 19% said they "cruise" or "surf" the Net. * Only 17% of online users find online entertainment better than TV. * Only 7% of users had purchased a product or information online during a one-month period measured. * Students comprise 20% (6.8 million) of the total online population; only 4% of unemployed or retired people are online. * 64% of online users are male. * 75% of users used e-mail in the past month. * 44% said they "never" use bookmarks, a feature of Internet browser software that saves Web site addresses when a user wants to return. * Although most surfers are younger, 50% of all users say they "waste time online" at least some of the time. * 65% use search engines at least sometimes when looking for information. * 52% go online to obtain general news; 31% checked the weather online in the past month and 31% attempted to access sports information online. * 49% said they sought online information about specific products or services in the past month. * 61% described themselves as "an avid reader" vs. only 47% of the general population. * 7% of users say they've accessed adult entertainment online (9% of males, 3% of females.) * 31% of users downloaded shareware or freeware during the month measured.

By Leslie Miller, USA TODAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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