1. Diffusion Theory in an Internet Environment: Testing Four Key Components by J. Sonia Huang School of Journalism University of Texas at Austin

2. Everett M. Rogers 1931-2004 Dear Sonia: More innovative individuals ought to have greater exposure to newspapers and other news. Your study sounds very interesting. Cordially, Ev Rogers Tuesday, March 02, 2004 2:50 PM

3. Diffusion Theory in the Internet Environment Hard to define a social system “The Internet might be changing the role of spatial distance in who talks to whom about a new idea.” Internet communication as both mass and interpersonal communication “The Internet allows people to reach many people in a one to many process, but e-mail messages are like interpersonal communication.” ~ Everett M. Rogers, 2003~

4. Four Key Components in Diffusion Theory Adopter Categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards Adopter Categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards Adopter Categories Adopter Categories Mass Communication Channels: newspapers, network news, local news, cable news, and online news Mass Communication Channels: newspapers, network news, local news, cable news, and online news Cosmopolitan Experience: access non-US sources, communicate with people outside of US, and travel to many countries Cosmopolitan Experience: access non-US sources, communicate with people outside of US, and travel to many countries Gender: Is the Internet gendered? Gender: Is the Internet gendered?

5. Adopter Categories

6. Hypotheses & Research Question H1: Earlier adopters of Internet news are more likely than later adopters to be regular users of all news channels. H2: Earlier adopters are more cosmopolitan than later adopters. H3: Male are more likely than females to be earlier adopters of Internet news. RQ: What is the relationship among gender, Internet news adoption, and Internet news reading?

7. Methodology Web-based survey: 842 college students Questionnaire: 56 questions on public affairs, media use, life styles, and demographics Date: November 4 th ~ 10 th, 2003 Random Sampling Sampling error: ±3.4% Response rate: 8%

8. Are earlier adopters read more online news?

9. Are earlier adopters get more news in different channels?

10. Are earlier adopters cosmopolitan?

11. Are earlier adopters men or women?

12. Internet News Adoption Internet News Reading Gender Gender as an antecedent variable P<.001

13. Results College innovators and early adopters of Internet news were cosmopolitan males who read online news and watched cable and local TV news on a regular basis. Gender was not only a strong predictor of how long students adopted Internet news but also an antecedent variable to the relationship between Internet news adoption and Internet news reading.

14. Contributions Matched Rogers’ adopter categories with college students’ Internet news adoption. Constructed a scale to measure “cosmopoliteness” and found earlier adopters were more cosmopolitan. Digital Divide in New Forms: Experience Divide Information/Source Divide Gender Divide (conditioned by experience)