Citizen Perceptions of The European Union: The Impact of the EU W ...

1.3. Object of Study

First of all, this study focused on the Internet, more specifically, on the processes of information seeking and production on the EUROPA Web site. It did not attempt to study the use of other media and information sources with regard to EU information and perceptions of the EU, as this would have gone far beyond a manageable scope. What it did seek to accomplish was to include the use of other media and information sources indirectly, so as to determine the importance of the Internet in relation to other media and vice versa.

1.3.1. The Internet Versus Traditional Mass Media

These considerations were supported by a study on perceived gratifications of online media use in which Lin (2002) explored potential online access in light of motivational factors, existing media use, home communication technology infrastructure, and demographic attitude. Her findings showed that perceived gratification expectations were strong predictors of likely online service use. According to Lin, previous research in this area indicated that while media use may be either instrumental or ritualistic, psychological gratifications are experienced in both cases. Lin included typical demographic variables in her predictions, such as general media use activity, the concept of technology clusters,⁶ and online use activities. In this study, younger age was a strong predictor of likely online services use. Nevertheless, online media services were not yet observed as independent alternatives to traditional media when it came to meeting users’ media and communication needs.

This study underlined three issues, stated previously in this chapter: 1. Internet use is a conscious effort, in which perceived gratifications strongly influence online use; 2. young people are more likely than other age groups to use the Internet; and 3. online media, so far, cannot be regarded as independent alternatives to mass media. This last issue, however, seems to still be in a process of development, as various studies underlined the increasing importance of the Internet for information seeking. Johnson, Case, Andrews, Allard, and Johnson (2006),