Friday, August 20, 1999
Internet's racial divide narrowing
Web portals, wider access invite minorities
BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Kathleen Rowe plays a game on the Internet with daughters Abrena, 3, and Ayana, 5.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
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Lisa Jackson approached the Worldwide Web the same way most American households have gone cyber-savvy: buy a computer, hook it up and turn it on.
With those steps, Ms. Jackson, an African-American Westwood resident, began to build a viaduct over the Internet's racial ravine — the gap between the percentage of white and black Web surfers.
“I bought the computer initially so I'd have something to record my business work with — my arts and crafts,” said Ms. Jackson, 30. “Once I got the computer, it wasn't too hard to accept jumping online. For me now, being online is more of an entertainment thing. I've met a lot of interesting people on the Internet.”
As minorities embrace the Internet in increasing numbers and narrow the digital divide, portals are jostling to be Web welcome mats for a generation of customers.
Experts believe that bringing the Internet to households of all ethnicities will be critical in the future because it brings a surge of information that can, in turn, generate income.
“If more people knew what you can do on the Internet, the information you can get and the money you can save, more people would be taking advantage of it,” said Darius Bobo, president of PC Outlets, a Hartwell computer and software retailer who targets African-American customers in Greater Cincinnati.
BET Holdings, which runs four cable channels and three magazines aimed at African-Americans, announced earlier this month that it will team with three big media companies to launch an Internet portal for blacks. BET and its new partners, News Corp. (Fox's parent), USA Networks and Liberty Media plan to challenge leader Blackvoices.com, which boasts 15 million page views a month.
BET.com is to start in November and with a start-up investment of $35 million, the largest outlay ever for an online service for blacks, whose percentage of Internet use is about half that of whites. Even at the upper end of the education and income spectrums, blacks lag far behind whites in their Internet use.
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ON THE NET
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The demographics of the Net, according to Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass.:
• While a greater percentage of white American households are online compared with African-American households, both groups are less active than those living in Hispanic and Asian-American homes.
• Income, education and age are the most important motivators for people to go online. Attitudes like optimism and being technology-prone are also prime reasons.
• Asian-American men spend the most time online each week and are most likely to do financial or product research and report the highest spending for online purchases of all ethnic groups.
• Users under the age of 44 comprise 72 percent of Internet surfers. About 30 percent have college degrees, compared with 24 percent of the overall population.
• The median income of Net users is $55,000 — $20,000 higher than the median U.S. level. Studies show that 31 percent make over $75,000 annually.
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“Unfortunately, there is definitely a (racial) gap,” said Rod Robinson, founder and CEO of GlobalMECCA.com, an Atlanta-based Web portal created in June to appeal to African-Americans.
“Even once you move up the household income levels to $75,000 and above, the gap gets smaller, but there's still a gap: 80 percent of whites have Web access at home or work versus 64 percent of African-Americans.”
But that gulf is closing and closing fast.
Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass., research and consulting firm, projects that by 2000, 3.8 million African-Americans will be online as 1 million new surfers look for Web sites and e-commerce retailers.
Today, about 29.4 million white households are online, compared with 3 million Hispanic-American, 2.8 million African-American and 1.9 million Asian-American households. Asian-Americans are the ethnic group with the highest percentage of households online at 68 percent.
The company also found that more than one-third of so-called wired African-Americans are recent Net adopters and access it primarily from work, school or a library.
Kathleen and Spencer Rowe of College Hill joined the millions of daily Internet surfers last month after buying a computer.
“We have two small children, one entering kindergarten, and we wanted to make sure she was familiar with computers,” said Ms. Rowe, a 31-year-old part-time office worker and homemaker.
“The kids are going to be going to school and knew that the computer would be helpful in finding out information for their studies.'
Because initial Internet access for African-Americans is generally not in a household, Fifth Third Bancorp decided this week that its Technology Zone initiative to reach low-income rural and inner city consumers will have roots in institutions. The company plans to bring 200 computers, training and free Internet access to Greater Cincinnati community centers, schools and churches in the months to come as part of its $9 billion in funding for community development.
Mr. Robinson, an MBA graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, compared the racial lag in Internet access with the development of the cell phone market.
“When cell phones started to take off, you didn't see a lot of black people with cell phones,” he said.
“It was people with a lot of money. My father always said that if you couldn't get him before he left the office, you didn't need him or it could wait. Then, there was the question of the extra expense. But now you see kids walking around with cell phones. I don't know anybody who doesn't have one. It's going to be the same with personal computers.
“In this business, six months is like 10 years. When computer prices fall, you're going to see the gap narrow a bit.”
Mr. Bobo, owner of PC Outlets, the company that refurbishes and sells used computers and sells new computers, software, service and training, said schools will drive urban children to the Internet. That will likely lead to more households buying computers, particularly as prices fall.
He recently reviewed the ethnicity of his customer base of 350 people and was startled at the findings. Despite his marketing to the minority community, 56 percent of the buyers were white males. It was followed by 37 percent black females; 5 percent black males; and 2 percent white females.
“It tells me that the African-American female is savvy,” he said.
Jacqueline Ward, 53, a Hartwell resident and Cincinnati Bell retiree, is an African-American newcomer to the Web who bought a computer in April and went online immediately.
“I use the Internet for air travel information, but it's mostly for entertainment,” she said.
Eventually, the computer will hold finances for her business; she's part-owner of PJ's Lounge, 2300 Reading Road. That first personal computer buy has opened the floodgates at this household.
Since April, the household has purchased two more computers for grandchildren.
“I purchased one for my son's children and a friend of mine purchased one for his children. The children need to come abreast with what's happening in the world and to help them with their schooling,” she said.
No social scientist is needed to figure out why African-Americans have not rushed to embrace the Internet, she said. “(African-Americans) always have a wait-and-see attitude,” she said. “We want to see how it's going to work, and if you have a bill that's due, you're not going to spend money on a computer. The lowering of computer prices will help.
“Quite a few single parents can't afford to purchase a computer for their children.”
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