te of adoption. These are: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trial ability, and observability. Added to this particular set of criteria is what Fidler (1997) describes as the degree to which new forms of media are related to earlier forms. Fidler believes that this attribute is critical to the adoption of new media by the general consumer.
The new media are tool technologies rather than ends in themselves. The case of the diffusion of new communication technologies is a reminder that different types of innovation may involve different types and sequences of innovation processes. Little is known as yet as to how the diffusion and adoption process might operate in the case of online newspapers, making the diffusion model somewhat problematic for understanding access, use and preferences for online services (Chyi & Lasorsa, 1999).
An alternative theoretical approach that might be useful in understanding the adoption of online newspapers is the theory of uses and gratifications. Chyi and Lasorsa (1999) maintain that "according to this perspective, a media audience's behaviors can be explained and predicted with knowledge of the social and psychological origins of the needs that generate expectations of the mass media, which leads to differential patterns of media exposure, resulting in other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones." This particular theory may be useful in the present context in providing a better description of the audience of Internet newspapers, of audience behavior, and of different media and different kinds or examples of content in terms of audience appeal.
Ultimately, Chyi and Lasorsa (1999) contend that neither of the aforementioned mass communication theories is particularly applicable to the case of online newspapers. This is because journalism has moved into an era when the boundary separating mass communication from other communication processes is becoming less clear. Electronic ...