The Internet has become a popular place for advertising and public relations, and some executives and company employees are using newsgroups to participate in discussions relevant to a company's activities. Web pages offer a company the opportunity to put forth their message on a variety of topics, and the Internet community as a whole contains a wealth of information and discussion opportunities on a variety of subjects. Although there is no one body which oversees behavior on the Internet, a type of etiquette (netiquette) has developed as the Internet has expanded. This research examines the growth of the Internet, its importance to business, the issue of netiquette, and why netiquette should be a concern for companies.
The Internet grew out of a collection of computers, largely run by government entities and educational institutions, which offered communication options to those in the outside community. Thus a user logged onto a computer in Portland, Oregon could telephone out of that computer to a computer in Omaha, Nebraska if the connections were correct. Initially, this enabled government agencies to communicate with each other and educational institutions to exchange information. Over time, other users gained access to these networks until the Internet as we know it today developed.
On-line services offer the most direct route for individuals to connect to the Internet. The other ways to connect to the Internet are to log on to a local area network (LAN) whose server is an Internet host, or to log directly into an Internet host. The second two methods are direct connections; the first option (on-line services) is an indirect connection.
Newsgroups evolved as a way for researchers to exchange ideas and information with a large audience; estimates today put the number of newsgroups at more than 15,000 with new newsgroups being added every day. Newsgroups are essentially public bulletin boards where authors ca...