Interactivity and the 'cyber-fan': An exploration of audience involvement within the electronic fan culture of the Internet

This study investigated the communication activity of cyber-fans, a unique subset of the television viewing audience that routinely uses the Internet for keeping up with their favorite television programs and for interacting with other fans through on-line channels of interpersonal communication. The research adopted a uses and dependency framework in an effort to observe the relationship between television viewing (and fandom) and supplemental communication activity via the electronic fan culture of the Internet.; A web-based survey was designed and administered via the Internet during the three and a half-week period from October 13 to November 3, 1998. A total of 3,041 respondents participated in the study. The large majority of the respondents were female (64.5%).; Several hypotheses were tested in an effort to explore potential relationships between television viewing involvement and interpersonal communication activity via the Internet. The three television involvement variables were favorite program affinity, parasocial interaction and post-viewing cognition. The three interpersonal communication variables were Internet affinity, interactivity, and interpersonal communication satisfaction. Statistically significant and positive associations were identified between interactivity and parasocial interaction (r = .339, p < .01), interactivity and interpersonal communication satisfaction (r = .750, p < .01), post-viewing cognition and interactivity (r = .331, p < .01), post-viewing cognition and interpersonal communication satisfaction (r = .312, p < .01), parasocial interaction and interpersonal communication satisfaction (r = .357, p < .01), and parasocial interaction and post-viewing cognition (r = .692, p < .01).; In addition, mild to moderate associations were found between several instrumental television viewing motives and one or more of the three television viewing involvement measures. The study also found that the authors of television fan pages were more interactive in their on-line interpersonal communication with others than subjects who had not created their own personal fan site. Several significant differences were also observed between the male and female segments of the sample population. Females were found to be more interactive in their on-line interpersonal communication activity than males. They also demonstrated a higher degree of involvement with their favorite television programs than did their male counter-parts. The study also produced a great deal of preliminary exploratory data on television and Internet uses by cyber-fans for extending their involvement with their favorite television programs.