Identifying and Measuring the Internet Audience

Abstract

Social researchers have different terms for distinguishing people who are involved in digital. We are naming them differently without any clear specifications — audience, users, participants, etc. Scientist and applied researchers usually use different terms while referring to the same target audience. The choice usually depends on the paradigm and theoretical framework of a particular research. However there seems to be a standard and clear definition for market research. In Russia Media Scope determine Internet users or monthly internet audience as people who had visited Internet at least once a month. Still the is at least one important question: what should be this single visit to the Internet? Should we consider only intended (conscious) visits or technical internet connections are also scored. Nowadays a discussion about terms we are using for identification of internet usage becomes more and more active. The goal of the article is to outline the main theoretical and methodological approaches to identify the internet audience.