Travel newsgroups as a source of information

Abstract

Electronic newsgroups are a relatively new source of information. This stud) investigates newsgroups, in particular travel newsgroups as an electronic information source. By use of an email questionnaire, this study investigates demographic characteristics of travel newsgroup participants. How much the participants value thi source of information is also investigated and an analysis of messages from 14 different Usenet travel newsgroups was carried out to establish what types of information are found in this source. The response rate of the email questionnaire was 33.2 % and the results showed a strong male dominance in respondents. Also, the majority of respondents were from the U.S.A., the respondents tended to be middle to late middle aged, well educated, were in the higher income brackets of society, frequently accessed travel newsgroups and valued travel newsgroups as a source of travel information.