An Exploration of Audience Involvement Within the Electronic Fan Culture of the Internet
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-1999 Interactivity and the ‘Cyber-Fan’: An Exploration of Audience Involvement Within the Electronic Fan Culture of the Internet Victor Costello University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Costello, Victor, "Interactivity and the ‘Cyber-Fan’: An Exploration of Audience Involvement Within the Electronic Fan Culture of the Internet. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1999. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1994 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Victor Costello entitled "Interactivity and the ‘Cyber-Fan’: An Exploration of Audience Involvement Within the Electronic Fan Culture of the Internet." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication. Benjamin Bates, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Herbert Howard, Barbara Moore, Thomas Ladd Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Victor Costello entitled, “Interactivity and the ‘Cyber-Fan’: An Exploration of Audience Involvement Within the Electronic Fan Culture of the Internet.” I have examined the final copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosohpy, with a major in Communications. Benjamin Bates, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Herbert Howard Barbara Moore Thomas Ladd Accepted for the Council: Dr. C.W. Minkel Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of The Graduate School (Original signatures are on file in the Graduate Admissions and Records Office.) INTERACTIVITY AND THE ‘CYBER-FAN’: AN EXPLORATION OF AUDIENCE INVOLVEMENT WITHIN THE ELECTRONIC FAN CULTURE OF THE INTERNET A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Victor J. Costello August, 1999 Copyright © Victor J. Costello, 1999 All rights reserved ii DEDICATION To the memory of my grandmother Antonietta Lemucchi, 1903-1996. Born in Trento, Italy, she was simply Nonna to those who knew her. Nonna left behind a rich legacy of love to many people who were fortunate enough to be touched by her kindness, wisdom, and zest for life. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is difficult to adequately convey the depth of my gratitude to the many people who participated in this project by virtue of their generous support and encouragement. At the top of the list are my wife Beth and our four children, Sarah, Lydia, Samuel, and Thomas. Thank you for your enduring patience and for surrounding me with your love, prayers, and encouragement. I wish to also thank the members of my dissertation committee for their wisdom and council throughout my research. A special portion of my gratitude goes to Dr. Benjamin Bates for taking me under his wings and keeping me ever focused on the principles of good theory and research. There have been countless others who have contributed in part to the completion of this work and collectively to the development of my mind and spirit. I will be forever grateful to you all for your wisdom and guidance. Finally, I give thanks and honor to God for sustaining me through the various trials, setbacks, and rewards that I have encountered along the way and for allowing this project to be brought to completion. iv ABSTRACT This study investigates the relatively new uses of the Internet by television fans for keeping up with their favorite television programs and for interacting with other fans through on-line channels of interpersonal communication. A distinction is made between traditional television fans and a newly emerging segment of the fan population that routinely uses the Internet to supplement the viewing of their favorite television program. The name cyber-fan is used to describe this savvy and innovative member of television fandom. The study was designed within a uses and gratifications framework in an effort to specifically observe the behavior of cyber-fans within 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 v 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 instrument 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 then 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 then 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. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION The Growth of the Internet ...............................................................................1 The Electronic Fan Culture of the Internet........................................................2 Cyber-Fans ..................................................................................................5 Case Study: The Sentinel Fandom Page.................................................6 Television in the Age of the Internet...............................................................10 Empirical Mandate and Rationale...................................................................14 Exploratory Analysis...................................................................................14 Integration of Research and Theory...........................................................15 Theoretical and Methodological Advancements.........................................16 A Uses and Gratifications Approach...............................................................17 The Research Design ................................................................................18 Summary ........................................................................................................20 CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction.....................................................................................................21 Uses and Gratifications ..................................................................................22 A Brief History ............................................................................................23 The Objectives of Uses and Gratifications Research.................................26 Theoretical Assumptions............................................................................27 Assumption #1: The Active Audience ....................................................28 Assumption #2: Media Use is Self-Motivated ........................................29 Psychological and Social Origins of Media Use.................................32 Motivational Typologies.................................................................34 The Gratification of Needs ............................................................38 Content vs. Media Gratifications ...................................................39 Social Gratifications.......................................................................42 The Gratifications of Internet Use..................................................45