Today's Typical Internet Family: Meet the Greenfields; Greenfield Online Study Finds Family Life Is Being Transformed by the Net.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1999--

Since the Internet entered the household, life at home will never be the same again, a new Greenfield Online study released at Fall Internet World in New York suggests. More information about this study is available at booth 955 during the show that opened today and runs through Friday at the Javitts Center.

"The Internet opened the world up to me," was a response chosen by 67 percent of the 4,300 respondents to the study fielded online in August.

Nearly 40 percent of American households are on the Internet and it is changing practically every routine of typical family life from TV viewership, to time spent writing letters, according to Westport, Conn.-based Greenfield Online's latest NetStyles(TM) study. One third of those in the study predict they will use the Internet even more a year from now.

Routines change right after getting home from work. Now some 71 percent of adults with Internet access are logging on when they get home from work and a fourth "stay on line all evening." Half say they are watching TV less, although in this digital age, 52 percent say they watch TV while they are online!

The study found that people are relying on the Internet for news as much or more than newspapers or radio. This research paints such a detailed picture of what dad, mom and the kids are doing on the Web these days that the company has created a composite digital family - The Greenfields.

Meet the imaginary dad, Greg Greenfield.

Think of him as a 46-year-old manager in a knowledge business. Greg goes online from home every day, like he has been doing for the last three years, typical of what the NetStyles study found. He spends less time with a newspaper, because the Internet has already given him most of the news he needs.

He shares the title of household online shopping champ with his 17-year-old son, Gerry. One of his favorite categories for shopping is supplies for his hobby, model railroads. He can't find anywhere near the selection in town as he can on the Web. His son may not know it, but Greg secretly plays some games online, like 84 percent of the real people in the NetStyles study.

Imagine Greg's wife Georgette Greenfield is 45 and a kindergarten teacher. She's decided that the Internet is more important to her than TV, a sentiment shared by 19% of those in the NetStyles study. Like 81 percent of the women in the study, she uses email to keep in touch with more people and she writes fewer traditional letters. When she's online, she feels herself drawn to banner ads that invite her to enter contests. Between time pressures of running the home and teaching, she likes that the Internet "saves me time," like 89 percent in the study.

Fictional son Gerry Greenfield, at age 17, spends 20 hours a week on the Internet unsupervised by his parents, but unsupervised Web access is also granted his 11-year-old sister, Gretchen Greenfield. The NetStyles study found that three fourths of children in online families have Web access, and by age 11 55 percent of parents in the study allow kids to go online whenever they feel like it. One fourth of kids allowed Web access are permitted to make purchases online. Gerry mainly buys CDs. Both Gerry and Gretchen use the Internet for school projects at least once a week, like most kids their age in the NetStyles study.

Greg and Georgette know about parental control devices to monitor a child's Internet access, but like 63 percent in the NetStyles study, they chose not to use these devices.

About NetStyles(TM) Study

The NetStyles(TM) study has detailed information about how the Internet is changing family life. This study is being fielded over the Internet twice a year and the August research built on April 1999 findings. There were 4,353 respondents drawn from the nationwide Greenfield Online research panel of over a million individuals, all of whom have agreed to participate in online research. Respondents in an online-recruited sample are likely to be slightly more experienced Internet users, although all levels are represented. The findings have been weighted to represent the total Internet population in terms of age, gender and region. Topline findings from this study are available on the Greenfield Online Web site at www.greenfieldcentral.com.

About Greenfield Online

Greenfield Online, Inc., the pioneer and industry leader for Internet-based consumer research, is a full-service marketing research firm that uses the speed and reach of the Internet to provide custom research studies, as well as periodic tracking studies about e-commerce and hard-to-research groups. Key tracking studies include the Digital Consumer(TM) series, notably the Digital Consumer(TM) Shopping Index. The company also studies groups such as college students, the gay community and mothers with babies. Our products include FocusChat(TM) to conduct online focus groups, MindStorm(TM) - The Online Think Tank(TM) for online brainstorming, and QuickTake(TM) enabling do-it-yourself surveys. Founded in 1994, the company is headquartered in Westport, Conn., with a satellite office in San Francisco. For additional information about Greenfield Online and its services, please call Gail Janensch at 203.856.6185 or visit the company's Web site at www.greenfieldcentral.com.