Issues of becoming an Internet user primarily in non‐work contexts are discussed. The author reviews individual, social and economic factors motivating network use. Main findings of an empirical study based on the interviews of 23 Finns in 1997 are analysed. In addition, comparisons are made...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to specify user‐defined relevance criteria by which people select hyperlinks and pages in web searching. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative and qualitative analysis was undertaken of talking aloud data from nine web searches conducted about...