Facultad de Humanidades y CC de la Comunicación

Most young people today are digital natives where the use of new media, is issued by the participation in a creative way and with a high degree of interaction. The emergence of tools making it easy without having high digital skills, has led the grown of prosumers. The aim of the paper is the analysis of the different profiles of this typology of users within the Madrid universities and its interest is settle not only to inquire about the convergent use of technology but also if their interests and motivations really focus on the consumption of new media content or if they participate in a creative way through new technologies, establishing new patterns that enhance interactivity and new business models in media.

A typology of user was explored as to behaviour and perception of e-government through a telephone survey involving 405 internet users between 60 and 79 years of age. Ten different groups were identified by means of dimensionality reduction techniques followed by a cluster analysis. The main conclusion is that there is no consistent pattern, although among the groups which do use e-government they have less concerns than the rest and see less need for modifications to be applied to adapt the websites to the needs of seniors. Within this older age group, two types are clearly identified: those who feel uncomfortable, which explains their avoidance of e-government, and to a lesser degree those whose lack of contact with public administration may be due to a lack of interest for such services. It appears that a senior-friendly offering together with learning opportunities would increase interest for this channel.