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This study examines audience uses of three types of interactivity, user motivations for visiting an online newspaper, and the relationship between user motivations and use of the different types of interactive features. There are three types of interactivity on a continuum: medium, human=medium, and human interactivity. In an online survey of 542 respondents, results indicate that medium interactive features were used most frequently and human interactive features used the least. Three motivations for using online newspapers emerged-information seeking=surveillance, socialization, and entertainment. In addition, further analysis found that although all three motivations were predictors of use of medium interactive features, the information seeking= surveillance motivation was not a significant predictor of use of human= medium and human interactive features. Deborah S. Chung (Ph.D., Indiana University at Bloomington) is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on the impact of information communication technologies on journalism practice, culture and education and how ICTs potentially empower information consumers.

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Consumers have become increasingly savvy about technology in recent years, and many of them ignore Web ads during online activities. In this context, measuring advertising effects based on the traditional cognitive models of information processing may undervalue the effectiveness of Web ads. This study experimentally examined the effects of unconscious processing of Web ads by manipulating the level of attention paid to the ad (directed vs. non-directed attention). Online advertisers should be encouraged by the findings of this study. The results suggest that, upon exposure to Web ads, consumers experience priming caused by implicit memory and build a more favorable attitude toward the advertised brand regardless of the levels of attention they paid to the advertisements. Furthermore, those who unconsciously processed Web ads did not remember seeing the ad explicitly, but they were more likely to include the advertised brand in the consideration set than those who had no exposure.

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This study introduced the concept of ''audience interactivity,'' a compound featureoriented construct that subsumes medium and human interactivity in the context of online newspapers. By examining the relationships between the motives, audience interactivity, gratifications obtained (GO), attitude toward the online newspaper, and repeat visit intention, this study established ''audience interactivity'' as an intervening factor in the gratification-seeking process. Four primary gratification-seeking motives were identified, and each motive had distinctive effect on two subdimensions of audience interactivity (i.e., medium vs. human interactivity). In turn, medium and human interactivity had effects on one or more dimensions of GO, which contributed to shaping attitude toward the online newspaper and repeat visit intention. Some limitations and practical implications are discussed.

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This study examined consumers’ responses to interactive media in a restaurant setting (i.e., digital menus). Study 1 tested a conceptual model, which examined the underlying process shaping customers’ evaluations of a Web-based digital menu. The results demonstrated that consumption visions and menu enjoyment mediated the effects of perceived interactivity on attitudes toward the digital menus. Study 1 also identified direct product experience as an important moderator of the relationship. Study 2 extended and replicated Study 1 in an offline setting by conducting a lab experiment that compared the use of digital and traditional menus in ordering foods that participants have experienced versus those they have not. In general, tablet-based digital menus generated greater enjoyment, increased intentions to adopt, and encouraged participants to order more within a shorter time. But they were preferred only for less-experienced foods. Furthermore, consumption visions were important mediators of interactivity effects in the digital menu condition, but not in the traditional paper menu condition, while menu enjoyment played a mediating role in both conditions.