For who is internet central in Brasil? A centrality measure of the internet and users’ profile from the “Pesquisa Brasileira de Mídia”

Abstract

The article aims to describe who is the internet user in Brazil, based on a national sample survey with 18,000 respondents in 2014. It’s possible to identify specific nuances and characteristics of internet users by individual socio-economic characteristics, such as income, age, education, and also macro-social features, such as the region of the country where the user lives. The hypothesis is that similarly to what happens in other countries, the economic limits are no longer significant barriers for not using the internet. Those who do not use the internet do so by choice and not by economic limitations. The differences would be explained by other characteristics, such as education and age. To test the hypothesis we have built the Internet Centrality Index and we have compared the socioeconomic and the geographic profiles by the position in the index. The results show a partial shift from TV to the internet.