Web Portal Feels Like Home. Applying Agenda-setting Theory to Internet-based Media and their Influence on Cybersociety

The progressive process of internetization leads the audience little by little to setting aside traditional media of today\u27s every day: dailies, radio and television. The evolution of media use leads to thorough consideration of the future that awaits both media owners and users. Trying to show potential concerns, the author refers to the classic theory of agenda setting (Lazarsfeld & Merton, 1948; McCombs & Shaw, 1972). American research conducted in 1999 showed distinctive concentration of Internet traffic; 80% of site visits were made to just 0,5% of websites, such as Yahoo!, Excite, eBay et al. (Waxman 1999). A similar tendency emerged in 2004, during Polish research on Internet traffic (Meller 2004).The paper focuses on the electronic media which may already be an important field of agenda setting research. The analysis concerns the example of Polish Internet users and Polish e-media. As the paper shows, among the latter, a particularly important role is played by portals ? the places where beginners usually start their cyberspace adventure and where, paradoxically, they are encouraged to stay most of the time