Content Analysis of the World Wide Web: Opportunities and Challenges

This article examines methodological issues for content analytic research of the World Wide Web. The outline of content analysis as a systematic and quantitative scientific method for measuring the content of messages have existed for centuries. Nevertheless, its development and diffusion have been primarily spurred by the rise of mass media, newspapers in the 19th century and electronic media in the 20th century. The growth of the Internet promises to induce a similar expansion of its use and refinement of its techniques. The World Wide Web is characterized by its ubiquity, global reach, interactivity, decentralized, hyperlinked structure, and multimedia format. All of these characteristics present researchers with opportunities and challenges at each step of a content analysis: sampling, unitization, development of content categories, coding, and analysis. Based on a review of recent content analytic research, this article analyzes these issues and suggests methodological improvements for future research.