Americans of African, Asian, Hispanic and Middle Eastern descent are logging on in droves-often outpacing general market adoption of the Internet. And for Mr. Sun, president-CEO of Community Connect, developer of ethnic Internet sites including AsianAvenue.com and Blackplanet.com, people of color represent the future of the wired world.

"We're on the cusp of something that is going to explode in the U.S.," he says. "Ultimately, the main driver of this all is the fact that people in these communities have these incredible ties with one another. The Internet is just such a perfect media for these ethnic groups."

LANGUAGE OPTIONS BLOSSOM
Since 1995, non-English speaking Internet users have gone from less than 50% to as high as 50%, according to researcher Wired Digital. Roughly 5 million of 40 million Internet users were non-English speaking then; today, it's 81 million of 180 million, says John J. Steere, CEO-chief creative officer for Cyverasia, the digital division of ethnic marketing agency Ad-merasia, New York.

African-Americans outpace all other segments-including the general market for online adoption, according to Forrester Research.

In 1998, 23% of African-American households were online, That number should top 40% by 2000-or a 42% rise in adop-tion, Forrester notes. Hispanics have 36% of households online, a number expected to hit 43% next year-or an increase of 20%.

While 64% of Asian-American households are online, the number is expected to grow 7% next year, the company re-ports. At the same time, consumers of all ethnic backgrounds are showing a desire to acculturate-or retain distinctly ethnic identities-within the U.S. market.

"As a result, targeted Web sites are beginning to proliferate, answering the call for marketers to penetrate various commu-nities effectively online by appealing to their cultural sensitiv-ities," Mr. Steere says.

The demographics are alluring to marketers. Web surfers will be twice as likely to have high household incomes, col-lege degrees and management positions than the U.S. population as a whole, and this also is true for the ethnic markets, Mr. Steere says.

ASIAN LEAD
Recent demographics for online household penetration by the year 2000 show the highest Net-penetration in Asian house-holds at 68%, followed by Hispanics at 43% and African-Americans close behind at 4o%. The Asian- and Hispanic- -Americans are the most lucrative multicultural markets on-line in the US. About 56% of Asian-Americans said they were likely to buy a product advertised in their native language, according to Market Segment Research.

While Asian-, Hispanic- and African-Americans get the top-of-mind awareness, other ethnic populations are finding their place online as well. In the U.S., some 39% of Russian-Americans own PCs. Among other audiences, 54% of Filipino. 66% of Middle Easterners and 79% of Indians all have PCs, according to company statistics based on internal surveys cited by Tony Das, senior VP at eStart.com, a site from long-distance provider Startec Global Communications Corp., which targets Arab-Americans. The company will debut specific Turkish- and Iranian- American sites by year-end.

Many of these audiences are part of a diaspora using the Internet to maintain contact with family in their home land, Mr. Das says. In 1998, 142.2 million were online, with 56% coming from outside the U.S., reports International Data Corp.

Projections note that by 2005, 208 million in North America will be online, and 412 million will be online in emerging markets, led by India, China, Middle East, the Philippines and Russia, Mr. Das says.

Site creators-and marketers who spend against these ethnic audiences-are finding site browsers are seeking ties to the homeland, he says. They're keen for films from India, music from the Middle East, food products from Asia. he adds.