Like many museums the Internet is a free public access medium, potentially open to all. Almost all of a museum's public programmes have some kind of analogue in the virtual world of the Internet. Usage of the Internet is particularly highly developed in education and cultural areas that correspond well with museums' existing and target audiences. The Internet is global, it allows museums to expand their audiences far beyond their physical catchment areas. On the Internet all organisations start at the same size - a single page on the World Wide Web.
Users have to choose on the basis of name recognition and reputation.
This gives organisations like museums an advantage - their strong branding, reputation for quality and authority make them stand out. This advantage can be leveraged to make valuable museum retailing operations - the more traffic you can generate to your site the more valuable your retail space. Use of the Internet virtual museum will be complementary to not in competition with actual visits. The universal experience is that an activity which promotes an organisation in one medium will also build its popularity in all the others. The economics of web sites are attractive.