11 zijmr vol2 issue6 june2012

7/29/2019 11 Zijmr Vol2 Issue6 June2012

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International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research

Vol.2 Issue 6, June 2012, ISSN 2231 5780

www.zenithresearch.org.in

153

A STUDY ON CONSUMERS PREFERENCES TOWARDS

SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

J.JAYA PRADHA*

*Assistant Professor,Badruka College P.G. Centre, Station Road,

Kachiguda, Hyderabad-27.

ABSTRACT

A social network is a social structure that maps out the relationships between individuals.

Technically we all belong to one giant social network, but we also belong to smaller, tighter

social networks defined by our families, our friends, where we live, where we work, where

we went to school, our hobbies and interests and much more. It would be difficult to map outall the people with whom you're connected and all the people with whom they're connected.

That's why social-networking Web sites are so powerful. Social networking websites like

face book and linked in has become part of our life. This paper tries to highlight the

importance of social networking websites in the current scenario. To compare various social

networking websites and services offered by them to the users. An attempt is being made toknow the effect of social networking websites on different age groups, to know the reasons

for using this websites and the benefits they are deriving from this. This paper has dweltupon the relevance and usefulness of social networking websites to the society.

KEYWORDS: Consumer preferences, Communities, Groups, Social Networking, Social

Networking websites.___________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION

Social networks are the relationships that tie us together. Think about what happens when

you meet someone new. You ask where they work, where they grew up, where they went toschool. Eventually, you realize that your childhood friend was in this guy's fraternity in

college. Even though you've never met before, you're both part of the same social networka friend of a friend.Social networks allow friends to connect.

The term "social network" has been around since the 1950s, but the meteoric rise of social-networking Web sites like MySpace, Face book and LinkedIn has turned a dusty sociological

phrase into the hottest buzzword of the Internet age.

A social network is a social structure that maps out the relationships between individuals.

Technically we all belong to one giant social network, but we also belong to smaller, tighter

social networks defined by our families, our friends, where we live, where we work, where

we went to school, our hobbies and interests and much more.

If you sat down with a pen and paper, it would be difficult to map out all the people with

whom you're connected and all the people with whom they're connected. That's why social-

networking Web sites are so powerful.


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Six Degrees was the first to combine these features in the early 1930s, a self-published

psychologist named Dr. Jacob Levi Moreno introduced the sociogram, the first formal

attempt to map out the relationships within a group of people. Moreno's socio gram -- a

cluster of individual points, or "nodes," connected by straight lines -- became a powerful tool

for identifying social leaders, outsiders, and what he called the "socio metric star," the personto whom all others are connected In 1954, anthropologist J. A. Barnes used the phrase "social

network" to describe the Social-networking sites "make invisible social networks visible" by

allowing us to see (with pictures and links) who our friends are, who our friends' friends are,

and who our friends' friends are all in an easy-to-use interface.

Social Networking Websites can be defined as web-based services that allow individuals to

(1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of

other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of

connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of

these connections may vary from site to site.

"Technology overload is apparent among the youth and their fixation with social media

seems to be eroding as they have started focusing on more important things than grooming

their digital identities," said D. S. Rawat, secretary general, Assocham.

OBJECTIVES

To know consumer preference of social networking websites.

To compare of different social networking websites and their services offered.

To study the reasons for using social networking sites by consumers.

To know the effect of various social networking websites on different age groups.

To study whether social networking websites are really useful to society or not

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

A study is confined to A survey on consumer preference on different socialnetworking websites in present scenario. To conduct study the questionnaire has been

selected and administered to various consumers randomly situated at different areas within

the twin cities of HyderabadSecunderabad. The sample size of the study is 100.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

The need of the study is to know the consumer preference on social networking websites, to

know the reasons and effects of various social networking websites on different age groupsand its uses.

The need is to know whether social networking websites are really useful for the society ornot.


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SAMPLE DESIGNING

A good research design has the characteristics analysis, time require for research project and

estimation of expenses to be incurred. The function of research design is to ensure that the

required data are collected accurately and economically.


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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study and findings are based on the data collected from two important resources. They

are:

Primary data collected with the help of questionnaires

Secondary data collected from internet, magazines and newspapers

SAMPLE SIZE

The sample size for the study is 100. Sample constitutes maximum number of students.

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

Look up old friends and make new ones

Share music, photos and videos

Join groups based on interest, hobbies like politics and TV shows

Find jobs or love, browse for the strange profile picture.

DATA ANALYSIS AND TECHNIQUES

The tools and techniques used for data analysis are tables, and percentage methods. On the

basis of information generated from the data analysis, conclusions have been drawn and

suitable suggestions are made.

TABLE1: SHOWING AGE GROUP OF THE RESPONDENTS

Age group No. of respondents Percentage

Below 15 0 0

16-30 98 98

31-45 2 2

Above 45 0 0

Total 100 100

The above table shows that zero percentage of the respondents are below 15years,98% are

16-30,2% of the respondents are from the age of 31-45.


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TABLE2: SHOWING OCCUPATION OF THE RESPONDENTS

Occupation No. of respondents Percentage

Students 82 82

Business 4 4

Employee 14 14

Others 0 0

Total 100 100

The sample constitutes 82% of students, 4% of business men and 14% of employees.

TABLE3: SHOWING GENDER OF THE RESPONDENTS

In the sample 55 % of respondents are male and 45 % are female.

TABLE4: SHOWING AWARENESS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

From the table it can be observed that 100% of respondents are aware of social networking websites.

Gender No. Of respondents Percentage

Male 55 55

Female 45 45

Total 100 100

Awareness No. Of the respondents Percentage

Yes 100 100

No 0 0

Total 100 100


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TABLE5: SOURCE OF AWARENESS ABOUT THE SOCIAL NETWORKING

WEBSITES

The above table shows that 46.03 % of respondents to know the social networking websites throughfriends, 3.53 % through relatives and 50.44 % through internet.

TABLE6: SHOWING REASON FOR JOINING SOCIAL NETWORKING

WEBSITES

The above table shows that 31% of the respondents joining the social networking websites for thepurpose of making friends, 18% just for time pass and remaining 51% for sharing the information.

TABLE7: SHOWING AVERAGE HOURS OF BROWSING INTERNET PER DAY

Average hours No. Of the respondents Percentage

1 hours 46 46

2 hours 32 32

3 hours 9 9

4 hours 13 13

Total 100 100

Personal No. Of respondents Percentage

Friends 52 46.03

Relatives 4 3.53

Internet 57 50.44

Others specify 0 0

Total 113 100

Reason for joining No. Of the respodents Percentage

To make friends 36 31

Just for time pass 21 18

For sharing information 60 51

Total 117 100


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The above table shows that 46% of the respondents browses the internet 1 hour, 32% browses 2hours, 9% browses 3 hours and remaining 13% browses 4 hours per day.

TABLE8: SHOWING RESPONDENTS PROFILES IN SOCIAL NETWORKING

WEBSITES

Profile No. Of The Respondents Percentage

Facebook 88 44

Twitter 28 14

Orkut 56 28

Googlebuzz 11 5.5

Youtube 13 6.5

Others Specify 4 2

Total 200 100

The above table shows that 44% of the respondents have their profile in FACEBOOK, 14% inTWITTER , 28% in ORKUT, 5.5% in GOOGLEBUZZ , 6.5% in YOUTUBE and remaining 2% ofpeople have their profile in other websites.

TABLE9: SHOWING TIME PERIOD OF RESPONDENTS WHO ARE USING

SOCIAL NET WORKING WEBSITES

Time period No. Of respondents Percentage

0-2 years 47 47

2-4 years 35 35

4-6 years 15 15

Above 6 years 3 3

Total 100 100

From the above table it is observed that 47% of the respondents are using the social

networking websites from 0-2years, 35%are using from 2-4years, 15%are 4-6 years and 3%

are more than 6 years.


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TABLE10: SHOWING CONNECTIONS (FRIENDS) OF THE RESPONDENTS

THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

Connections No. Of respondents Percentage

0-25 27 27

25-50 17 17

50-75 15 15

Above 75 41 41

Total 100 100

From the above table it is observed that out of 100 respondents 27 are having 0 to 25 friends , 17 are

having 25 to 50, 15 are having 50 to 75 and remaining are having more than 75 friends.

TABLE11: SHOWING NUMBER OF COMMUNITIES/GROUPS OF THE

RESPONDENTS THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

Communities/groups No. Of respondents Percentage

0-25 75 75

25-50 11 11

50-75 5 5

Above 75 9 9

Total 100 100

From the above table it is observed that 75% of the respondents have 0 to 25 number of

communities/groups, 11% have 25 to 50 , 5% have 50 to 75 and remaining 9% have above75 communities/groups through social networking websites.

TABLE12: SHOWING LOGGING TIME OF THE RESPONDENTS INTO THESOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

Logging time No. Of respondents Percentage

Occasionally 21 21

Once a week 19 19


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Several times 11 11

Regularly 49 49

Total 100 100

The above table shows that 21% of the respondents are logging occasionally, 19% are once week,11% are several times and remaining 49% of the respondents are logging websites regularly.

TABLE 13: SHOWING TIME BEING SPENT BY THE RESPONDENTS TO THEIR

FAVOURITE SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

The above table shows that 15% of the respondents spend less than 15 minutes on their favorite sites,32% spend 15 to 30 minutes, 22% spend 30 to 45 minutes and remaining 31% of the respondents

spend their time more than 45 minutes.

TABLE 14: SHOWING REASON FOR JOINING A COMMUNITY/GROUP IN

SOCIAL NETWORK WEBSITES

Reason No. Of respondents Percentage

It is a relevant, active and interesting

community.

25 23

This will let me stay up-to-date with

the community news.

41 36

I believe this will help me to get

new useful connections.

32 29

I would like to have my say and a

membership requires.

13 12

Total 111 100

Time spending (minutes) No. of respondents Percentage

Less than 15min 15 15

15-30 32 32

30-45 22 22

Above 45 31 31

Total 100 100


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From the above analysis we can interpret that 23% of the respondents feel that it is relevant

active and interesting community, 36% of the respondents feel that this will let me stay up-to-

date with the community news, 29% of the respondents feel that it is helpful and get new

useful connections, 12% of the respondents feel that it is required to have membership in

social networking websites.

TABLE15: SHOWING PARTICIPATION OF THE RESPONDENTS IN

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY DISCUSSIONS

From the above table, it is observed that 7% are participating moderately in professional

communities, 37% are participating actively in professional communities, 23% are readersthan the active commentators, 33% dont partic ipate in discussions, and they just watch

community updates.

TABLE16: SHOWING TRUSTING THE INFORMATION OBTAINED VIA

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES

Trusting the information No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 32 32

No 14 14

Sometimes 54 54

Total 100 100

From the above table, it is observed that 32% of the respondents trusting the information

which is given by the professional communities, 14% of the respondents are not trusting theinformation which is given by the professional communities, 54% of the respondents trusting

the information only sometimes which is given by the professional communities

Kind of participation No. Of respondents Percentage

You are a community moderator 7 7

You are an active participant 37 37

You are rather a reader than an activecommenter

23 23

You dont participant in discussions, just

watch communities for updates

33 33

Total 100 100


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TABLE 17: SHOWING NOTICING THE ADVERTISEMENT ON THE SOCIAL

NETWORKING WEBSITES

Response No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 78 78

No 22 22

Total 100 100

From the above table, 78% of the respondents have noticed and 22% have not noticed the

advertisements on the social networking websites.

TABLE18: SHOWING THE CONSIDERATION OF ADS THAT CAN BE SEEN ON

RESPONDENTS PROFILE RELEVANT TO THEIR INTEREST

Response No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 26 26

No 22 22

Occasionally 52 52

Total 100 100

From the above table , 26% are consider that ads seen by them are relevant to their interest, 22% areconsider that ads seen by them are not relevant to their interest, 52% are consider occasionally adsseen by them are relevant to their interest.

TABLE19: SHOWING THE RESPONDENTS COMMUNICATE TO MOST BY

USING THE SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

Respondent speak to No. Of respondents Percentage

Friends 87 74

Co-workers 10 8

Strangers 9 8

Relatives 12 10

Total 118 100


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From the above table , it was understood that 74% of the respondents are speaking with their friends,8% are with co-workers, 8% are with strangers and remaining 10% are with their relatives.

TABLE20: SHOWING WHETHER SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES ARE REALLY

USEFUL FOR THE SOCIETY OR NOT

Response (Really useful) No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 50 50

No 4 4

Sometimes 38 38

Maybe(Dont know) 8 8

Total 100 100

From the above, 50% of the respondents are believing that the social networking websites are usefulto the society, 4% believes that the social networking websites are not useful to the society, 38%believes that the social networking websites are sometimes useful to the society, 8% are believingthat the social networking websites may be useful to the society.

TABLE21: SHOWING RANK OF THE WEBSITES AS PER THE CONSUMERS

PREFERENCE

Websites 1 2 3 4 5 6

Twitter 18 52 13 9 5 3

Face book 63 22 4 2 3 6

Orkut 3 13 64 10 7 2

You tube 3 2 26 59 6 4

Blogger.com 2 5 4 9 57 24

My space 8 2 2 3 22 63

The above table , 18% of the respondents gave first place, 52% gave second and 13% gave

third place for TWITTER, 63% of the respondents gave first place, 22% gave second and 4%

gave third place for FACEBOOK, 3% of the respondents gave first place, 13% gave second

and 64% gave third place for ORKUT, 3% of the respondents gave first place, 26% gave

third and 59% gave fourth place for YOUTUBE, 2% of the respondents gave first place, 4%

gave fourth and 57% gave fifth place for BLOGGER.COM, 8% of the respondents gave first

place, 2% gave third and 63% gave sixth place for MYSPACE.


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TABLE22: SHOWING RANK FOR THE WEBSITES AS PER THE POPULARITY

From the above table, 20% of the respondents gave first place, 59% gave second and 8%

gave third place for TWITTER, 62% of the respondents gave first place, 18% gave secondand 8% gave third place for FACEBOOK, 10% of the respondents gave first place, 18% gave

second and 56% gave third place for ORKUT, 9% of the respondents gave first place, 21%gave third and 52% gave fourth place for YOUTUBE, 10% of the respondents gave first

place, 22% gave fourth and 58% gave sixth place for BLOGGER.COM, 4% of the

respondents gave first place, 9% gave third and 61% gave fifth place for MYSPACE.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

The highest i.e. 98% of respondents are from the age group of 16 to 30.

It was found that students show lots of interests in using social networking websitesthan any other profession.

In the sample there are 55 % of male respondents and 45 % of female respondents.

It can be observed that 100% of respondents are aware of social networking websites.

It was found that 50.44 % of respondents know about the social networking websites.

It was found that 51% of the respondents joining the social networking websites for

the purpose of making new friends.

It was found that the highest % i.e.46 of the respondents browse the internet per day isone hour and 13% of the respondents browses the internet more than 4 hours.

The highest % of the respondents have their profile in FACEBOOK and second

highest % of people have in ORKUT.

The survey shows that 47% of the respondents are using the sites from 0 to 2 yearsand 3% are using more than 6 years.

Websites Rank1 Rank2 Rank3 Rank4 Rank5 Rank6

Twitter 20 59 8 6 4 3

Face book 62 18 6 5 2 7

Orkut 10 18 56 12 8 2

Youtube 9 8 21 52 8 2

Blogger.com 10 6 12 22 8 58

Myspace 4 6 9 10 6 10


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It was found that 41% of the respondents have more than 75 connections (friends) and

15% have 50 to 75 friends.

The highest % i.e. 75 of the respondents have 0 to 25 number of communities/groups

and lowest 5% have 50 to 75.

It was found that 49% of the respondents are logging the websites regularly.

It can be found that 31%of the respondents spend more than 45 minutes and 15%

spend less than 15 minutes on their favorite webs

It was found that36% of the respondents want to stay up-to-date with the community

news and 29% think that it is helpful and get new useful connections.

It was found that 37% are participating actively and only 7% are participating

moderately in professional community discussions.

It was found that 54% of the respondents trusting the information only sometimes and

14% of the respondents not trusting the information which is given by theprofessional communities.

It was found that majority of the respondents notice the advertisements on the social

networking websites.

It was found that 52% are considering occasionally ads seen by them are relevant to

their interest.

It was found that majority of the respondents i.e. 74% are speaking with their friendsthrough social networking websites.

It was found that majority of the respondents i.e. 50% are believing that the social

networking websites are useful to the society and only 4% are believing that the socialnetworking websites are not useful to the society.

It can be found that from the view point of respondents FACEBOOK is in the first

place and second place goes to TWITTER and last place goes to MYSPACE.

It can be found that from the view point of popularity FACEBOOK is in the firstplace and second place goes to TWITTER and last place goes to BLOGGER.COM.

REFERENCES

WEBSITES

Www.google.com Www.wikipedia.com

www.facebook.com
http://www.google.com/http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/WWW.FACEBOOK.COMhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/WWW.FACEBOOK.COMhttp://www.google.com/


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Www.orkut.co.in www.social networking websites www.ebiz mba.com www.ftc.com http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/social-networking-sites-urban-youth-

facebook/1/169647.html

MAGZINES

Eenadu Sunday Special Book (19th decmber-2010).JOURNALS

Marketing White Book (Business World-2010-2011).
http://www.social/http://www.ebiz/http://www.ftc.com/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/social-networking-sites-urban-youth-facebook/1/169647.htmlhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/social-networking-sites-urban-youth-facebook/1/169647.htmlhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/social-networking-sites-urban-youth-facebook/1/169647.htmlhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/social-networking-sites-urban-youth-facebook/1/169647.htmlhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/keshav.rtfhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/social-networking-sites-urban-youth-facebook/1/169647.htmlhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/social-networking-sites-urban-youth-facebook/1/169647.htmlhttp://www.ftc.com/http://www.ebiz/http://www.social/

11 zijmr vol2 issue6 june2012

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