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 MySpace,
Facebook, LinkedIn and other social-networking sites
(SNS) are the rage of the technology industry, especially
following huge investments by Microsoft and News Corp.
MySpace and Facebook are valued in the billions of dollars
and present an enormous opportunity, especially for
technology providers, as more and more people spend
increasingly more of their time within these ecosystems.
Social networking sites provide a virtual community
for people who are interested in exploring the interests
and activities of others, or just hanging out together.
In addition, many companies are seeing the value of
social networking as a means of gaining credibility,
fostering employee relationships, building forums for
communication with customers, increasing collaborations,
and in most cases, growing their client bases and increasing
revenues.
To gain an understanding of how these social networking
sites are used, CRITO researcher Alladi Venkatesh, along
with a team of MBA students, conducted an Online Social
Networking survey among university undergraduates. University
students are heavy users of these types of sites and
thus provide an appropriate sample for study for identifying
future developments and the implications for technology
providers and users. It is anticipated that as these
young adults move into the work force many of the online
behaviors will be carried into their work life. Approximately
one thousand undergraduate students between the ages
of 17-22 participated in the on-line survey.
Highlights of the findings from this survey include:
Social networking contacts encompass a number of
different types of contacts. While young adult
contacts in online social networks are dominated by
friends they see regularly (97.8%) and friends they
don’t see regularly (96.7%), there are a number
of less personal contacts also included in the 'friends'
list. An impressive percent of young adult networking
also includes maintaining contact for instrumental and
informative purposes. Roughly 50% report maintaining
contacts with co-workers and 79% report maintaining
contacts with student groups while 84% include acquaintances
in their contact lists.
Social networking sites vary from purely social
contact sites, to special interest sites as well as
professional contact sites. Facebook is by far
the most popular social networking site among the respondents
(80%). There are two findings which might indicate that
SNS participation will continue even as these young
adults graduate and enter the workforce. First, the
respondents not only reported multiple site memberships
– 75% of the respondents report currently belonging
to more than 1 SNS site—but also one-quarter reported
having had a profile on a site that they discontinued.
Second, 67% reported having 'grown out of the site'
as the major reason for discontinuing and moving onto
other SNS sites. We thus see a pattern of adding or
changing SNS sites rather than moving away from SNS
sites altogether among these respondents. Only 6% of
the respondents reported completely discontinuing use
of SNS.
SNS participation has been incorporated into daily
life. Eighty-nine percent of the respondents report
having at least one SNS profile. About one-half of the
respondents that have an SNS profile visit the sites
several times a day, and roughly 80% visit several times
a week. Indeed, of the 67% of the undergraduates who
work in addition to attending classes, a full 46% report
accessing their SNS sites while at work. The survey
did not address the kinds of SNS activities done during
work hours.
SNS is now making its way to mobile devices but
adoption is still relatively slow. As yet very
few are accessing the site through their mobile phones
or PDAs but this will probably grow as more of these
sites provide mobile device access and costs begin to
come down. About 6% sometimes access through their mobile
phone or PDA and a further 5% do so often or always.
Currently mobility is primarily with the use of a laptop
with 67% of the respondents reporting that they always
access their SNS sites using a personal laptop.
Social networking activities with this sample are
primarily social. As for general activities, reading
friends’ profiles and updates, sharing photos
and updating their own profile were the most common.
The most common type of media shared are photos, while
videos are a distant second. In addition, about half
of the respondents reported that they use the site to
find out about events.
Issues regarding privacy and security are important.
According to the study, undergraduates are very conscious
of the risks associated with sharing excessive information,
both online and offline. Most surveyed keep their profiles
private, and they often post false information to throw
strangers off.
Based on the findings of this study, the researchers
provided a number of recommendations to software and
other industry providers. These included the development
of a platform that unites social networks and their
users (a one-stop shop), new social applications centered
around making keeping in touch more convenient and fun
(such as additional photo applications and event planning
functions), more privacy features, and less spam and
clutter. The study also underlines the need for companies
to regulate SNS within the workplace as the survey indicates
that SNS use is widespread, frequent and for a sizeable
proportion of the newly entering workforce already incorporated
into their workday.
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