A STUDY ON SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

CHAPTER 1:
1.1 INTRODUCTION

Oxford states that a social network is “…a social structure made of nodes (which are generally
individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of relations…” With the
rapid growth of people who use or have access to the Internet, social networking websites are a
must for the Internet community to stay in touch with each other. Social networking web sites
help people keep in touch with old friends make new friends; distribute new data or product, and
many more aspects of our everyday lives.

The first official social networking web site was Classmates.com which was founded in 1995.
What followed was a slow but steady growth in numbers of social networking websites to the
overwhelming number of sites we have today. The reason that social networking websites work
so well is that, like their inception, they start of small and then grow exponentially. The site starts
off with a few people who then tell their friends about the site, then those friends tell their friends
about the site and soon the site is a huge database of users connected by friends, acquaintances,
or just random people. The web sites are made to “…allow users to create a "profile" describing
themselves and to exchange public or private messages and list other users or groups they are
connected to in some way.”

Most social networking websites are often designed to fit a certain type of community such as
the college community being mirrored by Facebook.com or a music/party community mirrored
by MySpace.com. With the rapid growth of social networking web sites and their global scale
usage, whatever one feels concerning social networking web sites is irrelevant because social
networking web sites are on a popularity rise and are here to stay.
SOCIAL NETWORK SITES (SNS): A DEFINITION

We define social network sites 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.

While we use the term "social network site" to describe this phenomenon, the term "social
networking sites" also appears in public discourse, and the two terms are often used
interchangeably. "Networking" emphasizes relationship initiation, often between strangers.
While networking is possible on these sites, it is not the primary practice on many of them, nor is
it what differentiates them from other forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC).

What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but
rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result
in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made, but that is often not the
goal, and these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" (Haythornthwaite, 2005) who share
some offline connection. On many of the large SNSs, participants are not necessarily
"networking" or looking to meet new people; instead, they are primarily communicating with
people who are already a part of their extended social network. To emphasize this articulated
social network as a critical organizing feature of these sites, we label them "social network sites."
EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

FACEBOOK.COM
Facebook is best example of social networking site. Developed by sophomore Mark Zuckerberg
of Harvard University in 2004, Facebook.com was originally theFacebook.com (Facebook,
2011). Purchasing the domain name of Facebook.com in August of 2005 for $200,000 the site
was originally developed for college and university students as a way to connect with each other
Hosting the most members for a college based social networking site, Facebook.com is also the
number one site for uploading pictures, boasting several million uploads daily.

Since its inception, Facebook.com has now been opened to anyone with a valid email address
and offers its members options of joining the millions of networks of people with similar
interests. It is said that 80% of Facebook.com users check their account daily and that 93% of
Facebook.com users check their account at least monthly. Facebook’s 60% audience belongs to
the group <=25 ages and the fastest growing segment is 25-34 years.

MYSPACE.COM
MySpace is a networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends,
personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos internationally. It is headquartered in
Beverly Hills, California, USA, where it shares an office building with its immediate owner, Fox
Interactive Media; in turn, the owner of Fox Interactive and therefore MySpace, News
Corporation, is headquartered in New York City.

According to Alexa Internet, MySpace is currently the world's sixth most popular English-
language website and the sixth most popular website in any language, and the third most popular
website in the United States, though it has topped the chart on various weeks. The service has
gradually gained more popularity than similar websites to achieve nearly 80 percentage visits to
online social networking websites.

LinkedIn

Silicon-Valley based LinkedIn had pretty much the same iconic start that high-tech legends are
made of. The only differences were that rather than being a college dropout, its major founder
and current chairman, Reid Hoffman, was an Oxford-trained philosopher, and it was started in
his living room, and not his garage.
Sitting in the living room in 2002 at the birth of the concept of a professional social network
were Hoffman, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillannt, Eric Ly and Konstantin Guericke. Hoffman had
prior to that time worked in Apple, Fujitsu, and as its executive vice-president, helped sell PayPal
to ebay in 2002.LinkedIn went live on May 5, 2003, a day cheekily renamed by its staff as Cinco
de LinkedIn, with its five founders and 350 of their friends. By month end, it had 4,500
members. The momentum continued unimpeded and in less than 6 months of its start, it had
secured its first external investor.
LinkedIn is now firmly acknowledged as the go-to destination for professionals, a sentiment
echoed by Fortune Magazine which, in its March 2010 cover story, featured LinkedIn as the only
social site to “fire up your career.”
The CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies have their profiles on LinkedIn, members now number
65 million in 170 countries and a new LinkedIn profile is created every 2 seconds. LinkedIn
remains a private company, but Shares post, which creates a secondary market in private equity
stakes, recently valued the company at approximately US$1.3bn, compared with US$1.4bn for
Twitter and $11.5bn for Facebook. Not too bad for a seven year old company conceived on “the
theory of small gifts” which is a belief dear to Reid Hoffman.

1.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY

  The research is a contribution to developing new knowledge in the discipline of social
media.

 The research will facilitate policy and strategic development in respect to the social
media.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

1. This study helps to know about the effectiveness of the social media.
2. This study helps the organisation to identify the area of problem and suggest
ways to improve the social media.
3. This study helps in understanding the process of social media.

1.5 OBJECTIVES

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
 To study the social media marketing with special reference to Vistonsoft Technologies
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
 To understand the necessity of social networking site especially Facebook
 To identify the driving force for using the social networking sites.
 To assess the perception of users towards the ads in social network
 To understand the factors contributing to the success of social media marketing
 To study the possible impact of ads in social media sites.
 To provide valuable suggestions to improve the social media networking

1.6 LIMITATIONS:

1. The study is confined to a short period. This would not picture the exact position
of company
2. The results made using the statistical technique are only the expected outcomes
and not the fact.
 3. The findings of the study could be taken only as guidelines and cannot be applied
directly to other companies.
4. In depth analysis of data is not possible due to time constraint
5. Sample size has been limited to 120 respondents only
CHAPTER 2:

2.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE:

Introduction;
The software industry includes businesses involved in the development,
maintenance and publication of computer software using any business model. The industry also
includes software services, such as training, documentation, and consulting and outsourcing
those business models.

History;

The word "software" had been coined as a prank by at least 1953, but did not appear in print
until the 1960s. Before this time, computers were programmed either by customers, or the few
commercial computer vendors of the time, such as UNIVAC and IBM. The first company
founded to provide software products and services was Computer Usage Company in 1955. The
software industry expanded in the early 1960s, almost immediately after computers were first
sold in mass-produced quantities. Universities, government, and business customers created a
demand for software. Many of these programs were written in-house by full-time staff
programmers. Some were distributed freely between users of a particular machine for no charge.
Others were done on a commercial basis, and other firms such as Computer Sciences
Corporation (founded in 1959) started to grow. The computer-makers started bundling operating
systems software and programming environments with their machines.

The industry expanded greatly with the rise of the personal

computer in the mid-1970s, which brought computing to the desktop of the office worker. In
subsequent years, it also created a growing market for games, applications, and utilities. DOS,
Microsoft's first operating system product, was the dominant operating system at the time. In the
early years of the 21st century, another successful business model has arisen for hosted software,
called software as a service, or SaaS ,this was at least the third time this model had been
attempted. SaaS reduces the concerns about software piracy, since it can only be accessed
through the Web, and by definition no client software is loaded onto the end user's PC.

Size of the industry:

According to market researcher Data Monitor, the size of the

worldwide software industry in 2008 was US$ 303.8 billion, an increase of 6.5% compared to
2007. Americas account for 42.6% of the global software market's value. Data Monitor forecasts
that in 2013, the global software market will have a value of US$ 457 billion, an increase of
50.5% since 2008.

INDIA IT INDUSTRY:
The Indian information technology (IT) industry has played a major role in placing India on the
international map. The industry is mainly governed by IT software and facilities for instance
System Integration, Software experiments, Custom Application Development and Maintenance
(CADM), network services and IT Solutions. According to Nasscom's findings Indian IT-BPO
industry expanded by 12% during the Fiscal year 2009 and attained aggregate returns of US$
71.6 billion. Out of the derived revenue US$ 59.6 billion was solely earned by the software and
services division. Moreover, the industry witnessed an increase of around US$ 7 million in FY
2008-09 i.e. US$ 47.3 billion against US$ 40.9 billion accrued in FY 2008-09.

IT Outsourcing in India:
As per NASSCOM, IT exports in business process outsourcing (BPO) services attained revenues
of US$ 48 billion in FY 2008-09 and accounted for more than 77% of the entire software and
services income. Over the years India has been the most favourable outsourcing hub for firm on
a lookout to offshore their IT operations. The factors behind India being a preferred destination
are its reasonably priced labour, favourable business ambiance and availability of expert
workforce. Considering its escalating growth, IBM has plans to increase its business process
outsourcing (BPO) functions in India besides employing 5,000 workforces to assist its growth.
In the next few years, the industry is all set to witness some multi-million dollar agreements
namely:

 A 5 year agreement between HCL Technologies and News Corp for administering its
information centers and IT services in UK. As per the industry analysts, the pact is
estimated to be in the range of US$ 200-US$ 250 million

 US$ 50 million agreement between HCL Technologies and Meggitt, UK-based

security apparatus manufacturer, for offering engineering facilities.

 Global giant Walmart has short listed their Indian IT dealers namely Cognizant
Technology Solutions, UST Global and Infosys Technologies for a contract worth US$
600 million

India's domestic IT Market:

India's domestic IT Market over the years has become one of the major driving forces of the
industry. The domestic IT infrastructure is developing contexts of technology and intensity of
penetration.

In the FY 2008-09, the domestic IT sector attained revenues worth US$ 24.3 billion as compared
to US$ 23.1 billion in FY 2007-08, registering a growth of 5.4%. Moreover, the increasing
demand for IT services and goods by India Inc has strengthened the expansion of the domestic
market with agreements worth rising up extraordinarily to US$ 100 million. By the FY 2012, the
domestic sector is estimated to expand to US$ 1.7 billion against the existing from US$ 1
billion.

Major investments in India's domestic IT Market

 According to Andhra Pradesh Government the state's SEZs and Software Technology
Parks of India (STPI) will witness an investment of US$ 3.27 billion in the next few
years.
  VMware Inc, San Francisco-based IT firm is looking forward to invest US$ 100
million by 2010 in India.

 EMC Corporation's total Indian assets is expected to reach US$ 2 billion by 2014

Indian Software Industry:

The Indian Information Technology industry accounts for a

5.19% of the country's GDP and export earnings as of 2010, while providing employment to a
significant number of its tertiary sector workforce. More than 2.3 million people are employed in
the sector either directly or indirectly, making it one of the biggest job creators in India and a
mainstay of the national economy. In 2011, annual revenues from outsourcing operations in India
amounted to US$54.33 billion compared to China with $35.76 billion and Philippines with $8.85
billion. India's outsourcing industry is expected to increase to US$225 billion by 2020.

Recent trends in software Industry:

The computer software industry, unlike the more

traditional manufacturing and services industries, is coping with the current gloomy economic
climate as best it can by concentrating on transforming interesting ideas into novel technology,
must-have applications, and competitive maneuvering rivals. Profits may be down at the moment
but expectations, whether for companies like Microsoft, Apple, and IBM or Intel, Symantec and
Oracle, remain quite high. Remond, WA-based software giant Microsoft is currently battling the
European Commission over inclusion of its Internet Explorer web browser in operating system
software. Additional issues facing the computer software industry are piracy, a crime which may
lessen once software applications are more often found and used on the Internet and are not
available on individual computers; portability, the transferability of software among operating
systems

Future of software industry:

Hardware, software, and people are the three basic ingredients of enterprise
business technology. They provide the enterprise with an economic advantage through automated
 and improved business processes, increased employee productivity, and more accurate and
precise information. The relationship between these three components has evolved over time. In
the business technology era, we predict that managing the third part of the equation — people —
will emerge as the dominant focus. As software applications become business services, the cost
of human resources producing, operating, and managing software will soon be prohibitive and
the new focal point.

2.2 COMPANY PROFILE

Vistonsoft Technologies established in the year 2005, having its Head office in India.
They specializes in consulting and staff augmentation, IT project outsourcing, offshore software
development services, and IT project management. With the unique Global Delivery Model,
experienced consultants and software development services, They will commit to help the customers
build with highly qualitative, timely delivered and cost effective services.

Vistonsoft is an emerging leader in enterprise and web-enabled solutions that allow corporations to
operate more efficiently, quickly bring products to market, and rapidly achieve their business
objectives. Guided by a philosophy of attracting and retaining professionals who possess well-rounded
domain and technical expertise, Vistonsoft builds teams of focused professionals who capitalize on
their combined experiences to deliver innovative, practical solutions.

The proven software development methodology includes a focus on key business drivers, an emphasis
on analysis, and reusable design elements.

Vistonsoft is a full spectrum Software Solutions and a Managed Services Company. The services from
Optimum are designed to deliver Enterprise Client-Server/ Multi-tier and Web based solutions across
the entire value chain, spanning on-site consulting services to turnkey software projects.
They have got over 100 consultants working with us and have developed into a rapidly growing,
highly competitive and responsive firm with strong management, technical and financial resources and
commitment to fully serve its clients.

Professional Services- They have been providing IT consulting professionals to major national and
local firms, Fortune 1000, software integrator and software development companies, and major
national and local consulting firms.

Managed Services- the Managed Services group focuses on the comprehensive services on a managed
mode- where the responsibility of delivery and Service Levels are undertaken by Optimum for
providing a strong value to the customers. This Service enables organizations to optimize overheads
and realign focus of their internal resource towards core competency and value addition areas of the
organization.

Software Applications & Services provides a wide range of services and turnkey solutions that run
gamut from short-term focused services to long-term comprehensive, leading-edge solutions. The
scope covers the end-to-end application platforms from legacy domains to web based applications.

The consulting team at Vistonsoft provides unique software consulting to help clients achieve their
long term business goals. They endeavor to deliver on strategic solutions that enhance business growth
in alignment with the business objectives. They propose a blend of traditionally successful as well as
innovative ways to achieve growth and steps to implement business strategy. IT and strategy solutions
include suggestions to reduce costs by optimizing resource use and outsourcing non-core processes.

They offer world-class enterprise wide solutions to optimize and enable business processes and
information flow through IT integration. The team of consultants has expertise in different industry
verticals with specific functional domain and expert IT skills.

They are focused on helping enterprises leverage technology to achieve business goals in:

 IT & Systems integration

  Application development and maintenance

A feature of the offering is the astounding levels of accuracy They help you achieve. A major
reason for the success is the in-house team of highly qualified and well experienced
professionals. The team brings in the requisite expertise in process, technology, and operational
capabilities that delivers excellent quality.

The deep domain knowledge combined with the unique delivery model and deployment of
cutting-edge technology ensures high quality. The competent project management and service
delivery teams deliver solutions with smooth interactions, leaving no scope for ambiguities and
misunderstandings.

The cost effective and efficient consulting services result in value enhancement and high return
on investments.

Project outsourcing
 Software development
 Web designing and development
 Domain management & hosting
 Web 2.0 Portal development and support
 Animation and multimedia
 Web enabled application / product development

Resource outsourcing
 Enterprise solutions
 IT Solutions
 Quality solutions
 Staffing
Vistonsoft provides software services to improve your product operations for better business
value. They enable you to reduce time-to-market, expand innovation capacity, optimize asset
utilization and enhance productivity through the engineering services. The services address the
complete engineering value chain, spanning various industry verticals.

Vision
Vistonsoft strive for excellence in everything they think, say and do.

Quality: Vistonsoft are dedicated to achieving the highest levels of quality in everything they do to
delight customers, internal & external, every time.

Respect for the Individual: Vistonsoft uphold the self esteem and dignity of each other by creating an
open culture conducive for expression of views and ideas irrespective of hierarchy.

Innovation & Continuous Learning: Vistonsoft create an environment of innovation and learning that
fosters, in each one of us, a desire to excel and willingness to experiment.

Collaboration & Teamwork: Vistonsoft seek opportunities to build relationships and leverage
knowledge, expertise and resources to create greater value across functions, businesses and locations.

Harmony & Social Responsibility: Vistonsoft take utmost care to protect the natural environment and
serve the communities in which they live and work. Their business practices are guided by the highest
ethical standards of truth, integrity and transparency.

Mission

Vistonsoft long-standing commitment to high standards of corporate governance and ethical business
practices is a fundamental shared value of its Board of Directors, management and employees. The
Company's philosophy of corporate governance stems from its belief that timely disclosures, transparent
accounting policies, and a strong and independent Board go a long way in preserving shareholders trust
while maximizing long-term shareholder value.
Good corporate governance flows out of the commitment of the Management and the Board of
Directors. When the commitment is backed by the fundamental beliefs of maximizing value for
stakeholders; transparent actions in the business; values of a corporate; and mutual trust amongst all
constituents of the business, the organization transforms itself into a higher plane of leadership. The
forward-looking approach of Vistonsoft has always helped it, in achieving the desired results. This
approach has transformed the company's culture to one that is relentlessly focused on the speedy
translation of scientific discoveries into innovative products. Vistonsoft commitment towards Corporate
Governance started well before law mandated such practices. The company has identified and
established its core purpose, mission and core values for achieving corporate excellence. Vistonsoft
believe in crafting an environment where the parameters of conduct and behavior of the company and its
management is constantly aligned with the business environment.

SERVICES:
1. Software development
2. Web development
3. Web designing
4. Web hosting
5. Technology staffing

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT:
Vistonsoft creates custom software applications for the clients to meet their specific business
needs. Clients leverage our experience and knowledge base to improve their businesses with the
latest technologies. Our development team works with them to identify inefficiencies and
bottlenecks in their workflow processes, and create custom IT tools to address their needs.
At Vistonsoft, our Java application development team takes full responsibility and ownership
of the entire project. Our expert team identifies the client’s application development needs and
then delivers ready-to-use solutions.

Java Application Development

Vistonsoft has a dedicated Java application development team with good proficiency across
various industry verticals. Our company offers a wide range of Java Development Services
which includes Java Application Development, Java Software Development, Java Web
Development, J2ME application Development, J2EE Application Development, Java Mobile
Application Development and Java Enterprise Portal Development.

Java Application Development Expertise

Vistonsoft’s Java application development team develops world-class Java applications
which run across different platforms, adding value to our customers’ products and organizations.
As a Java development company, we help our clients realize the potential and benefits of J2EE
and J2ME applications and related technologies including Enterprise Java Application
Development, Web Portal Development and
Mobile Application Development.

Our Java Development expertise includes:

• Enterprise Software Application Development
• SaaS Application Development
• Web Portal Development
• Java Software Development
• J2ME Mobile Application Development
• Migration, Enhancement, and Integration of Java Applications
• Java Application Maintenance
• Java Application Testing

Technology Expertise:
Vistonsoft’s Java application development team is well experienced in technologies and tools
necessary to design, develop, and test a robust and scalable Java application:
1. J2EE Application development
2. EJB, Servlets, JSP, JDBC, JNDI, RMI/IIOP, JTA/JTS, JMS, JavaMail, JSF, Struts,
Spring, Hibernate
3. Client/Desktop
 4. HTML/XHTML, JavaScript, J2ME, J2SE, SWING, SWT, Macromedia Flex, ActiveX

Development Methodologies:
Our company follows CASE tools software methodology which leads to effective execution
of Java application development plans. Our Java development plans are geared towards flexible,
secure and portable Java application development.

Our technical Java software development team strives to do more than just application
programming. We make efforts to take complete ownership of your Java application
development project, to be your technology partner for Java development. Our Java application
development approach is a world-class experience for business in the following ways:
• Our expert team focuses on a secure and scalable application architecture
• Experienced professionals use the latest cutting-edge technology for Java application
development
• Our analytical approach looks at the broader picture of your business objectives for Java
software development
• Our priority is on overall security of the system
• Unique development process and a global delivery model enable us to address your most
pressing technology needs

WEB DEVELOPMENT
Vistonsoft specializes in various web technologies like PHP, ASP.NET, LAMP, Joomla and
back-end databases including MySQL and SQL Server. We generally follow the agile method for
project management. The entire project is first split up into several small milestones with
deliverables and time frame defined. Our team works on each milestone and the progress report
is sent on a daily basis. Modules once completed are uploaded to our test server for client
feedback. The project manager assigned communicates with the client and sends the status
reports.
 An experienced web project manager is assigned for each project and holds the below
responsibilities:
- Act as a single point of contact between the client and the project team.
- Monitor the design and the development activities.
- Communicate the project updates and delivery milestones to the client regularly and
participate in project discussions.
- Update the internal project monitoring software on a daily basis
- Track all the bug reports in Mantis and update the Mantis accordingly
- Communicate with client for overall feedback and post launch support.
WEB DESIGNING
Vistonsoft has one of the best web design teams in South India, a dedicated design team to
create professional Web2.0 designs for our clients. Our designs are targeted to the end users who
will use the website. We are creative, experimental and at the same time address the functional
specifications of the website. We believe that a great design is the key to making a successful
websites.

We study the client requirements and research other websites in terms of usability and
popularity. Based on outcome of the study, we prepare the design mockups which are sent to the
client for approval. Once the home page is approved by the client, we design the inner sections
based on the basic theme.

WEB HOSTING
Vistonsoft offers affordable and cheap web hosting plans to all its clients. It includes all the
basics and the flexibility to customize with options tailored to your needs. Our hosting services
are perfect for small static websites to big dynamic portals. All this comes in an affordable price
that is packed with power features. Our company provides Linux & Windows based hosting
plans.

TECHNOLOGY STAFFING
Vistonsoft specializes in providing the technology staffing services to all its IT clients on any
fixed duration basis. Our technology staffing services extends across all the verticals in the IT
sector. Clients leverage on our experience and knowledge base in the Information technology
sector to avail the best staffing resources with the least turn around time.

Our company strongly believes that human assets play a crucial part in the growth of an
organization. In this dynamic market, competitive advantage of every company depends upon the
competent and committed employees. Depending on the needs of our clients, we provide skilled
manpower on a temporary or contract basis.

Technology staffing ensures “Just-in time recruitment” for short-term or critical projects
without the overheads associated with a full time employee. It enables our clients to manage their
head count with ease. Technology staffing acts as a flexible, cost effective and a quick solution
for all our IT clients.

BENEFITS OF OUR STAFFING SERVICES:

Our expertise in developing complex software applications enable us to understand the IT

staffing requirements and provide pre-screened candidates that best fit our clients’ technology
staffing needs. Vistonsoft possesses a unique combination of time tested processes and
innovative recruitment techniques with the state of the art infrastructure. Technology
professionals who match both the job profile and the culture of the client’s organization are only
suggested.
Our team of highly qualified recruiters with strong experience and expertise in recruitment
across all the domains acts as an extended partner for our clients.Flexibility for our clients to get
temporary staffing of qualified professionals on any fixed duration basis. Contract duration of
our professionals can also be extended based on the demand of the projects
ORGANIZATION CHART

Chairman

Managing Director

Chief Executive
Chief Finance
Officer
Officer

Manager of
Chief Accountant Delivery Head Project Manager
Marketing

Junior Executive Human Resource

Team Lead Software Trainees
Accounts Department

Software Engineer
 CHAPTER 3: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The brave new world of social media has captured the attention of scholars and book writers
around the world, which has led to the publication of a number of works about Twitter, Facebook
YouTube and the like1. Most of these books are practical and industry-based in nature and do not
consider in-depth the social media impact in audiences and communication strategies.
Nevertheless, the vitality of the editorial market underlines the research relevance than social
media and social networks are acquiring.

Boyd and Ellison (2008: 210-230) have summarized recent research and social network
history. The authors, Berkeley and Michigan State professors, consider social Networks as
increasingly attractive for researchers, fascinated for their usefulness, audience size and market
research potential. They define social networks are web-based services that allow users to build a
public or semi-public within a system; articulate a user list with shared relationships; and observe
the list of relationships of those persons with other people within the system” (Boyd and Ellison,
2008: 211).\Boyd and Ellison explain that Six Degrees (1997) was chronologically the first
social network but disappeared in 2000. The most important current social networks were
established after 2002: Fotolog (2002), LinkedIn (2003), MySpace (2003), Last.FM (2003), Hi5
(2003), Orkut (2004), Flickr (2004), 65

Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005), Bebo (2005), Ning (2005) y Twitter (2006). From
2003 on social networks reach the mainstream, and start producing audience figures we could
consider “massive”. Their audience growth has been explosive. In April 2009, Facebook had 200
million users worldwide: in March 2010 it had reached 400 million. By November 2010,
Facebook’s estimated audience is more than 547 million users. Only 26% of the users are in the
United States: we are facing a genuinely global phenomenon. Twitter shows more modest
audience figures (19 million in March 2009; 75 million in March 2010), and more than 44% of
users are in the United States2. Nevertheless, the figures speak by themselves and might well
give Facebook and Twitter a place in the history of communications.

2. Key works on social media

Arguably, four books have been especially influential and are often quoted in professional
and academic circles in this context: Tapscott and Williams’Wikinomics, Jenkins’s Convergence
Culture, Li and Bernoff’s Groundswell, and Qualman’s Socialnomics. Tapscott and Williams
(2006) consider social networks as a part of a wider trend in communication landscapes. They
characterize it as “mass collaboration”. In their opinion, transparency, peer collaboration,
audience participation and globalization are changing markets and companies and social
networks like YouTube or MySpace are crucial. A new type of market is being shaped: copyright,
communication strategy and message control by hierarchical management structures is
increasingly under attack. Wikipedia is described as symbol of this process that is influencing the
communication of brands, fashion, markets, ideas and ideology. Jenkins (2006) describes three
concepts that shape what he calls “convergence culture”: media convergence, participatory
culture and collective intelligence (Jenkins, 2006: 2). By media convergence, Jenkins deals with
the content flow between multiple content platforms and audience’s migrating behaviour: people
are fundamentally looking for entertainment experiences. With the term “participatory culture”,
he underlines the contrast with the idea of a passive viewer in a time when producers and
consumers do not show clearly different roles but interact with rules we don’t seem to understand
fully yet. By collective intelligence, he elaborates on a trend to turn con-sumption into a
collective process, sharing our knowledge to cope with the sheer volume of available
information. Social media develop in this unique convergence, participation and “crowd
sourcing” environment. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff (2008), two Forrester Research3 analysts,
showed through 25 real world cases how companies increase their market knowledge, generate
income, save money and mobilize their employees using “social technologies”. Such firms
follow a “groundswell” model, similar to a wave that sweeps markets. Li and Bernoff consider
that there is definite social trend towards people using technologies to get what they need from
other people, instead of relying in traditional institutions like companies. The consequences are
almost revolutionary: control is weakened and reduced, when control has been the foundation of
communication strategies for businesses and institutions. Li and Bernoff stress the need to
understand how new relationships are created in social media: technologies have changed but the
impact in personal relationships is even more profound. Erik Qualman (2009) deals with social
media in his book “Socialnomics”. He describes an age of instant communication, transparency
(we live in what he terms “glass-house effect”), narcissism and participation. It is a landscape
where authenticity is a currency of exchange and mass communications do not work, as
audiences go back to trust in close persons and traditional media decline. He also explores
Obama’s rise to power and explores future implications
with expressions like “what happens in Vegas stays in YouTube” or “we will no longer look for
the news, the news will find us”. Qualman looks at the social media phenomenon and assesses its
impact on interpersonal relationships. His book shows how strategy, marketing and markets are
influenced and explores how some brands feel very comfortable in such a context. In his opinion,
social media are more revolution than ephemeral fashion.

3. Discussion: main research topics in the field

From 2006 on, researchers’ attention turned to social networks, especially in the Anglo-
Saxon world where they were born. Research has considered different aspects. Some papers have
concentrated on the “management of impressions” by the audience: how users introduce
themselves, and the quality of relationships that are generated in this context. Marwick (2005)
has analysed the degree of authenticity of user’s profiles. Looking into their different
roles Kumar, Novak & Tomkins (2006: 611-617) divide users among different groups: passive,
and “connectors”, that participate fully in the networks ‘social evolution. Most available research
suggests that the majority of social networks serve a need to reinforce existing relationships. We
could say that they cater to a need: building bridges between the online and offline worlds.
Ellison, Steinfeld & Lampe (2007) suggest that Facebook is used to strengthen “offline”
friendships more than to meet new people (Ellison, Steinfeld y Lampe, 2007). Such relationships
could be thin, but often there are previous links, like sharing college. Another key research thread
deals with issues of privacy and intimacy generated by social networks. Sometimes the need for
a safe environment for children and adolescents is stressed, like in works by George (2006), or
Kornblum and Marklein (2006). It might be especially valuable to study what Barnes (2006)
defines as “privacy paradox”. Acquisti and Gross (2006: 36-58) describe the “disconnect”
between the goal of protecting users’ privacy and their social network behaviour (increasingly
narcissistic, to say the least), also described in Stutzman’s research (2006: 10-18). Dwyer, Hiltz
and Passerini (2007) explain that Facebook beat MySpace, precisely for its better capacity to
deal with privacy. Researchers agree that the most serious crisis faced by social networks have
been related to privacy and personal data protection. MySpace’s audience decrease and
Friendster’s decline have been related to this by scientific literature.
Social networks might also be a tool for audience and market segmentation and the
analysis of specific or “niche” audiences. Different authors have studied their use by audiences
defined by gender (Geidner, Flock, & Bell, 2007), ethnicity (Gajjala, 2007: 257-276), or religion
(Nyland & Near,2007). Specifically, ethnicity has often been researched in the U.S., as some of
the better established social networks are used to connect ethnic minority targets. Such is the
case of AsianAvenue, AsianAve today (established in 1999), BlackPlanet (1999), and MiGente
(2000). Along the same lines, Fragoso (2006) studied the role of national identity to explain
Orkut’s4 spectacular success in Brazil. Some other authors study the role of social networks in
different cultures, which opens up a very interesting field for research (Herring et al., 2007). It is
indeed worthwhile to find out whether social networks are more successful in some cultures or
countries, or the rationale for local versus global social networks.

4 Orkut is a social network established by Google.

The possibility of segmentation is also interesting for market researchers. They have
developed new ways to obtain information from the net that are also applicable in social
networks. Netnography, a qualitative methodology that adapts traditional ethnography research
techniques to the study of online cultures (Kozinets, 2006: 281) is one of these new systems to
collect information. Netnography can also be considered a content analysis of online
communication and some authors classify this methodology between discourse analysis, content
analysis, and ethnography (Beckmann, and Langer, 2005, p. 2). In this technique, the
identification of online communities where users exchange relevant information is essential
(Bartl, Hück and Ruppert, 2009: 7). Social networks could be the place to find this information
(O´Connor et al, 2010) but also to identify web sites where the expected information can be
found. Social networks have also been considered in market research as a new tool for collecting
information. In 2008 Facebook and LinkedIn began to offer the possibility of conducting market
research inside their social network. LinkedIn is no longer providing this service (Anderson,
2010) and in Facebook, the application “My Questions” by Slide, downloaded 7.4 million times
(Ricadela, 2007) is no longer available. However, there are many other applications that allow
Facebook users to create their own surveys. It is the case of Fun Surveys, with more than 90.000
monthly active users in April 2010.

Nevertheless, researchers will still be looking to understand better not as much the ever-
changing technology, but audience relationships. Markets have become conversations and the
consequences are far-reaching. It is interesting to see to what extent we go back to the beginning.
From mass communication media the flow of messages goes back to person-to-person
communication, as Lazarsfeld explains in his classic work “Personal Influence” (1955).
When Lasswell defined mass media rules, he was indicating that a radio station or a newspaper
could be compared with persons communicating messages. But now the emphasis is again in
person-to-person communication and it is increasingly clear that an individual that reads
something and discusses it with others can’t be considered only as a social entity, analogue to a
newspaper or magazine: it needs to be studied in its double capacity as communicator
and contact point in the mass communication network (Lazarsfeld, 1955: 1). The need for human
contact and interaction is a constant that always finds new ways to express itself. Some could
argue that the present passion for social media will give way to some scepticism. But we seem to
be witnessing more than an ephemeral passion. Qualman (2009) already describes a “social
media revolution”. In any case, and paraphrasing Lazarsfeld, we have personto- person
communication back again at the very core of media, communications strategies, and academic
conversations.

Influence of networking sites on lifestyle:

Social networking sites have some or the other sort of influence on the lifestyle of the people.
While some people did not feel that it influences the lifestyle as they use these networking sites
just for connecting with friends and did not feel its influence on their lifestyle.
On the other hand, those who feel that it has some influence on their lifestyle had a lot to share.
The responses suggest that some people have got addicted to the networking sites and use them
more often and as such their life is completely influenced by these. People find it trendy to use
these networking sites and being a member of the sites is considered trendy and in vogue thing.
Some people surf these sites to interact with people with similar preferences and it helps in their
decision-making ability. They take the views and suggestions of the people before taking any
such decisions and feel quite comfortable with it. Some people get knowledge about latest trends
in fashion, electronic gadgets etc.

The most staggering influence of these networking sites for some people is the use of
abbreviated words like‘d’ for ‘the’ and likewise. They tend to use the similar words in their day
to day life and even in official communication and often have suffered due to this. For students,
it often comes across during exams.

Some people use abusive words to vent out their feelings on these networking sites and the same
has been seen in their personal life of late. Certain people often use communities to dishonour
their teachers and bosses or use bad-mouthing words for even celebrities and sports stars.

Negative/bad experience from networking sites:

Generally the networking sites have been of great utility to the users and they have found it of
immense importance. But some people have had bad experiences from these networking sites.
These bad experiences have been seen observed more by the female users than male users. The
verification of genuine identity of the people is a problem. Many users have suffered from the
same. People pose as someone else and tend to seek personal or confidential knowledge. This
has led to breach of trust of a section of respondents. The albums are accessible to everyone and
as such the pictures can be easily copied and have even been distorted in some cases and put on
fake profiles. Same is the case with scrapbooks or message boxes which is visible to everyone.
Information meant for one person is visible to everyone and is often harmful in relations. Some
unknown people also put their comments on the scrapbooks to attract undue attention. The
language is also offensive on many occasions.

The communities have even created furore over national and religious sentiments. Due to
absence of any strict monitoring, communities targeted to humiliate one or the other community
has mushroomed. Communities like “I hate Muslims” or “I hate Hindus” have created
differences among the people and have often invited unwanted tension and rift. Some community
had an Indian flag burning which shook the entire users of India and the national sentiments as a
whole.

Other insights:

Social networking sites have become a way of expression for some individuals. They feel that
life would have been incomplete without these sites. These have shrunk the entire world and
provided a common platform for all. Some people find it very important in this age of ever
changing world where people move from one place to another very frequently. It has also
bridged borders and brought about cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity. The need is to
utilize it effectively for good reasons and find ways to curb its negative influence. The situation
also demands some kind of moral trafficking and policing to regulate its use. Even the use of a
social security number or some unique national identity could be asked for while opening an
account to prevent its misuse. Privacy is a concern which some of the sites like Orkut have got
sensitized to and are providing security option to the users as to enable them use it as per their
own discretion and avoid mishandling of their information or pictures, etc.

All the uses of these networking sites vary from person to person and their mentalities. Like each
system has its good things as well as bad things, these sites also have both the aspects. It now
depends on the individual how well they are going to use the same. Effective utilization is the
source to gaining maximum advantage out of these networking sites.

SOCIAL NETWORKING IN BUSINESS

There are many ways that business’ can use social networking web sites to their advantage but
we are going to focus on three. The first aspect of a business that could use a social networking
website for would be the hiring of employees. Such sites as Monster.com actually help many
people searching for jobs and many companies looking for employees to find each other. It’s as
simple as creating your own resume and putting it out there. Monster.com then takes your
resume and compares it to the needs and wants that companies have posted on the web site and
connects the company with people who meet or exceed their posted standards. This a lot faster
and involves a more broad spectrum of resources for which a company can use to find the perfect
employee.

Another aspect of business affected by social networking websites is marketing. With the
millions of people that use social networking web sites, what better way to market your product
then by buying space on those web sites? Whether it’s through banners or links millions of
people will view your ads should they be placed on a social networking website. An example is
that of 1up.com. Through its great reputation to gamers many gaming companies are willing to
spend thousands of dollars for advertising space since they know that gamers who view the web
site will most likely learn about their product. Not only is online advertising more effective than
commercial advertising such as TV ads and magazines, it’s also more cost effective and reaches
far more people than other forms of advertising. An example of the effectiveness of internet
advertising is YouTube.com in which experts have estimated that “Given its traffic levels, video
streams and page views, some have calculated that YouTube's potential revenues could be in the
millions per month.” (YouTube, 2010)

A third aspect of business that is affected by social networking websites is that of fair pricing.
With so many businesses’ out there creating virtually the same product it’s easy for one to get
lost in the broad spectrum of products. With social networking websites people can get advice
from experts, gain knowledge of product through others who have used it, and get reviews on
nearly anything that is mass produced today. This in turn is also great for businesses. With all this
information out there concerning products it’s easy for a company to look through it and see
what customers want and for how much. This in turn leads to better products being made to suit
the customers’ needs and wants.
 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Fundamental to the success of any formal marketing research project is a sound research design.
A good research design has the characteristics of problem definition, specific methods of data
collection and analysis, time required for research project and estimate of expenses to be
incurred. The function of a research design is to ensure that the require data are collected
accurately and economically. A research design is purely and simply the framework or plan for
an analysis of data. It is a blue print that is followed in completing a study. It resembles the
architect`s blue-print (map) for constructing a house. It may be worthwhile to mention here that a
research design is nothing more than the framework for the study ensures that the study will be
relevant to the problem and the study will employ economical procedures.

Claire seltizetal defines Research Design as “Research design is a catalogue of the phases
and facts relating to the formulation of a research effort. It is the arrangement of collection and
analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevant to the research purpose with economy
in procedure”.

Three important about research design are

1. The design of investigation should stem from the problem
2. Whether the designs are productive in a given problem setting depends on how
imaginatively they are applied. An understanding of the basic design is needed so that
they can be modified to suit specific purpose
3. The three basic design are as follows
i. Exploratory Research design
ii. Descriptive Research design
iii. Casual Research design
The Research design used in the study is descriptive research design

4. 1 RESEARCH DESIGN
Descriptive research design is also called explanatory design. This is the one that
simply describes something such as demographic characteristics. The descriptive study is
typically concerned with determining frequency with which something occurs or how two
variables vary together.

4.2 AREA OF STUDY

Area of study is marketing management; the study is understanding the Social media for
marketing. The sample size is 120.

4.3 DATA SOURCES

After identifying and defining the research problem and determining specific information
required to solve the problem, the researcher`s task is to look the type and sources of data which
may yield the desired results. Data sources are of two types through which data is collected.
Data sources may be classified as
1. Primary data
2. Secondary data
PRIMARY DATA
Primary data is the original data collected by the researcher first hand. It is collected for
the first time through field survey. These are those that are gathered specifically, for the problem
at hand. The various sources for collecting primary data are questionnaire, observation, interview
etc. The primary source used for the study is questionnaire.

SECONDARY DATA
Secondary data is the information which is already available in published or unpublished
form. When the needed information is collected from the census of population available in a
library means then it is a secondary data. It is also used for collecting historical data. The various
sources of secondary data are books, periodicals, journals, directories, magazines, statistical data
sources etc. The secondary source used for this study is company profile, scope, need, review of
literature.

4.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

Research instrument are the instruments which is used for gathering or collecting
information. The instruments used in the study are
1. Direct questions
2. Close end questions
3. Dichotomous questions
4. Multiple choice questions

DIRECT QUESTIONS
Direct questions are just what their names indicate. They explicitly ask for the desired
data. However the directness of the question also relates to the way a response is interpreted.

CLOSE END QUESTIONS

Such questions are also called fixed alternative questions they refer to those questions in
which the respondent is given a limited number of alternative response frame which he/she is to
select one that most closely matches his/her opinion or attitude.

DICHOTOMOUS QUESTIONS
A dichotomous question refers to one which offers the respondent a choice between only
two alternatives and reduces the issue to its simple terms. The fixed alternatives are of the type,
yes/no, agree/disagree, true/false etc.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

A multiple choice question refers to one which provides several set alternatives for its
answers. Thus, it is a middle ground between free answers and dichotomous question.
4.5 SAMPLING
Collecting data about each and every unit of the population is called census method. The
approach, where only a few units of population under study are considered for analysis is called
sampling method. There are two main categories under which various sampling method can be
put.
The two categories are
1. Probability sampling
2. Non-probability sampling
The sampling method adopted for the study is convenience sampling under non-probability
sampling.

NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING
In non-probability sampling, the chance of any particular unit in the population being
selected is unknown, since randomness is not involved in the selection process. But this does not
mean that the findings obtained from non-probability sampling are of questionable value. If
properly conducted their findings can be accurate as those obtained from probability sampling.
The three frequencies used non-probability designs are
1. Judgment sampling
2. Convenience sampling
3. Quota sampling

CONVENIENCE SAMPLING:
In this method, the sample units are chosen primarily on the basis of the convenience to
the investigator. The units selected may be each person who comes across the investigator.

SAMPLING:

Sampling Design: The target population for our research was defined as the students who form
the major chunk of users of these social networking sites. This was done to have a better insight
into the research as the target population was one which is the most avid user of these sites and
could provide good responses. Even the understanding of the questionnaire was easy to them as
they were familiar with the sites and quite clear about the reasons they use it for and the various
problems that they face.

Sampling frame can be defined as all the users of social networking sites in the vicinity. Once
the sampling frame was decided, simple random sampling method was used to select the
respondents. In the person assisted survey, almost everyone in the sampling frame had an equal
chance of being selected and we got the responses filled through those people who were readily
and willingly accepting to fill it.

To some extent judgment sampling was also used, especially in the online survey, where the
questionnaires were sent to our acquaintances in the social-networking sites where the interested
people can have the chance of participation.

4.6 SAMPLE SIZE

It refers to the number of elements of the population to sample. The sample size chosen
for the survey is 120.

4.7 DATA COLLECTION METHOD

After secondary data collection through data collection over the internet, a primary research was
carried out through a questionnaire. The questionnaire was well structured and the responses
were sought from the respondents. The nature of the questions was such that it avoided
ambiguous responses from the respondents and it also helped in quick analysis of the data
collected.

Methods of questioning were used for the data collection:

Web enabled: The questionnaire link was e-mailed and put-up over the social networking site to
respondents who can fill it over the internet. A flaw that we realized here was that some of the
respondents did not understand the questions and hence could not answer them to the best of
their capability, unlike the other method employed where the questions could be explained if
required.

4.8 ANALYTICAL TOOL

ANALYSIS USING KARL PEARSON’S CORRELATION:
Correlation analysis is the statistical tool used to measure the degree to which two
variables are linearly related to each other. Correlation measures the degree of association
between two variables. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient is a measure of the
strength and direction of association that exists between two variables measured on at least an
interval scale. It is denoted by the symbol r.
N ∑ XY −∑ X ∑Y
r=
√ N ∑ X −(∑ X )² √ N ∑Y 2−(∑Y )²
2

CHI- SQUARE TEST I – (Ψ2)

A chi-squared test, also referred to as chi-square test or χ2 test, is any statistical hypothesis
test in which the sampling distribution of the test statistic is a chi-squared distribution when
the null hypothesis is true, or any in which this is asymptotically true, meaning that the
sampling distribution (if the null hypothesis is true) can be made to approximate a chi-
squared distribution as closely as desired by making the sample size large enough.

The χ2 test was first used by Karl Pearson in the year 1980. The quantity χ2 describes the
magnitude of the discrepancy between theory and observation.
It is calculated using:

χ² = Σ [( Oi−Ei )2 / Ei ]with (n - 1) degrees of

freedom. Where, Oi refers to the observed frequency & Ei to the
expected frequencies. χ² was used as a test of independence and goodness of fit.

PERCENTAGES
Percentages refer to a special kind of ratio. Percentages are used in making comparison
between two or more series of data. Percentages are used to describe relationships, it is expressed
as.
 Percentage = (no of employees/total no of employees) 100

CHARTS:
Charts are graphic displays of data for easy understanding of relative positions that is not
always possible with descriptive words or numbers. Types of charts commonly used in business
data presentation are: Bar and pie.

BAR CHARTS:
The bar chart is commonly used for presentation of qualitative data. The data can be
continuous or discrete data, which are plotted against discrete data intervals. The vertical bar
diagram, also called bar chart where the length or height of bars represent the numerical value of
the event or measurement. Width or gap between the bars is of no significance to the bar chart
data, but they are uniform in a diagram.
 CHAPTER 5 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

TABLE 5. 1 EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 Graduate 34 28
2 Post graduate 23 19
3 ITI 44 37
4 Diploma 19 16
TOTAL 120 100
CHART 5.1

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Graduate Post graduate It Diploma

INTERPRETATION:

From the above table it can be interpreted that 37% of the respondents are completed ITI
and 28% of the respondents are Graduates and 19% of the respondents are belongs to Post
Graduates and 16% of the respondents are completed their Diploma. Most of the respondents are
belongs to ITI.
TABLE 5.2 INCOME

S.NO NO OF
PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 10,000-20000 25 21
2 20000-30000 22 18
3 30000-40000 37 31
4 40000-50000 16 13
5 Above 50000 20 17
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5. 2

35

30

25

20
percentage

15

10

0
10,000-20000 20000-30000 30000-40000 40000-50000 Above 50000
particulars
INTERPRETATION:

From the above table it can be interpreted that 31% of the respondents got the income
level of 30000 – 40000 and 21% of the respondents got the income level of 10000 – 20000 and
18% of the respondents got the income level 20000-30000 and 17% of the respondents income
level belongs to above 50000 and 13% of the respondents belongs to 40000-50000 income level
category. Therefore, most of the respondents belongs to 30000-40000 income level category.
TABLE 5. 3 GENDER

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 MALE 92 77
2 FEMALE 28 23
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5. 3

90
80
70
60
percentage

50
40
30
20
10
0
MALE FEMALE
PARTICULARS

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table it can be interpreted that 77% of the respondents are male and
33% of the respondents are female. Therefore, most of respondents belongs to male category
TABLE 5.4 AGE GROUP

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 20-30 8 7
2 30-40 18 15
2 40-50 40 33
4 Above 50 54 45
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5. 4
50
45
40
35
30
percentage

25
20
15
10
5
0
20-30 30-40 40-50 Above 50
particulars

INTERPRETATION:

From the above table it can be interpreted that 45% of the respondents are in above 50
years of age and 33% of the respondents are between 40-50 years and 15% of the respondents
30-40 years age group and 7% of the respondents belongs 20-30 years age group. Therefore,
most of the respondents are belongs to 50 years of age.
TABLE 5.5
PEOPLE WHO HAS DIFFERENT PROFILES IN DIFFERENT SOCIAL
NETWORKS

S.N PARTICULAR FACEBOO LINKEDI MYSPAC YOUTUB TWITTE OTHER

O S K N E E R S
1. YES 120 57 112 64 51 71
5. NO 0 63 8 56 69 49
TOTAL 120 120 120 120 120 120

CHART 5. 5

140

120

100

80
No
60 Yes

40

20

0
FACEBOOK LINKEDIN MYSPACE YOUTUBE TWITTER OTHERS
INTERPRETATION:

Face book topped the first place and people who had contributed to collect data have linked with
Face book with 120, followed by YouTube, LinkedIn and others. It’s obvious that we done
collect data samples over social networking sites.

TABLE 5. 6

ACCESSING SOCIAL NETWORK SITE

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 PC 36 30
2 MOBILE 62 52
2 NOTEPAD 10 8
4 OTHERS 12 10
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5. 6
 ACCESSING SN SITE

60

50

40
PERCENTAGE
30

20

10

0
PC MOBILE NOTEPAD OTHERS

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table, 52% of the respondents are accessing social networking site from
Mobile, 30% of the respondents are accessing from Pc and 10% of the respondents accessing the
social websites through notepad and only 8% of the respondents are accessing the social network
from other process. Therefore most of the respondents are accessing the social network from the
Mobile

TABLE 5. 7
REASONS FOR JOINING SOCIAL NETWORKING
NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
Obtain useful connection with
1 businesses 30 25
2 Stay update to friends activities 49 41
2 For fun and leisure 31 26
Find information on
4 groups/events 10 8
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5. 7
 REASONS FOR JOINING SOCIAL NETWORKING
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
REASONS FOR JOINING SOCIAL
es es ur
e ts
ess v it ie s ven NETWORKING
n ct l /e
si a d ps
bu s an ou
th nd un gr
wi f ir e rf on
o n to Fo on
c t te at
nne pda rm
o u fo
lc y in
efu Sta nd
us Fi
in
bta
O

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table we find that, 41% of the respondents are joining social network for
staying update to friend’s activity and 26% of the respondents are for fun and leisure another
25% of the respondents are joining social network in order to obtain useful connection with the
businesses and 8% of the respondents are joining social network to find information on groups
and events. Therefore, most of the respondents are joining social network for staying update to
friend’s activity.

TABLE 5. 8

HOW FACEBOOK HAS BEEN USED BY AN INDIVIDUAL

1 2 3 4 5

Find new friends 39 41 21 19 -

Play interactive games 14 21 28 57

 Chat (including comments and wall) 39 44 17 20

Check out how your friends are doing (photos, walls etc) 47 37 29 7

Update your profile 14 51 43 12

To pass time 26 26 13
35

CHART 5. 8
HOW FACEBOOK HAS BEEN USED BY AN INDIVIDUAL
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

1
2
3
4
INTERPRETATION:

Individuals using Face book and other social networking sites engage most of the time finding
new friends and check the updates from friends. This above activities topped the list, Followed
by chat and to pass time. Interactive games have the least priority over others. But, the
respondents average age is 57, Expecting <57 will compensate the game part more to keep up the
game on.

Let us see what made these sites the most attractive:

Usage Percentage
to make new friends 40
to find old friends 34
to communicate with existing friends 52
for relationships 60
to find people with common 6
interests 8

This shows that the desire to find old friends along with the need to communicate with the
existing friends is making more and more students use these networking sites. In only rare case,
people are looking for relationships over there. Also 20% tend to use these sites for making new
friends.

TABLE5. 9
STRANGERS HAVE YOU INITIATED TO ADD AS FRIENDS
 NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 NONE 2 2
2 1-5 24 20
2 6-10 30 25
4 11-15 48 40
5 16-20 12 10
6 >20 4 3
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5.9 STRANGERS HAVE YOU INITIATED TO ADD AS FRIENDS

STRANGERS HAVE YOU INITIATED TO ADD AS FRIENDS

40

35

30

25
PERCENTAGE
20

15

10

0
NONE 1 TO 5 6 TO 10 11 TO 15 16-20 >20

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table we find that, 40% of respondents are accepting the category of
11-15 and 25% of the respondents are accepting the category of 6-10 and 20% of the respondents
are accepting the category of 1-5 and 10% of the respondents are accepting the category 16-20
and 3% of the respondents are accepting the category of more than 20 and 2% of the
respondents are not accepting any stranger as their friend. Therefore, most of the respondents
are accepting the category of 6-10.
TABLE 5.10
ACCEPTANCE LEVEL OF STRANGERS FRIENDS IN FB

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 YES 78 65
2 NO 42 35
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5.10 ACCEPTANCE LEVEL OF STRANGERS FRIENDS IN FB

ACCEPTANCE LEVEL OF STRANGERS FRIENDS IN FB

35

YES
NO

65

INTERPRETATION:
 From the above table we find that, 65% of the respondents accepting strangers as
their friends and 35% of the respondents are not accepting the strangers as their friend.
Therefore, most of the respondents are accepting the strangers friendship.

TABLE 5.11
CRITERIA TO ENROLL NEW FRIENDS
1 2 3 4 5

Gender 21 16 45 38

Number of common friends 43 39 16 22

Looks( eg.. an attractive display pictures) 37 39 34 10

Games you play 61 32 10 17

Common hobbies and interests 33 27 33 27

CHART: CRITERIA TO ENROLL NEW FRIENDS

 70
60
50
40
30
20
10
1
0
2
de
r s s) ay ts
n end ure pl res 3
Ge fri pi
ct yo
u
i nte 4
on ay es d
m l m an
co
m i sp Ga es
f ed b bi
ero c tv ho
b ra on
m t
Nu n
a m
m
g..
a Co
( e
s
ok
Lo

INTERPRETATION:
Common friends are the first priority where people look into while enrolling new friends
followed by others. Gender and common hobbies are second weighted quality enrolling new
friends where people find same kind of preference for networking. Looks and games plays are
least considering factor to add friends

TABLE 5.12
PLAYING INTERACTIVE GAMES IN FB

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 FRIENDS 72 60
2 STRANGERS 24 20
SELDOM PLAY INTERATIVE
3 GAMES IN FB 24 20
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5.12
 PLAYING INTERACTIVE GAMES IN FB

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
PERCENTAGE

FB
S
S

ER
ND

N
NG
IE

I
ES
FR

RA

AM
ST

EG
IV
AT
ER
NT
I
AY
PL
OM
LD
SE

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table we can find that, 60% of the respondents are playing interactive
games with friends and 20% of the respondents are playing interactive games with their
strangers and remaining 20% of the respondents are never play the interactive games with any
one. Therefore majority of the respondents are playing interactive games with their friends.

TABLE 5.13
CREATING ANY SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 YES 24 20
2 NO 42 35
3 CANT SAY 54 45
TOTAL 120 100
CHART 5.13

CREATING ANY SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

20.00%

Yes
45.00% No
I can’t say

35.00%

INTERPRETATION:
People don’t have a clear picture on what level the surveillance is about. But, the fear
of yes still remains with 20% and 35% with no suspicions about the surveillance and neither 45%
of the respondents fall in neither yes nor no category about the surveillance.

TABLE 5.14
LEVEL OF AGREEMENT ABOUT ADVERTISEMENTS ON SOCIAL NETWORK
Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
nor
Disagree
Advertisements are an intrusion to 35 44 20 19 2
my privacy.
I am comfortable in receiving ads 27 29 45 13 6
related to my Interests & Activities.
I notice the ads if they state benefits 23 30 52 7 8
I am likely to receive

In this busy lifestyle, the 10 50 30 18 12

information received via ads
regarding new offers helps me keep
up-to-date

I share information received about 15 35 32 27 11

internship offerings received from
the ads with my family/friends

Ads have had helped me in choosing 8 33 49 21 9

my product/services

60

50

40
Strongly Agree
Agree
30
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Disagree
20 Strongly Disagree

10

0
Advertsements are an intrusion to my privacy.
INTERPRETATION:

Advertisements and promotions are partially accepted and rejection and rebel behaviour is not
found. People know when and how to use of the advertisements in their day-to-day life. But
information getting from the ads doesn’t have any good trust among few because of dumping this
makes hard to differentiate from junks from the real. Still long way to go and explore new ways
reaches customers in right way.

TABLE 5.15 REASON FOR CLICKING THE ADVERTISMENTS

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
I recognize the brand or
1 company 6 5
It is a product or service I am
2 interested in 24 20
I was attracted to an
2 image/person in the ad 30 25
The ad offered a “free”
4 promo 48 40

I never clicked on an ad
5 12 10
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5.15
 REASON FOR CLICKING THE ADVERTISMENTS
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
PERCENTAGE

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table we find that, 40% of the respondents are clicking the ad due to
the offer or free promotion only 25% of the respondents are clicking the advertisement due to
attraction of image or person in the ad and 20% of the respondents are clicking the ad due to
getting interest towards the product or services and 10% of the respondents are never clicking the
advertisement and remaining 5% of the respondents are clicking the ad due to recognizing the
brand or company. Therefore, majority of the respondents are clicking the ad due to the offer or
free promotion.

TABLE 5.16
AD HELPED IN CHOOSING THE PRODUCT/SERVICES

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 Strongly Agree 24 20
2 Agree 54 45
2 Neutral 30 25
 4 Disagree 6 5

Strongly Disagree
5 6 5
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5.16

AD HELPED IN CHOOSING THE PRODUCT/SERVICES

45
40
35
30
25
20
PERCENTAGE
15
10
5
0
ee

e
l
ra
re

re

re
gr

ut
Ag

ag

ag
yA

Ne

is
s
Di

yD
l
ng
ro

l
ng
St

ro
St

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table we find that, 45% of the respondents are agreeing and 25%
of the respondents are coming under neutral state and 20% of the respondents are strongly
agreeing that the ad helps to choosing the product or services and 5% of the respondents are
disagreeing with this statement and remaining 5% of the respondents are strongly disagreeing
with this statement. Therefore, most of the respondents are agreeing with this statement.
TABLE 5.17
COMMUNICATING MARKETING UPDATES IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Agree Disagree

Informative 97 23
Redundant 47 73
Convenient 95 25
Intrusive 58 62
Short on Details 94 26
Compact & Relevant 87 33
Details

CHART 5.17COMMUNICATING MARKETING UPDATES IN SOCIAL MEDIA

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20 Agree
10
Disagree
0
ve nt nt i ve i ls i ls
at da nie s ta eta
rm du
n
nv
e
ntru De t D
fo Re Co
I on an
In t v
or l e
Sh Re
c t&
pa
m
Co

INTERPRETATION:

Communicating marketing information in social networking is generally agreeable limiting 10%

percent doesn’t like the way it is. But, intrusive and more redundant causes rebellion behaviour
from users.

TABLE5. 18
PERMITTED STRANGERS FOR NETWORKING
 NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 Strongly Agree 24 20
2 Agree 54 45
2 Neutral 30 25
4 Disagree 6 5

Strongly Disagree
5 6 5
TOTAL 120 100

PERMITTED STRANGERS FOR NETWORKING

45
40
35
30
25
20
15 PERCENTAGE
10
5
0
ee

e
l
ra
re

re

re
gr

ut
Ag

ag

ag
yA

Ne

is
s
Di

yD
l
ng
ro

l
ng
St

ro
St

INTERPRETATION:

People don’t have any hesitations adding strangers in social networking almost 54% have
strangers and continuously adding that for various reasons. Say, to play games or for societal
status to keep more networks and more.

For some, these networking sites make them feel comfortable in their sexuality. For 54%, it is
easier for them to be themselves while interacting through these sites. It raises question as to how
real they are while they act with people in personal or in their normal routine life.
As per the survey, 80% of the people find that there is no as such negative impact in their
personal life. Only 20% of the sample population feels that there is a negative impact on their
personal lives. Therefore majority of the respondents are agreeing to permit the strangers for
networking.

TABLE 5.19
INTERESTING OFFERS RECEIVED FROM ADS

NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 Strongly Agree 30 25
2 Agree 48 40
2 Neutral 24 20
4 Disagree 6 5

Strongly Disagree
5 12 10
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5.19
 INTERESTING OFFERS RECEIVED FROM ADS

40
35
30
25
20
15 PERCENTAGE
10
5
0
ee

e
l
ra
re

re

re
gr

ut
Ag

ag

ag
yA

Ne

is
Di

yD
l
ng
ro

l
ng
St

ro
St
INTERPRETATION:
From the above table we find that, 40% of the respondents are Agreeing that they are
received interesting offers through advertisement and 25% of the respondents are strongly
agreeing with the statement 20% of the respondents are in neutral state with this statement and
10% of the respondents are strongly disagreeing with this statement and 5% of the respondents
are disagreeing with this statement. Therefore majority of the respondents are agreeing with this
statement.

TABLE 5.20
 ADS BENEFITS
NO OF
S.NO PARTICULARS RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 Strongly Agree 30 25
2 Agree 48 40
2 Neutral 24 20
4 Disagree 6 5

Strongly Disagree
5 12 10
TOTAL 120 100

CHART 5. 20

ADS BENEFITS
45
40
35
30
25
20
15 PERCENTAGE
10
5
0
ee

e
l
ra
re

re

re
gr

ut
Ag

ag

ag
yA

Ne

is
s
Di

yD
l
ng
ro

l
ng
St

ro
St

INTERPRETATION:
From the above table we find that, 40% of the respondents said that they agree about
the advertisement benefit and 25% of the respondents are Strongly agreeing the ad benefit and
20% of the respondents are in neutral state and 5% of the respondents are disagreeing the same
and 10% of the respondents are belongs strongly disagreeing the same. Therefore, majority of
the respondents are agreeing the advertisement benefits
ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. Educational qualification
a. Graduate
b. Post graduate
c. ITI
d. Diploma

2. Income( in Rs)
a. 10000-20000
b. 20000-30000
c. 30000-40000
d. 40000-50000
e. Above 50000

3. Gender
a. Male
b. Female
4. Age Group:
a. 20-30 years
b. 30-40 years
c. 40-50 years
d. Above 50 years
5. Do you have a profile on any of these social network sites? (check all that apply)
 Facebook
 LinkedIn
 MySpace
 YouTube
 Twitter
 Other (specify) ________

6. How do you access your Social Networking site.

a. PC

b. Mobile

c. Notepad

d. Others and All

7. Indicate the reasons for joining a social networking site? (check all that apply)
 Obtain useful connections with businesses
 Stay up to date on friend’s activities
 For fun and leisure
 Find information on groups/events

8. What do you use Facebook for? Please rate the following 6 activities according to the
frequency of usage with 1 being the most frequent and 5 being the least.

Activites 1 2 3 4 5
 1. Find new friends
2. Play interactive games
3. Chat (including comments and wall)
4. Check out how your friends are doing (photos,
walls etc)
5. Update your profile
6. To pass time

9. In the last 3 months, how many strangers have you initiated to add as friends?
a. None
b. 1-5 members
c. 6-10 members
d. 11-15 members
e. 16-20 members
f. More than 20 members

10. Would you accept strangers who added you as friends on Facebook?
a. Yes
b. No
11. When adding or accepting new friends, what criteria do you look at? Please rank the
activities according to importance, with 1 being the most important to you

Criteria 1 2 3 4 5

a. Common hobbies and interests

b. Games you play
c. Looks (eg. an attractive display picture)
d. Number of common friends
e. Gender

12. Do you normally play interactive games on Facebook with your friends or with
strangers?

a. Friends
b. Strangers
 c. I seldom play interactive games on Facebook

13. Are we creating a grassroots surveillance society?

a. Yes

b. No

c. I can’t say

14. Indicate your level of agreement with the statements about advertisements on Social
Networking websites given below:

Factors Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly

Agree Agree Disagree
nor
Disagree
Advertisements are an intrusion to
my privacy.
I am comfortable in receiving ads
related to my Interests & Activities.

15. What is the main reason you clicked on an ad?

 I recognize the brand or company
 It is a product or service I am interested in
 I was attracted to an image/person in the ad
 The ad offered a “free” promo
 I never clicked on an ad
16. Ads have helped me in choosing my product/service.

a) Strongly agree

b) Agree

c) Neutral

d) Disagree

e) Strongly disagree

17. As a mode of communicating marketing updates, an advertisement on Social Networking

website is
Agree Disagree

a. Informative
b. Redundant
c. Convenient
d. Intrusive
e. Short on Details
f. Compact & Relevant
Details

18. In this busy lifestyle, the information received via ads regarding new offers helps me
keep up-to-date.

a) Strongly agree

b) Agree

c) Neutral

d) Disagree

e) Strongly disagree
 19. I share information received about interesting offerings received from the ads with my
friends/family.

a) Strongly agree

b) Agree

c) Neutral

d) Disagree

e) Strongly disagree

20. I notice the ads if they state benefits I am likely to receive.

a) Strongly agree

b) Agree

c) Neutral

d) Disagree

e) Strongly disagree

21.Suggestions...................................................................................................................................
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