Marketing Research Project

On
‘Study of Social Networking Habits’

Research Objectives :

Identification and study of factors that attract people towards Social

Networking

Prioritization of these factors as per consumers’ priorities

Study of variation in priorities with gender

Study of features desired by consumers in Social Networking sites

Segmentation of market on the basis of their usage patterns and preferences,

using clustering

Submitted By :

Ambuj Agarwal (09BM8007)

Shikha Kaushal (09BM8030)

Sujeeth Rajavolu (09BM8053)

Shilpa Gautam (09BM8085)

P Uday Kumar (09BM8086)

DS Praveen Kumar (09BM8092)

Social Networking - Exploration
Social Networking has been the topic of discussion in several articles across news

and magazines. What is it that drives people to it and what has led to its popularity.

This is an intriguing question people have been trying to answer for a long time.

This project attempts to hint upon these questions as to why people do social

networking online and what is important for a social networking site to keep in mind

while devising its features and specifications.

Scope of work: The scope of work was limited due to time and resource constraints.

Hence most responses from people herein involve people who are involved in social

networking.

In order to establish a set of factors affecting Social Networking habits of people, we

interviewed 6 people based on the Grounded Theory method. The interviews were

taken with no preconceptions and started with the question: What do you think when

you hear the words Social Networking? The further responses and questions were

then built upon the responses provided by the respondents. This process helped us

recognize about 34 primary factors which people associate with Social Networking.

Some of these factors could not be explored in the scope of the project and hence

were dropped. These factors are :

1. Alternative World

2. Enhanced Reach

3. Alternative Method of Communication

4. Time required

5. Sharing Achievements

6. Personal Moments
7. Multimedia Content

8. Internet Connection

9. Professional vs Personal

10. Games

11. Communities/Followings

12. Change in SN habbits

13. Addiction

14. Mobile

a. Utility

b. Handy

c. Realtime

15. Office SN

16. Staying in touch

17. Information

18. Reunion with Long lost friends

19. Specific Interest Groups

20. Decision making

21. First hand Information Gathering

22. Publicity

23. Photos/Comments

24. Applications/Puzzles

25. Educative/Informative Exercises

26. Look and feel

27. Interface

28. Security/Privacy
 29. Friends Active

30. Integrated services

31. Uptime

To find the relative importance of these factors, we developed a questionnaire based

on these factors using interval scale. Details about respondents:

1. Total Responses: 58

2. Responses eliminated for coherence : 6

3. Male Respondents: 42

4. Female Respondents : 10

The responses from these questionnaires were analyzed based on:

1. Mean: The mean value of response given to a particular question ( Each

question asked the respondent for his level of agreement with a point ) was

found and interpreted to find the relatively more important factors. The

answers to the questions were ranked according to the Mean and the

responses were analysed on this basis. The lower the mean the more

important the factor.

2. Variance: The variance of questions was individually analysed to find whether

there was a significant variation of preference amongst different people. This

was done more in order to validate our sample set.

3. Correlation: Correlation was found between the responses to the questions.

The study of correlation would lead to the knowledge of dependence and can

help in eliminating unnecessary factors.

 4. ANOVA: The responses were analysed using this technique to verify whether

the top ranked factors were significantly varying statistically or not. This

analysis helped to club the relative importance into groups of statistically

similar level of responses.

5. Clustering: The respondents were clustered according to the responses

provided to us. This analysis helps in analysing the different type or grouping

present amongst the respondents who are involved with Social Networking. It

also helps to analyse whether there are some significant grouping amongst

the user to help identify varying need at a more macro level.

This analysis was done, considering limited time and resources of the project. In

case there is more time we can work on more detailed analysis using factor analysis

and conjoint analysis.

Social Networking - Description

ANOVA test:

ANOVA taking all the variables:

The F value is greater than Fcritical value hence we all the questions or variables we

considered are not statistically same.

ANOVA taking only top three variables:

The F value is less then Fcritical value hence we can assume that the variables or

questions are not significantly different from each other.

Correlation test:

The correlation test indicates that there is no significant correlation between any of

the questions. But a decent amount of correlation can be found between the

questions ‘Social Networking sites help in taking simple decisions via taking inputs

from others’ and ‘Informative/Educative exercises on Social Networking sites are a

big boost’. This could be due to the fact that informative and educative exercises

help in taking simple decision.

Over all relative importance of variables/factors: We found the following relative

importance for the various variables/factors from the survey results

Question or variable Ranking

Social Networking sites have helped you 1

reunite with your old friends you lost

track of.

Security/Privacy on Social Networking 2

sites is a major issue.

With Social Networking, you have found 3

your geographic reach of friends

enhanced.

Social Networks Provide an alternate 4

channel of communication. You find it

easier to communicate over Social

Networks.

You can spend a lot of time on Social 5

Networking sites.

The multimedia content showing 6

videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a

boost for your Social Networking

impulse.
You would like to receive first hand 7

information from people.

You prefer to have all your Social 8

Networking needs at a single place.

Social Networking is an option to pass 9

time and lighten your mood by playing

games

Social Networking on mobiles provide a 10

very good option and has good utility.

You would like to share your 11

views/opinions and follow those of

others sharing a common

hobby/characteristics.

You would prefer a website with a better 12

interface than with better features.

Social Networking provides an alternate 13

world for you?

Your friend brought you into social 14

networking.

Informative/Educative exercises on 15

Social Networking sites are a big boost.

Social Networking sites help in taking 16

simple decisions via taking inputs from

others

First priority is given to reuniting with old friends who you have lost track of ,

followed by security and privacy concerns. Third priority is given to enhanced

geographic reach by social networking sites.

Male participant’s priority:

The priority of the variables for the male participants was found to be as follows.

There is almost no change of priority for the male participants from the overall

priority. This could be due the skewed data points towards male participants. Note

that there are 5 times the male participants to female participants.

Question or variable Ranking

Social Networking sites have helped you 1

reunite with your old friends you lost

track of.

Security/Privacy on Social Networking 3

sites is a major issue.

With Social Networking, you have found 2

your geographic reach of friends

enhanced.
Social Networks Provide an alternate 4

channel of communication. You find it

easier to communicate over Social

Networks.

You can spend a lot of time on Social 5

Networking sites.

The multimedia content showing 6

videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a

boost for your Social Networking

impulse.

You would like to receive first hand 7

information from people.

You prefer to have all your Social 8

Networking needs at a single place.

Social Networking is an option to pass 10

time and lighten your mood by playing

games

Social Networking on mobiles provide a 9

very good option and has good utility.

You would like to share your 11

views/opinions and follow those of

others sharing a common

hobby/characteristics.

You would prefer a website with a better 13

interface than with better features.

Social Networking provides an alternate 12

world for you?

Your friend brought you into social 14

networking.

Informative/Educative exercises on 15

Social Networking sites are a big boost.

Social Networking sites help in taking 16

simple decisions via taking inputs from

others

Female participant’s priority:

The priority of the variables for the female participants was found to be as follows.

Question or variable Ranking

Social Networking sites have helped you 3

reunite with your old friends you lost

track of.

Security/Privacy on Social Networking 2

sites is a major issue.

With Social Networking, you have found 7

your geographic reach of friends

enhanced.

Social Networks Provide an alternate 13

channel of communication. You find it

easier to communicate over Social

Networks.

You can spend a lot of time on Social 12

Networking sites.

The multimedia content showing 7

videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a

boost for your Social Networking

impulse.

You would like to receive first hand 11

information from people.

You prefer to have all your Social 5

Networking needs at a single place.

Social Networking is an option to pass 1

time and lighten your mood by playing

games
Social Networking on mobiles provide a 10

very good option and has good utility.

You would like to share your 3

views/opinions and follow those of

others sharing a common

hobby/characteristics.

You would prefer a website with a better 5

interface than with better features.

Social Networking provides an alternate 16

world for you?

Your friend brought you into social 7

networking.

Informative/Educative exercises on 15

Social Networking sites are a big boost.

Social Networking sites help in taking 13

simple decisions via taking inputs from

others

The priority for the female participants is very different from male counter parts.

They strongly consider social networking as a pass time yet don’t spend lot of time
in social networking. They give security and privacy second importance followed by

social networking for reuniting with old friends.

Clustering the respondents:

Divided the respondents into 3 clusters based on k-means clustering method.

The clusters are :

Cluster1:

They strongly agree that social networking sites were helpful in reuniting with old

friends. For them security and privacy are most important issues in social networking

sites. They feel that social networking sites enhanced their geographical reach. They

feel social networking sites provide alternative channel of communication and they

feel it is easier to communicate over social networking sites. They strongly agree that

they spend a lot of time on social networking sites. They strongly feel all the social

networking features should be at a single place. They strongly agree that the

multimedia content showing videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a boost for their

Social Networking impulse. They would like to receive first hand information from

people through social networking sites. They moderately agree to consider social

networking as an option to pass time and lighten your mood by playing games. They

strongly agree that Social Networking on mobiles provide a very good option and has

good utility. They would like to share views/opinions and follow those of others

sharing common hobby/characteristics. They neither agree nor disagree to prefer a

website with a better interface than with better features. They strongly agree that

social networking sites provide alternate world for them. They moderately agree that
Informative/Educative exercises on Social Networking sites are a big boost. They

moderately agree that Social Networking sites help in taking simple decisions via

taking inputs from others.

Cluster2:

They neither agree nor disagree that social networking sites were helpful in reuniting

with old friends. For them security and privacy in social networking site are not a

concern they are indifferent to it. They neither agree nor disagree that social

networking sites enhanced their geographical reach. They neither agree nor

disagree to the point that social networking sites provide alternative channel of

communication and they feel it neither easier nor difficult to communicate over social

networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree to spend a lot of time on social

networking sites. They moderately agree that all the social networking features

should not be at a single place. They neither agree nor disagree that the multimedia

content showing videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a boost for your Social

Networking impulse. They neither like nor dislike receiving first hand information from

people through social networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree to consider

social networking as an option to pass time and lighten your mood by playing games.

They moderately disagree that Social Networking on mobiles provide a very good

option and has good utility. They don’t like to share views/opinions and don’t follow

those of others sharing common hobby/characteristics. They neither agree nor

disagree to prefer a website with a better interface than with better features. They

neither agree nor disagree that social networking sites provide alternate world for

them. They strongly disagree that Informative/Educative exercises on Social

Networking sites are a big boost. They moderately disagree that Social Networking

sites help in taking simple decisions via taking inputs from others.

Cluster3:

They strongly agree that social networking sites were helpful in reuniting with old

friends. For them security and privacy are most important issues in social networking

sites. They feel that social networking sites enhanced their geographical reach. They

neither agree nor disagree to the point that social networking sites provide

alternative channel of communication and they feel it neither easier nor difficult to

communicate over social networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree to spend

a lot of time on social networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree that all the

social networking features should not be at a single place. They moderately agree

that the multimedia content showing videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a boost for

your Social Networking impulse. They neither like nor dislike receiving first hand

information from people through social networking sites. They moderately agree to

consider social networking as an option to pass time and lighten your mood by

playing games. They moderately disagree that Social Networking on mobiles provide

a very good option and has good utility. They moderately like to share views/opinions

and follow those of others sharing common hobby/characteristics. They neither

agree nor disagree to prefer a website with a better interface than with better

features. They neither agree nor disagree that social networking sites provide

alternate world for them. They neither agree nor disagree that Informative/Educative

exercises on Social Networking sites are a big boost. They neither agree nor

disagree that Social Networking sites help in taking simple decisions via taking

inputs from others.

The below mentioned factors are not statistically significant when we divide the

population in to three clusters.

1. A comparison between the interface and features

2. The mode of entry into Social Networking.

Social Networking- Causation

In line with the analysis performed on the matter, we came to specific conclusions.

1. People have certain expectations from a Social Networking site. The most

primary ones being:

a. Reuniting with friends and staying updated

b. Security and Privacy of their personal Information

c. Increased Geographic reach

d. A platform for entertainment

2. People can generally be classified as 3 types of Social Networking Users

3. There is a subtle but a marked difference between the preference of the two

genders

4. Internet connectivity plays a major role in the social networking habits

It was observed that the people without access to Social Networking sites in their

offices tend to move away from them and have long gaps between subsequent

visits. On the other hand, people having an access to these sites at their institutions

did not exhibit much changes.

Hence a switch of environment in terms of Internet connectivity or access to Social

networking sites, causes a significant shift in Social Networking habits. This also to

an extent hints that Social Networking does not qualify as a very serious addiction.
In line with this, the users of different Social Networking sites, primarily Facebook

and Orkut in our sample set tend to be favouring one rather than the other.

Facebook has overtaken Orkut in terms of daily traffic and users in India ( Alexa

Survey, based on Google Insight ). The results of a lot of Online surveys show that

Orkut now lacks the entertainment quotient and it’s privacy features are perceived to

be lower than that of Facebook. A point to note here is that Facebook has been

cleverly updating its privacy policy giving users more and more freedom and

generating a sense of privacy. Besides, Facebook offers features like mobile

uploads, which are absent in Orkut, thus coming across as a more convenient to use

product

In Global terms Facebook ranks far higher than Orkut and hence we can see that

this may be a factor. Facebook has integrated numerous applications and allows

third party applications. The results of these are shared with friends through the

user’s wall. This whole activity provides for the entertainment needs of the user.

As we can see from the comparison between Facebook and Orkut, it is evident that

the factors described and found herein hold true and provide a cause and effect.

Facebook coming in with lot of applications and entertainment opportunities provided

the initial boom and imitating the same did not help Orkut. Although, initially

facebook did come across as one with a complex interface, but users took very little

time to get a hang of it and found themselves enjoying facebook much more than

Orkut. The privacy policies of Orkut have not been revised ( or explicitly

communicated ) and hence Orkut is perceived to be poorer in privacy.

Another striking observation was that females, owing to their greater needs for

privacy/security, as is the case in India, showed greater preference for the

Security/Privacy variable, compared to the males. Also, owing to their more frequent

mood swings, they looked at Social Networking Sites as a tool to lighten their mood

and to pass time.

Clustering:

Number of Cases in each Cluster

Cluster 1 19

Cluster 2 13

Cluster 3 20

Total 52

Cluster 1 and cluster 3 have almost equal number of respondents in it (ie 19 and 20

respectively), whereas cluster 2 has got only 13. This indicates that cluster 1 and 3

constitute the major segment of the sample population(ie 75%) . If any social

networking site wants to be successful, it must consider the concerns and priorities

of these two clusters while designing the site.

Cluster1: People who love most aspects of Social Networking and do not care

much about Privacy/Security or the mode. They are concerned with enjoying the

privileges of Social Networking and they take in every new aspect of Social

Networking.
Cluster2: People in this cluster are mostly indifferent to the aspects of Social

Networking. They have Social Networking as just another tool and use it moderately.

Cluster3: People who have moderate preferences towards the aspects of Social

Networking. They want everything but are satisfied with a decent level of it.