Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
AFFILIATED TO:
SUBMITTED BY:
Kritika Rastogi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
KRITIKA RASTOGI
Executive Summary
Social Networking – An Introduction
Social Networking Services
Types of Social Networking Services
Profile Based
Content Based Networking Services
White Label Social Networking Services
Mobile Social Neworking Services
Social Search
Social Networking Sites
A History of Social Networking Sites
Background
Objective
Engaging With Social Networking Sites
Attitude & Behaviour Towards Social Networking Sites
How people Use Social Networking Sites
Benefits & Opportunities
Privacy & Safety
Some Examples of Social Networking Sites
Six Degrees
Live Journal
Asian Avenue
Black Planet
My Space
Orkut
Hi5
Facebook
Twitter
Social Networking Sites Boon Or Curse
Advantages & Disadvantages
Research Methodology
Analysis & Findings
Conclusion
Limitations
Suggestions
Reference
WEBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Questionnaire
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The social networking sites are gaining a lot of popularity these days with
almost all of the educated youth using one or the other such site. These
have played a crucial role in bridging boundaries and crossing the seas and
enabling them to communicate on a common platform. It has become a
popular and a potential mean for them to stay friends with the existing ones
and to grow up their social circle at least in terms of acquaintances.
The question regarding the safety, privacy and the legal issues have been
cropping up all this time. Through this research we try to find out the impact
of these networking sites on the personal and professional lives of people
using them. It is a very subjective question to answer and is very opinion
based and the same is reflected in the research methodology adopted by
us.
The report is initiated with the definition of the objective followed with the
research methodology used along with the research design, sample size,
methods used for the purpose of conducting survey. It also incorporates the
sampling frame and the data collection procedure.
Subsequent to this is the Introduction to the networking sites along with a
brief description of the most popular sites. Then the issues of concern
which have come up along the way in all these years since these sites
gained popularity are discussed. The various issues and concerns of the
respondents are also incorporated there. The next part of the research has
the literature surveys which are the articles we took up from the published
reports. We then analyzed and interpreted the data at length. The last part
deals with the suggestions and recommendations that the group has come
up with after carefully analyzing and incorporating the opinion of all
concerned.
SOCIAL NETWORKING – AN INTRODUCTION
Social networking, we have all likely heard of it before, but not everyone
knows what it means? If you were asked to define what social networking
was, would you be able to give an accurate definition. Unfortunately, most
individuals cannot, even though it is likely that they participate in some form
of social networking ,especially online.
The friends that you can make are just one of the many benefits to social
networking online. Another one of those benefits includes diversity. Unlike
in most schools or workplaces, the internet gives individuals, from all
around the world, access to social networking sties. This means that
although you are in the United States, you could develop an online
friendship with someone in Japan. Not only will you make a new friend, you
but may also learn a thing or two about a new culture.
A changing landscape
“… technology has not only mediated
communication in countless ways, but ... the
very ways we communicate – and even the
ways we talk and think about communication –
are changing as a result.”
Definitions
Introduction
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. We chose not to employ the
term "networking" for two reasons: emphasis and scope. "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",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."
Most SNSs also provide a mechanism for users to leave messages on their
Friends' profiles. This feature typically involves leaving "comments,"
although sites employ various labels for this feature. In addition, SNSs
often have a private messaging feature similar to webmail. While both
private messages and comments are popular on most of the major SNSs,
they are not universally available.
Not all social network sites began as such. QQ started as a Chinese instant
messaging service, LunarStorm as a community site, Cyworld as a Korean
discussion forum tool, and Skyrock (formerly Skyblog) was a French
blogging service before adding SNS features. Classmates.com, a directory
of school affiliates launched in 1995, began supporting articulated lists of
Friends after SNSs became popular. AsianAvenue, MiGente, and
BlackPlanet were early popular ethnic community sites with limited Friends
functionality before re-launching in 2005-2006 with SNS features and
structure.
According to the definition above, the first recognizable social network site
launched in 1997. SixDegrees.com allowed users to create profiles, list
their Friends and, beginning in 1998, surf the Friends lists. Each of these
features existed in some form before SixDegrees, of course. Profiles
existed on most major dating sites and many community sites. AIM and
ICQ buddy lists supported lists of Friends, although those Friends were not
visible to others. Classmates.com allowed people to affiliate with their high
school or college and surf the network for others who were also affiliated,
but users could not create profiles or list Friends until years later.
SixDegrees was the first to combine these features.
SixDegrees promoted itself as a tool to help people connect with and send
messages to others. While SixDegrees attracted millions of users, it failed
to become a sustainable business and, in 2000, the service closed. Looking
back, its founder believes that SixDegrees was simply ahead of its time (A.
Weinreich, personal communication, July 11, 2007). While people were
already flocking to the Internet, most did not have extended networks of
friends who were online. Early adopters complained that there was little to
do after accepting Friend requests, and most users were not interested in
meeting strangers.
The next wave of SNSs began when Ryze.com was launched in 2001 to
help people leverage their business networks. Ryze's founder reports that
he first introduced the site to his friends—primarily members of the San
Francisco business and technology community, including the entrepreneurs
and investors behind many future SNSs. In particular, the people behind
Ryze, Tribe.net, LinkedIn, and Friendster were tightly entwined personally
and professionally. They believed that they could support each other
without competing. In the end, Ryze never acquired mass popularity,
Tribe.net grew to attract a passionate niche user base, LinkedIn became a
powerful business service, and Friendster became the most significant, if
only as "one of the biggest disappointments in Internet history."
Figure 1. Timeline of the launch dates of many major SNSs and dates
when community sites re-launched with SNS features
Like any brief history of a major phenomenon, ours is necessarily
incomplete. In the following section we discuss Friendster, MySpace, and
Facebook, three key SNSs that shaped the business, cultural, and research
landscape.
BACKGROUND
The rapid growth of social networking that has been observed over the last
two to three years is indicative of its entry into mainstream culture and its
integration into the daily lives of many people. In parallel with this, there has
also been considerable media coverage of the growth of social networking,
its potential positive outcomes and concerns about the way that
some people are engaging with it. Social networking sites offer people new
and varied ways to communicate via the internet, whether through their PC
or their mobile phone. They allow people to easily and simply create their
own online page or profile and to construct and display an online network of
contacts, often called ‘friends’. Users of these sites can communicate via
their profile both with their ‘friends’ and with people outside their list of
contacts. This can be on a one-to-one
basis (much like an email), or in a more public way such as a comment
posted for all to see. For the purpose of this research report we have
purposely focused on the social and communications aspects of social
networking sites. We have deliberately not included either online networks
dedicated to business networking, or user-generated content (UGC) sites
(as the latter’s primary focus is on content creation and sharing rather than
the development of online social networks). Like other communications
tools, social networking sites have certain rules, conventions and practices
which users have to navigate to make themselves understood and avoid
difficulties. These range from the etiquette of commenting on other people's
profiles to understanding who one does and doesn’t add as a ‘friend’.
Social networking sites also have some potential pitfalls to negotiate, such
as the unintended consequences of publicly posting sensitive personal
information, confusion over privacy settings, and contact with people one
doesn’t know. Several of the issues around the use of social networking
sites are important from a media
literacy standpoint. Section 11 of the Communications Act 2003 requires
Ofcom to promote media literacy. We define media literacy as ‘the ability to
access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts’. In
practice, this means that we are seeking to bring about and encourage
better public understanding and awareness of the digital media in use
today. One element of Ofcom’s Media Literacy Strategy is to provide a
robust evidence base to
help define future priorities for Ofcom. Research helps us identify the
issues, direct our activity and inform progress towards achieving our goals.
The purpose of this report is therefore to provide evidence-based insights
into the social networking phenomenon which can be used to inform current
understanding of usage and behaviour in the UK, and to help identify some
of the current and potential future issues around people’s use of social
networking sites.
OBJECTIVE
In this age of globalization, the world has become too small a place thanks
to the electronic media and portals. Communication has become effective
as never before thanks to the advent of internet. The social networking
sites have also played a crucial role in bridging boundaries and crossing
the seas and bringing all people at a common platform where they can
meet like minded people or find old friends and communicate with them. It
has become a potential mean to relation building and staying in touch with
all known.
Hence the objective that we wanted to achieve through our research is to:
Find out the influence of social networking sites on the personal and
professional life of the people- how it affects their relations, what are its
uses for each individuals and how have they been influenced by these
sites.
This report is the first dedicated look at social networking that has
undertaken. It seeks to understand how people are using social networking
sites as well as their attitudes to this form of communication.
Social networking sites are most popular with teenagers and young
adults
Theresearch shows that just over one fifth (22%) of adult internet users
aged 16+ and almost half (49%) of children aged 8-17 who use the internet
have set up their own profile on a social networking site.4 For adults, the
likelihood of setting up a profile is highest among 16-24 year olds (54%)
and decreases with age.
Despite the fact that the minimum age for most major social networking
sites is usually 13 (14 on MySpace), 27% of 8-11 year olds who are aware
of social networking sites say that they have a profile on a site. While some
of these younger users are on sites intended for younger children, the
presence of underage users on social networking sites intended for those
aged 13 or over was also confirmed by qualitative research conducted by
me.
The average adult social networker has profiles on 1.6 sites, and most
users check their profile at least every other day
Adult social networkers use a variety of sites, with the main ones being
Bebo, Facebook and MySpace. It is common for adults to have a profile on
more than one site - on average each adult with a social networking page
or profile has profiles on 1.6 sites, and 39% of adults have profiles on two
or more sites. Half of all current adult social networkers say that they
access their profiles at least every other day. The site people choose to use
varies depending on the user. Children are more likely to use Bebo (63% of
those who have a social networking site profile), and the most popular site
for adults is Facebook (62% of those who have a social networking profile).
There is also a difference between socio-economic groups: ABC1s with a
social networking profile were more likely to use Facebook than C2DEs,
who were more likely to have a profile on MySpace. Unless otherwise
stated, this report uses the term ‘children’ to include all young people aged
8-17.16 and 17 year olds are classed as adults for the purposes of the
media literacy audit, but children for the purposes of the Children, young
people and online content research.
For many children, the rules and restrictions that their parents set on social
networking siteusage are an important influencing factor in the child’s use
of social networking sites. Twothirds of parents whose children have a
social networking page say they set rules on their child’s use of these sites.
Most commonly these concerned meeting new people online and giving out
personal details. However, significantly fewer children (53% of those with
social networking profiles) say that their parents set rules on their use of
these sites.
• Followers – (many) people who joined sites to keep up with what their
peers were doing.
Non-users also appear to fall into distinct groups; these groups are based
on their reasons
for not using social networking sites:
• Concerned about safety – people concerned about safety online, in
particular making
personal details available online.
• Technically inexperienced – people who lack confidence in using the
internet and
computers.
• Intellectual rejecters – people who have no interest in social networking
sites and see them as a waste of time.
Although contact lists on sites talk about ’friends’, social networking sites
stretch the
traditional meaning of ‘friends’ to mean anyone with whom a user has an
online connection.Therefore the term can include people who the user has
never actually met or spoken to. Unlike offline (or ‘real world’) friendship,
online friendships and connections are also displayed in a public and visible
way via friend lists. The public display of friend lists means that users often
share their personal details online with people they may not know at all
well. These details include religion, political views, sexuality and date of
birth that in the offline world a person might only share only with close
friends.
Developing e-portfolios
41% of children aged 8-17 who had a visible profile had their profile set so
that it was visible to anyone (Children, young people and online content
quantitative research) and 44% of adults who had a current profile said
their profile could be seen by anyone6 (this was more likely among those
aged 18-24).
Our qualitative research found that some users willingly gave out sensitive
personal information. This was supported by the Get Safe Online research
which found that 25% of registered social networking users had posted
sensitive personal data about themselves on their profiles. This included
details such as their phone number, home address or email address.
Younger adults are even more likely to do this, with 34% of 16-24 year olds
willingly posting this information;
17% of adult users said they talked to people on social networking sites
that they didn’t know and 35% spoke to people who were “friends of
friends” Our qualitative research indicates that some people are more likely
than others to engage in potentially risky behaviour. This suggests that
communications about the implications of potentially risky behaviour may
need to be looked at in different ways for different groups of people.
Our qualitative research also showed that on the whole users appeared
unconcerned about these risks. There are several reasons for this, which
include, in no particular order:
• an assumption that privacy and safety issues have been taken care of by
the sites themselves;
• having consciously evaluated the risks, making the decision that they
could be managed.
Sixdegrees
Livejornal
Asian avenue
Black planet
My space
Orkut
Hi5
Facebook
Twitter
SIXDEGREES
Originally named AsianAvenue (or Asian Avenue), the site was launched
on July 21, 1997 by co-founders Benjamin Sun, Peter Chen, Grace Chang,
Michael Montero, and Calvin Wong. By 1998, The New York
Times described it as "unusually successful" despite being "run out of an
apartment", having hit five million page views from 50,000 users.
The site received over 70,000 unique visitor hits in August 2000. ] At its
peak, there were over 2 million users with more than 5000 online at any
time. Robert X. Cringelyclaimed in 2000 that Asian Avenue had more
members than BlackPlanet, a Community Connect sister site.
BLACK PLANET
The very first MySpace users were eUniverse employees. The company
held contests to see who could sign-up the most users. The company then
used its resources to push MySpace to the masses. eUniverse used its 20
million users and e-mail subscribers to quickly breathe life into MySpace,
and move it to the head of the pack of social networking websites. A key
architect was tech expert Toan Nguyen who helped stabilize the MySpace
platform when Brad Greenspan asked him to join the team.
ORKUT
As of February 2010, Alexa traffic ranked Orkut 57th in the world; the
website currently has more than 100 million active users worldwide.
HI5
Some users opt to make their profiles available for everyone on Hi5 to view.
Other users exercise the option to make their profile viewable only to those
people who are in their network. The network of friends consists of a user's
direct friends (1st degree), the friends of those direct friends (2nd degree)
and the friends of the friends of direct friends (3rd degree).
Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained notability and
popularity worldwide. It is sometimes described as "SMS of
theInternet." The use of Twitter's application programming interface for
sending and receiving text messages by other applications often eclipses
direct use of Twitter.
NOTABLE USAGE
Use in campaigning
Use in legal proceedings
Use in education
Use in emergencies
Use in protest and politics
Use in public relations
Use in space mission news
Used to survey opinion
Use in business
Use in fund raising
Use in prank
Yes, the Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, LinkedIn,
Twitter…….. etc are a powerful medium to stay in touch with your friends,
far away relatives, old teachers and even find your long-lost chaddi-
buddies. Isn’t that great!!!
Might be a “Yes” for some and a topic of discussion(and worry) for the
others!!?? But what’s the matter of worry? The answer is that such social
networking sites are a platform for making friends, joining groups and
networks, sharing pictures and videos, posting scraps and messages etc,
which might not be a good deal for the kids, pre-teens and teens even.
There might be anti-social elements active on such sites and privacy &
security are also topics of concern on these sites.
It is upon the user himself/herself that how carefully and judiciously he/she
uses this “resource”. Parents and teachers may also play a vital role in
guiding under-18s about such sites.
It is not like that no one should use such sites, but the betterment is in the
careful use of these networks!
The study found that, of the students observed, 94 percent used the
Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent had a profile on a
social networking site. When asked what they learn from using social
networking sites, the students listed technology skills as the top lesson,
followed by creativity, being open to new or diverse views and
communication skills.
Data were collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18,
in thirteen urban high schools in the Midwest. Beyond the surveyed
students, a follow-up, randomly selected subset were asked questions
about their Internet activity as they navigated MySpace, an online forum
that provides users with e-mail, web communities and audio and video
capabilities.
"What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually
practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be
successful today," said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies
researcher in the university's College of Education and Human
Development and principal investigator of the study. "Students are
developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing
and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout.
They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and
practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. The
Web sites offer tremendous educational potential."
Greenhow said that the study's results, while proving that social networking
sites offer more than just social fulfillment or professional networking, also
have implications for educators, who now have a vast opportunity to
support what students are learning on the Web sites.
"Now that we know what skills students are learning and what experiences
they're being exposed to, we can help foster and extend those skills," said
Greenhow. "As educators, we always want to know where our students are
coming from and what they're interested in so we can build on that in our
teaching. By understanding how students may be positively using these
networking technologies in their daily lives and where the as yet
unrecognized educational opportunities are, we can help make schools
even more relevant, connected and meaningful to kids."
Responses
• I feel it’s been a blessing.
To be honest I first started blogging via Bebo during a huge and very
sudden time of change. By blogging about what I was doing and posting
pics on Bebo, my friends and family could keep track of me, or they found
where I had gone when they came back from easter hols and I suddenly
wasn’t there anymore.
I’ve loved getting to know folks through blogging – and have e-mailed a fair
few too. It’s been fun and encouraging. It’s helped when I’ve had questions
or wanted inspiration or ideas. I hope that I do get to know some of my
‘blog friends’ in person one day. (I say that, but there are number of
bloggers in my church I have twitter/blog conversations with yet don’t speak
to them ‘in real life’).
Facebook has kept me in touch with old friends who I can’t see as much
anymore. It’s been especially good for sharing photos of my friends’ kids in
particular – to share the marvel as they are first born and grow up and
develop. It also makes things so much easier when we do finally get to see
each other ‘in person’ as we’ve kept in contact easily.
- Genelia Ryan
• Social networking has really taken off in recent years, and completely
rocketed in the past few months. Twitter is just one example, really
becoming extremely popular with celebrity users, and endorsements
from people like President Obama, and Stephen Fry.
I was chatting to Rick about whether twitter or second life for example
actually enhance relationships, or are we unintentionally growing apart
because of our love affair with technology. Are computer screens replacing
faces, is the keyboard replacing our vocal chords?
I read this article the other day, about how social networking is harming our
health.
Dr Aric Sigman says websites such as Facebook set out to enrich social
lives, but end up keeping people apart.
Even as I sit and type this I guess I can’t help but feel a little hypocritical.
For you guys reading my blog, how many of you actually know me? For all
you know this blog could just be a front, and I could be pretending to be
someone that I’m not, and you wouldn’t know the difference. Having said
that, most of my blog readers are genuine friends that I do interact with in
real life.
I was thinking about this last week as I went out to the Belfast Twestival, I
got seriously slagged off for heading to it. It essentially was a charity
fundraiser event, organised via twitter, where twitter users in each city met
up. Now while I will agree that on some level it is a fairly geeky gathering, I
think it isn’t as bad as many people would initially think. Here’s what I
mean, what is worse, having quite a few friends online, or ‘followers’ in
twitter terms, living within a few miles of you, and never meeting them? Or
having these friends and people online, but actually meeting them in real
life, going to gigs, etc…
For me, personally, I enjoy using social networking to keep in touch with
friends that have moved away from home, and people that I don’t get to
catch up with very often. As well as that I use twitter, and blogs etc to
connect with, and get to know other people across the world, I can chat
with other photographers, and stuff, who without social networking I
wouldn’t have heard of.
- Ketan Rai
CURSE..!!!
If you don't yet think that you need to be on Facebook then consider this a
very firm 'wink' that you do. It's where all the action is and will almost
certainly help reconnect you with old friends and find new people (and new
distribution outlets) too.
If like me you were put off by the spam-a-minute MySpace and its still
ridiculously pathetic search facility then you'll be very pleased to know that
Facebook has nailed both these issues. Use of the site is a pleasure in
comparison to MySpace.
But Facebook and all social networking sites for that matter face a growing
problem - the problem of fashion.
Social networking sites by their very nature are trend based. They can be
fashionable for a bit, but after a while a new one comes along which is
cooler. Switching between two social networking applications is becoming a
right of passage, 'you're still using Friendster? That's so last year'.
So does this mean social networking sites are no different from trendy
nightclubs or this season's clothes? To an extent yes. Websites have
entered the world of fashion by exposing the site we use most to our
friends.
It may well be that social networking sites transcend all this by continuing to
offer genuine utility or huge lock in. MySpace is still huge, but that's
because of the heavy customization it allows its users which Facebook has
stayed clear from, and its URL structure. Users of MySpace are less likely
to switch to another site than users of Facebook - there's more investment.
Facebook almost makes it too easy.
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
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.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL
NETWORKING SITES
ADVANTAGES
5) Refined Search
Only social networking sites offer internet users with a search directory that
you can use to locate particular individuals or groups. You can search by
categories like location, industry, interests and other unique preferences.
This way, you do not waste your time and resources establishing
connection with people you and your business have nothing in common
with.
6) Affordable visibility
Since most of these social networking sites are free, you should maximize
them. Make sure that the profile you created will be interesting for the
readers. Also, you should make it more personalized by adding interesting
articles, images, videos and even reviews of your products.
7) Receptive Members
The concept of social networking sites lies on the premise that members
have at least one thing in common. Because of this, it is not surprising that
you will receive messages from people you do not really know or likewise,
you could be interested in establishing contact with some of the members
who might interest you.
8) Built-in Group
Social networking is known to have its good effects too and whether the
advantages outweigh the disadvantages is still a controversy. However,
social networking has some important advantages that are worth
considering. Social networking has made it easier for people to find each
other. Most of the time, all the author needed was to type the name of an
individual or long lost friend he was looking for and he was provided with a
link to their Facebook profile. Facebook has become a tool that not only
provides people with the ability to connect together but also gives people
the ability to be a part of each other's lives and knowing what is happening
at almost every point in time in a friend's life as long as they disclose it. In
application to the Nigerian institutions, social networking is becoming a fad
among professionals. Various people in different phases and professions in
corporate Nigeria have began to use Facebook for both its social and
professional benefits. Facebook is now used to publicize Nigerian brands,
events and companies. A few Nigerian creative trades such as musicians,
movie makers, photographers and their likes have begun to use Facebook
as a vehicle to gain exposure and let people have an air of the services
they render. PR and marketing professionals in Nigeria are getting more
pro-active about using the internet to serve their clients and researching
into various methods that can be used to accomplish their marketing and
advertisement goals through social networks. The diverse audience on
social networks makes it easy to reach out to a large set of people if
publicity is done right. This opens doors to possibilities in terms of
communication.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A considerable amount of work has been done in this field and several
articles are available on the internet and magazines about the social
networking sites. So first we carried out a literature survey of the available
data for collection of secondary information. We followed it by a descriptive
research design in order to understand the problem and carry out the
research in a lucid manner.
SAMPLING:
The extent of the survey was limited. However, through online survey some
regions outside Moradabad were also reached to validate the information
collected from Moradabad.
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.
Male 69%
Female 31%
31%
male
female
69%
below 15 yrs 2
15-19 yrs 0
20-24 yrs 64
25-29 yrs 28
30 yrs and above 1
70
64
60
50
40
30 below15 yrs
28 15-19 yrs
20
10 20-24 yrs
2 25-29 yrs
0 0
below 15 yrs
1
20-24 yrs
70
percentage users
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5
number of sites used
By this we infer that although these networking sites are getting very
popular these days, most of the students use one site with the second
majority being of those who use two networking sites.
Now we will analyze which sites are the most popular ones.
Sites Users
Only Orkut 57
Orkut 94
Facebook 34
Yaari 6
My space 6
Hi5 6
Popularity of sites
100
90
80
70
60
Percentage users 50 94
40
30 57
20 34
10 6 6 6
0
Only Orkut Facebook Yaari My space Hi5
Orkut
Sites
Orkut is a hands down winner in this regard. One major interpretation here
is that 59% users who use only 1 networking sites, 99% of them use orkut.
Considering the overall data, 94% students
seem to use orkut site which makes it the most
popular one. The second most popular is
facebook which is used by 34% people
followed by a 6% share by each yaari,
myspace and Hi5.
The number of hours spent on these
Hours Respon networking sites should be analyzed here to
per week dents determine what impact it would have on the
15 13 users. The more the time spent, more
probability of these sites being beneficial is
10 to 14 15 there.
6 to 9 22
3 to 5 24
1 to 2 18
less than
1 8
What else these students would be doing if not surfing on these sites
during that time. When we asked that question during the survey, we
arrived at a number of such things?
Percenta
Activites ge
Studying 18
Socialising 48
Constructive
work 11
Reading
novels 22
Others 8
Most of the students would use the spare time for Socialising or hanging
out with friends if they were not using these networking sites. 40% were of
the opinion that they would be studying or reading novels and books which
means that these networking sites are leaving the students with less time to
study and to read books and novels. 8% said that they would be doing
some other things like social work, sports, pursuing their hobbies etc.
What is it that attracts the students to spend time surfing rather than doing
other things mentioned above. Some said it was because they could make
more friends, some said it was easier for them to stay in touch with their
existing friends, for others it was to find old friends, to share a love
relationship with or to find and interact with people with common interests.
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.
The impact on youth can also be determined by analysing if these people
have met anyone in personal through these networking sites.
Personal meetings
W ho met through
networking sites
W ho did not meet
through these sites
About 29% of the users have met someone personally through these
networking sites which is a huge number as it takes a lot of trust in meeting
someone personally. Here, the question arises regarding safety and trust
as a lot of people fake their profiles.
For some, these networking sites make them feel comfortable in their
sexuality. For 49%, 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.
The networking sites for sure have some beneficial effects on the users.
Lets examine now how these social sites have benefited the users.
BENEFITS USERS
More friends 25%
Better connectivity 63%
Found my life partner 1%
Enjoy leisure or time when I am
alone 22%
Link with prospective recruiters 7%
Better connectivity is what these sites definitely provide. Also people seem
to have more friends through their use. It happens due to finding out old
friends and also remaining in close connection with the old as well as the
existing friends. This also gives its users a way to enjoy themselves or the
leisure time when they are alone. They can be themselves and also remain
in touch with friends at the same time.
Another benefit is the opportunity to connect with the prospective recruiters
and to find employment through these sites. Only an exception of 1% found
their life partners through this.
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.
NEGATIVE
IMPACT (a) 20%
POSITIVE
IMPACT (b) 80%
20%
80%
NEGATIVEIMPACT(a)
POSITIVEIMPACT(b)
From that of 20%, 55% feels that loss of time is the major cause of negative
impact while 20% feels its loss of privacy and 15% feels that it makes them
more dependent on electronic medium. Only 5% of the 20% people feel
that it creates some emotional disturbance or less emotional bonding in
relationships.
IF YES PERCENTAGE
LOSS OF PRIVACY (a) 4
LOSS OF TIME (b) 11
RELIANCE ON ELECTRONIC
MEDIUM (C) 3
LESS EMOTIONAL BOND IN
RELATION (d) 1
ANY OTHER (e) 1
LOSS OF PRIVACY (a)
LOSS OF TIME (b)
RELIANCE ON ELECTRONIC MEDIUM (C)
LESS EMOTIONAL BOND IN RELATION (d)
ANY OTHER (e)
5%
5%
20%
15%
55%
There was no clear view that came out of the survey regarding the stand
whether parent’s discretion and monitoring is required while there children
use these social networking sites. Because 48% of the respondents
thought that it is required while 52% said that they don’t think it is correct.
The survey also shows that only 36 people feel that social networking sites
invade in their privacy. When we looked at the specific question asking
about if parents discretion and monitoring is required in this case for
children using these sites, we get almost 48 saying definitely yes. So we
see that these things indicate that there is no as such anything wrong with
the social networking sites and people find it useful too.
IF THERE IS INVASION OF
PRIVACY
YES (a) 36%
NO (b) 64%
36%
64%
It clearly shows that social networking sites are having no crucial negative
impact on people’s life.
CONCLUSION
A social networking web site is an online community in which people can
connect to others with similar interests. Since their start in 1995 with
Classmates.com, social networking web sites have grown enormously to
include such huge sites today as hi5.com, Facebook.com, and orkut.com.
Through these sites businesses’ can use social networking web sites to
connect to potential employees, market new products, and get feedback on
their current products as well as new ideas for future products. Although
there are many valuable assets to social networking web sites, there are
also major issues that the sites must address such as the protection of
private information, the protection of children, and the protection of
copyrighted material. Although they have issues, social networking web
sites are still one of the best inventions of the modern era because they
connect so many people.
LIMITATIONS
The sample size that we have taken is 100 which we are assuming
that it is homogeneous and enough to carryout the research.
The concept of social networking sites is not very old in India thus
not much of research has been done in regards to its effects.
SUGGESTIONS
Some ideas for future research for social networking websites would be
personal contact offices to register on these sites to determine the
legitimacy of the person who is trying to register. Although this would most
likely end up a great hassle, it would provide the best security out there for
people who are trying to have safe fun and connect with people that share
similar interests and ideas.
Another future tool social networking websites could use would be a
licensing agreement with certain parties to prevent copyright infringement
from happening on the Internet.
REFERENCES
WEBLIOGRAPHY
www.economist.com
www.resourceshelf.com
www.indiastudychannel.com
ebusinesswins.blogspot.com
ezinearticles.com
www.pewinternet.org
http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing
http://media.www.emorywheel.com/media
http://www.edutopia.org/community
http://www.educause.edu/
http://www.arcamax.com
www.libraryclips.blogsome.com
www.futurelab.com
www.ofcom.org
www.zengestrom.com
www.zephoria.org
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, S. (2006) A privacy paradox: Social networking
in the United States
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name:
Gender
a. Male b. Female
Age-Group
a. Yes b. No
a. 4 and above b. 3 c. 2 d. 1
3. Select the sites that you use:
4. How many hours per week do you spend on using these sites?
f. less than 1
5. If you were not using these sites, what would you have done to utilise
that time?
a. Yes b. No
8. Do you think social network sites help you to feel comfortable in your
sexuality?
a. Yes b. No
a. Yes b. No
11. Do you think that there is invasion of privacy through these networking
sites?
a. Yes b. No
12. Do you feel that parents’ discretion and monitoring is required in this
case for children using these sites?
a. Yes b. No
a. Yes b. No
___________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
14. Have you ever had any negative/bad experience from these networking
sites?
a. Yes b. No
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________