Third Review Project.docx

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 Englishlanguage 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

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

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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

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US$ 50 million agreement between HCL Technologies and Meggitt, UK-based security apparatus manufacturer, for offering engineering facilities.

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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.

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VMware Inc, San Francisco-based IT firm is looking forward to invest US$ 100 million by 2010 in India.

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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

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SaaS Application Development

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Web Portal Development

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Java Software Development

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J2ME Mobile Application Development

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Migration, Enhancement, and Integration of Java Applications

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Java Application Maintenance

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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

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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 Finance Officer

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Accountant

Manager of Marketing

Delivery Head

Project Manager

Junior Executive Accounts

Human Resource Department

Team Lead

Software Trainees

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 AngloSaxon 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 everchanging 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. r=

N ∑ XY −∑ X ∑Y √ 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 chisquared 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 [( freedom. Where,

Oi

Oi−Ei )2 /

Ei

]with (n - 1) degrees of

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 1 2 3 4

PARTICULARS Graduate Post graduate ITI Diploma TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 34 23 44 19 120

PERCENTAGE 28 19 37 16 100

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 10,000-20000 20000-30000 30000-40000 40000-50000 Above 50000 TOTAL

1 2 3 4 5

RESPONDENTS 25 22 37 16 20 120

PERCENTAGE 21 18 31 13 17 100

CHART 5. 2

35 30

percentage

25 20 15 10 5 0 10,000-20000

20000-30000

30000-40000 particulars

40000-50000

Above 50000

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 1 2

PARTICULARS MALE FEMALE TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 92 28 120

PERCENTAGE 77 23 100

CHART 5. 3 90 80 70 percentage

60 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 1 2 2 4

PARTICULARS 20-30 30-40 40-50 Above 50 TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 8 18 40 54 120

PERCENTAGE 7 15 33 45 100

CHART 5. 4 50 45 40

percentage

35 30 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 1.

S

K

N

E

E

R

S

5.

YES

120

57

112

64

51

71

NO

0

63

8

56

69

49

TOTAL

120

120

120

120

120

120

CHART 5. 5

140 120 100 80 No Yes

60 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 1 2 2 4

CHART 5. 6

PARTICULARS PC MOBILE NOTEPAD OTHERS TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 36 62 10 12 120

PERCENTAGE 30 52 8 10 100

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 Obtain useful connection with

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

1 2 2

businesses Stay update to friends activities For fun and leisure Find information on

30 49 31

25 41 26

4

groups/events TOTAL

10 120

8 100

CHART 5. 7

REASONS FOR JOINING SOCIAL NETWORKING 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 si bu

in ta b O

us

es ss e n

th wi f n to o t e t c da ne p n u o y lc Sta efu

s nd ir e

a

es it v ct un rf o F nd Fi

d an

fo in

e ur ie s l

on at rm

on

ps ou r g

ts en v /e

REASONS FOR JOINING SOCIAL NETWORKING

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 Find new friends

39

Play interactive games

14

2

3 41

21

21 28

4

5 19

57

-

Chat (including comments and wall)

39

Check out how your friends are doing (photos, walls etc)

47

Update your profile

14

To pass time

44

17

20

37

29

7

51

43

12

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 to make new friends to find old friends to communicate with existing friends for relationships to find people with common

Percentage 40 34 52 60 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 1 2 2 4 5 6

PARTICULARS NONE 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 >20 TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 2 24 30 48 12 4 120

PERCENTAGE 2 20 25 40 10 3 100

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 5 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 1 2

PARTICULARS YES NO TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 78 42 120

PERCENTAGE 65 35 100

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

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

5

70 60 50 40 30 20 10

1 2 3 4

0 r de n Ge f ro e b m Nu

on m m co

s ok Lo

s nd e fri

a g.. e (

n

c ra t a

i ed tv

pi ay l sp

s) re u ct

u yo s e m Ga

ay pl

on m m Co

es bi b ho

d an

i

ts es r nte

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 1 2

PARTICULARS FRIENDS STRANGERS SELDOM PLAY INTERATIVE

RESPONDENTS 72 24

PERCENTAGE 60 20

3

GAMES IN FB TOTAL

24 120

20 100

CHART 5.12

PLAYING INTERACTIVE GAMES IN FB

N

FB

PERCENTAGE

SE LD OM

PL AY I

NT ER AT IV EG AM ES I

ST RA NG ER S

FR IE ND S

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

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 1 2 3

PARTICULARS YES NO CANT SAY TOTAL

RESPONDENTS 24 42 54 120

PERCENTAGE 20 35 45 100

CHART 5.13 CREATING ANY SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

20.00% Yes No I can’t say

45.00%

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

Agree

Neither

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Disagree

nor Advertisements are an intrusion to

35

44

Disagree 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

10

50

30

18

12

I am likely to receive In this busy lifestyle, the

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

15

35

32

27

11

33

49

21

9

internship offerings received from the ads with my family/friends Ads have had helped me in choosing 8 my product/services

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Advertsements are an intrusion to my privacy.

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree

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 I recognize the brand or

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

1

company It is a product or service I am

6

5

2

interested in I was attracted to an

24

20

2

image/person in the ad The ad offered a “free”

30

25

4

promo

48

40

12 120

10 100

I never clicked on an ad 5 TOTAL 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 1 2 2

PARTICULARS Strongly Agree Agree Neutral

RESPONDENTS 24 54 30

PERCENTAGE 20 45 25

4

Disagree

6

5

6 120

5 100

Strongly Disagree 5 TOTAL

CHART 5.16 AD HELPED IN CHOOSING THE PRODUCT/SERVICES 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 ag re e yD is

ag re e St ro ng l

Di s

l

Ag re e

Ne ut ra

St ro ng l

yA gr ee

PERCENTAGE

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

Informative Redundant Convenient Intrusive Short on Details Compact & Relevant

Agree

Disagree

97 47 95 58 94 87

23 73 25 62 26 33

Details CHART 5.17COMMUNICATING MARKETING UPDATES IN SOCIAL MEDIA 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 ve at rm fo In

Agree Disagree nt da n du Re

nt ie n e nv Co

s tru n I

i ve t or h S

on

i ta De

c pa m Co

ls

t&

i eta D t an v e l Re

ls

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 1 2 2 4

PARTICULARS Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree

RESPONDENTS 24 54 30 6

PERCENTAGE 20 45 25 5

6 120

5 100

Strongly Disagree 5 TOTAL PERMITTED STRANGERS FOR NETWORKING 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 ag re e yD is

ag re e St ro ng l

Di s

l

Ag re e

Ne ut ra

St ro ng l

yA gr ee

PERCENTAGE

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 1 2 2 4

PARTICULARS Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree

RESPONDENTS 30 48 24 6

PERCENTAGE 25 40 20 5

12 120

10 100

Strongly Disagree 5 TOTAL

CHART 5.19

INTERESTING OFFERS RECEIVED FROM ADS 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 ag re e yD is

ag re e St ro ng l

Di s

l

Ag re e

Ne ut ra

St ro ng l

yA gr ee

PERCENTAGE

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 1 2 2 4

PARTICULARS Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree

RESPONDENTS 30 48 24 6

PERCENTAGE 25 40 20 5

12 120

10 100

Strongly Disagree 5 TOTAL CHART 5. 20

ADS BENEFITS 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 ag re e yD is

ag re e St ro ng l

Di s

l

Ag re e

Ne ut ra

St ro ng l

yA gr ee

PERCENTAGE

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. b. c. d.

Graduate Post graduate ITI Diploma

2. Income( in Rs) a. b. c. d. e.

10000-20000 20000-30000 30000-40000 40000-50000 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

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

5

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

Agree

Neither Agree 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

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

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 a. b. c. d. e. f.

Disagree

Informative Redundant Convenient Intrusive Short on Details 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................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................