XLRI

Social sites usage behavior among XLRI

students
A project by Group 8
Mukesh Ranjan B14158 | Rushabh Vora B14186 | Monish
Agrawal b14156 |

Content
Background of Study
Definition of MDP, RP & RQ
Conducting Qualitative Research
Developing Hypothesis
Questionnaire
Data Collection
Testing Hypothesis
Drawing Managerial Implication & Conclusion
Limitation of Study

Executive Summary
Objectives
With the worldwide prevalence of Facebook, the consumer social media space has grown
at a remarkable rate within recent years. Social media services are aggressively targeting
markets in order to create a global social media presence. However, little is known about
how much, why, and how they use these sites.
The purpose of the research is to provide information about use of social media
networking sites by XLRI students. Our aim is to also highlight features that are important
for the students in a social networking website. Here we consider these questions with
respect to Facebook, a popular social networking website.

Research Methodology
In order to understand use of such networking websites, we performed qualitative
research to identify why XLRI students use these websites, how they interact, and nature
of its influence. Using these data, we have formulated a set of research problem to
address our management decision problem. These research problems have helped us in
identification variables relevant to our study. Using these variables we proposed a set
hypothesis. Finally to test these hypotheses, we have created a set of questionnaire to get
real data from XLRI students.
In the 2nd phase, we plan to get real data using this questionnaire and do a data analysis
to test these hypotheses.

Conclusion
This study will give insights to social networking sites on importance of various features
for a student. This would help them target this specific segment which is most active on
the social networking websites.

Background of Study
Social networking websites are a relatively new form of online communication. The first
Social networking website was SixDegrees.com, which was launched in 1997. The current
popularity of Social networking websites, however, is an even more phenomenon and it
wasnt until 2003 when they were considered mainstream. The top two Social networking
websites, MySpace and Facebook, began in 2003 and 2005, respectively. Today, there are
various networking websites available on the Internet such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo,
YouTube, LinkedIn, Orkut, Google (Google Plus), Flickr, Twitter and Ning as collaborative
tools for sharing and exchanging information.
Social networking websites have
grown in popularity among all
segments
of
society,
but
particularly among younger groups
such
as
university
students.
Facebook is an example of the
enormous
amount
of
social
interaction that occurs on these
websites. Globally, the company
has 1.35 billion users, while the
daily active users are 864 million.
Social networking is what Indians
spend most time on while online.
According to the latest figures
released by marketing research
company comScore, 84% of
India's Internet audience visit
social networking sites. This makes
India the world's seventh largest
market for social networking and
here are the 10 most frequented
social networking websites the
country.

Rank

Website

Estimated Monthly
Visitors

900,000,000

310,000,000

255,000,000

250,000,000

120,000,000

Growing Internet penetration and a large youth population Facebook expand its user base
in India to 112 million - which is the largest after the US. Facebook, which had more than
100 million users in April, saw its monthly active users (MAUs)'s base touching 112 million
at the end of September. The number of daily active users from India is 52 million.

Literature Survey
Over the past decade, the communication uses of the Internet have become a very
important part of young people's lives (e.g., Gemmill & Peterson, 2006; Jones, 2002).
Social networking sites are the latest online communication tool that allows users to
create a public or semi-public profile, create and view their own as well as other users'
online social networks (boyd & Ellison, 2007a), and interact with people in their networks.
Although research on young people's use of social networking sites is emerging (e.g., boyd
& Ellison, 2007b; Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Valkenburg, Peter, & Schouten, 2006),
questions remain regarding exactly what young people do on these sites, whom they
interact with on them, and how their social networking site use relates to their other online
(such as instant messaging) and offline activities.
A survey of college students in the U.S. showed that social networking sites are used for
social interaction with offline acquaintances in order to maintain friendships rather than to
make new friends (Ellison et al., 2007). In fact, these authors found a strong positive
relationship between Facebook use and social capital, or the resources gained through
social interactions. Surveys of teens and college students with social networking site
memberships reveal that youth primarily use these sites to stay in touch with friends they
see often and those whom they see rarely (Lenhart & Madden, 2007; Wiley & Sisson,
2006). In addition, about half of teens use social networking sites to make new friends
(Lenhart & Madden, 2007) and about half of college students use them to let others know
about me (Wiley & Sisson, 2006).
The goal of the present study is to provide information about use of social media
networking sites by XLRI students. Our aim is to also highlight features that are important
for the students in a social networking website using Facebook.

Management Decision Problem

Drivers for problem formulation
Six newly graduated MBA students from one of the most famous B-school in India (XLRI,
Jamshedpur) decided to travel against the tide and start on a social networking site of
their own. Faced with tough terrain ahead in the form of competition from some of the
biggest and very popular networking sites (like Facebook, twitter) they realized the
increasing complexity of business environment. They realized research, unless used with
good understanding of the problem and the research process most appropriate to
understand key issues, also poses its own challenges.
This has resulted in an acute need for a more in-depth understanding of issues at hand
and to find the feasible solution to the business problem. For this, the need for structured
and scientific business research gained their attention.
Founders: Monish| Rushabh | Mukesh | Kiran | Nikhil | Abhinav

Exercise before Problem Definition

1. Discussion with Decision makers:
As decided by the decision makers they want to drive more and more traffic to their social
networking site by making it more appealing to the youth. They want to start targeting
youth from the colleges itself and hence we have devised our MDP keeping in mind the
college students and the objective to identify factors which make social networking site
appealing to the college students.
2. Qualitative Research:
Qualitative research is very important for our purpose in order to prune down the number
of variables to be analyzed. Also it gives us a chance to examine the finer points, the

Management Decision Problem

How to make the proposed social networking site more appealing to XLRI students

Research Problem 1
To determine current usage behavior of XLRI students

Research Question 1.1

Why do students at XLRI use social media?

Hypothesis
H1: XLRI students use social media for professional networking
H1a: XLRI students do not use social media for professional networking
H2: Students use it for staying connected with recent events
H2a: Students do not use it for staying connected with recent events
H3: Students use it for chatting
H3a: Students do not use it for chatting
H4: Students use it for playing games
H4a: Students do not use it for playing games

Research Question 1.2

How long do they surf the social networking site?

Hypothesis
H1: Students spend at least an hour daily on social networking sites
H1a: Students do not spend at least an hour daily on social networking sites

Research Question 1.3

When do people prefer online communication to face-to-face communication?

Hypothesis
H1: Students prefer online communication to broadcast message simultaneously to
multiple people.
H1a: Students prefer face-to-face communication in such situations.

H2: Student prefer online communication to improve relationship with others

H2a: Student prefer face-to-face communication to improve relationship with others

H3: Students prefer online communication to establish contacts with new people
H3a: Students prefer face-to-face communication to establish contacts with new people

Research Problem 2
Determine the factors that affect users choice of Social Networking Sites

Research Question 2.1

Which features do users prefer on the social networking sites they are currently using like
facebook and twitter?

Hypothesis
H1: Students want easy search
H2: Students are concerned about privacy of personal information
H3: Students want their SNSs to be inter-connectable
H4: Photo and video sharing is preferred by students

Research Question 2.2

What is the impact of peers in deciding a particular choice?

Hypothesis
H1: Students prefer to use the same social networking site as others
H2: Number of active friends determines the time spent on social networking websites

Research Question 2.3

How important is users background in determining the choice of a social networking site?

Hypothesis
H1: Students having prior work experience tends to use LinkedIn more as compared to
others
H2: Politically inclined students tend to use twitter more

Research Problem 3
To determine the preferred medium of usage

Research Question 3.1

Which is the most preferred medium to connect to social networking sites?

Hypothesis
H1: Mobile phones are preferred to laptops
H2: Laptops are preferred to mobile phones

Research Question 3.2

Why do they prefer a particular mode of usage?

Hypothesis
H1: Availability impacts selection of the medium
H2: Features impact selection of a medium
H3: Ease of use impacts selection of medium

Research Question 3.3

When do they prefer a particular mode of usage?

Hypothesis
H1: Mobiles are preferred for casual work
H2: PCs are preferred when working in rooms
H3: PCs are preferred for urgent work

Questionnaire
Questionnaire
1. Which of the following are your reasons for social media use? (you can mark
multiple options)
a. Professional networking
b. Being connected with recent events
c. Chatting
d. Playing games
e. Others (Please specify)
2.
a.
b.
c.
d.

How long do you use social media sites daily?

Less than one hour
1 - 2 hours
2 - 3 hours
More than 3 hours

3.
a.
b.
c.
d.

How do you send broadcast message to multiple people?

Online sites and apps
Face to Face interaction with everyone
Send text message to all
Call everyone

4.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Which medium do you prefer to improve your relationship with others

Online sites and apps
Face to face interaction
Text messages
Phone calls

5.
a.
b.
c.
d.

How do you improve your contacts with new people?

Online sites and apps
Face to face interaction with everyone
Text messages
Phone calls

6. Which of the following features do you like in a social networking site? (you can
mark multiple options)
a. Easy search
b. Privacy
c. Inter-connectability between networking sites(e.g.: YouTube video can play in
Facebook)
d. Photo and video sharing
e. Others (Please specify)
7.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Which of the following is correct

I like to use site which my friends are using
I like to be the first mover to a new site
I like to use lesser known sites
Number of users on a site determine my choice

8.
a.
b.
c.

What is your Work experience

Less than 1 year
1-3 years
Greater than 3 years

9.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Chose the options that best suit your personality

Politically inclined
Professionally networked
Socially aware
None of the above

10.You connect to the social networking sites on

a. Cellphone
b. Laptops
c. Tablet
d. Shared PC like cyber caf, classroom computer
11.Why did you choose the option in the above questions
a. Easy availability
b. Richness of features
c. Ease of use
d. Others, please specify (
)

12.Which mode do you prefer for casual work

a. Cellphone
b. Laptops
c. Tablet
d. Shared PC like cyber caf, classroom computer
13.Which mode do you prefer for urgent work
a. Cellphone
b. Laptops
c. Tablet
d. Shared PC like cyber caf, classroom computer
14.Which mode do you prefer when working from hostel rooms
a. Cellphone
b. Laptops
c. Tablet
d. Shared PC like cyber caf, classroom computer