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Social Media Viability

and Effectiveness
Prepared By:

Asad Waheed
Justin Knott
Andrew Clark
Miguel Hernandez

November 25, 2014

Table of Contents
Introduction
Evaluation Methods
Results
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest
Facebook
Conclusions
Recommendations
References

Introduction
Since the beginning of the internet, people have been finding better ways to
socialize with each other. It started with a single email sent by Ray Tomlinson in
1971. In 2014, instead of emailing, we use social media to communicate. Thanks to
social media one is able to socialize with more people than ever before. Social
media has become more than just socializing; it has become the easiest way to
transmit news and other important information. Social media has made it so we
receive news instantaneous and uncensored. It has given people, who normally
would not have a voice, the ability to speak to people across Earth.
The purpose of the report is to discover how effective and relevant different social
media sites are to individuals aged 18-24 years old. This report provides in-depth
information on how college students view and use social media sites.
We asked students questions about some of the most used social media websites,
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. We gathered data ranging from how
easy the site is to use, to how effective the site is at gathering the information you
want to see. We analyzed our data and provide the favorite social media site for the
students across the UNT campus.
A brief overview, according to each social medias website:
Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and otherswho work,
study and live around them.
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read
short 140-character messages called "tweets". Registered users can read and post
tweets, but unregistered users can only read them.
Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that you can use to find ideas for all your
projects and interests.
Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series
of pictures.

Evaluation Methods

We established criteria in order to evaluate what would be considered the strongest

and most effective social media site of today.
For this study, we surveyed students across the UNT campus in-person on the basis
of four questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

How easy is it to use this social media site?

How spammy or commercialized is this social media site?
What is the quality of information on this social media site?
What is the likelihood of you using this social media in five years?

The choices provided for each question are a numerical range from one to five.
One represents least likely/easiest/least and 5 represents most likely/hardest/most.

Results
Instagram
Likelihood of Future
Use

Spam Levels

Quality of Information

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Ease of Use
Respondent

Answer

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10

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10

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According to the tables above, Instagram has an average ease of use of 2/5.
Making it rather easy to use. The amount of ads is scored at 1.67/5. This low score
is possibly due to the fact that advertisement on Instagram flow smoothly with
the layout of the app. The average likelihood of future use is 3.33 out of 5. This
shows that Instagram has moderate potential of sustaining future use. The quality
of information is rated at 3.75/5. This show that users on Instagram believe that
the content is fairly useful.

Twitter
Likelihood of Future
Use

Spam Levels

Quality of Information

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Ease of Use
Respondent

Answer

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Twitter scored fairly high on most of the categories. In Ease of use Twitter scored
a 1.86 out of 5, meaning twitter is extremely easy to use. In amount of ads it
scored a 3.42, meaning it has a large amount of advertisements. The average
quality of information on twitter stands at a 3.85 out of 5; this shows that Twitter
users find the content on the site very informative. The likelihood of future use is
where twitter scored the lowest. The average for this category was a 1.71 out of
4.

Pinterest
Likelihood of Future
Use

Spam Levels

Quality of Information

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Ease of Use
Respondent

Answer

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4

The average score of ease of use on Pinterest was a 1.63 out of 5. This low score
shows that Pinterest is relatively easy to use. The quality of information on this
site was rated at 3.75 out of 5 showing that Pinterest has very useful information
on it. The amount of ads is relatively low; it had a score of 1.6 out of 5. The
likelihood of future use is fairly high at 3.33 out of 5.

Facebook
Likelihood of Future
Use

Spam Levels

Quality of Information

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Respondent Answer

Ease of Use
Respondent

Answer

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Facebooks ease of is 3.15 out of 5. This shows that Facebook is rather difficult to
navigate. The amount of Ads is ranked at a 3 out of 5, showing that Facebook is
fairly full of advertisements. The quality of info is rated at a 3.07 out of 5, which
shows that Facebook has some information people find valuable. The likelihood of
future use is ranked at a 2.95 out of 5, showing it has some potential for the
future.

Conclusions
All four social media sites have their advantages and disadvantages. Instagram is
fairly easy to use, has a low amount of ads and the quality of info is tied with that
of Pinterest. The likelihood of future use is also very high. Pinterest is the easiest to
use, according to our results. The amount of ads is low and the quality of info is
high. The likelihood of future use is also ranked as the highest compared to the
other three sites. Twitter is rated as very easy to use, and the quality of information
is also rated highly. However the amount of ads is very high, and the likeliness of
future use is the lowest in the survey. Facebook was ranked as the most difficult to
use, and is rated as having many advertisements. Facebook also scored low in the

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quality of information category .The likelihood of future use is also the second
lowest of all four sites.

Recommendations
Based on the generated data, and the mean criteria scores, Pinterest is the strongest
social media site according to the survey, because it is:

Most likely of the four surveyed sites to be used in the future

The easiest site to use.
The least advertisements of all four social media sites
High quality of information compared to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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References
"Instagram." FAQ . N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.
"Social Media: U.S. Websites Ranked by Visits 2014 | Statistica." Statista. N.p.,
Sept. 2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
"The First Email Message." The First Email Message. University of Maryland, Mar.
2002. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.