Research Report Social Networking Site

“SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
A Research Report Into Attitudes

Behaviors And Use”
A PROJECT STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

FOR THE REQUIREMENT OF THE TWO YEAR POST
GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT (FULL-TIME)
BY
NIPUN TRIKHA
58 / 2008-10
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

Prof. S. M. Parihar
LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, DELHI
JAN 2010
[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Page No.
1. Title Page (i)
2. List of Contents (ii)
3. Executive Summary 4
4. Introduction to the problem 6
5. Objective &Rationale of Study 8
6. Review of Literature 15
7. Research Methodology 19
8. Result 21
9. Conclusion 28
15. bibliography 30

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LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, DELHI
Sector-3, R. K. Puram, Delhi
Dated……………
CERTIFICATE
Certified that Mr Nipun Trikha has successfully completed Project Study

entitled “Social Networking Sites: A Research Report into attitude
behavior and use” under my guidance. It is his / her original work, and is fit
for evaluation in partial fulfillment for the requirement of the Two Year (Full-
Time) Post Graduate Diploma in Management.
Nipun Trikha Dr. S Parihar

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EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

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Executive Summary
The rapid growth of social networking that has been observed over the last two to three years is
indicative of its entry into mainstream culture and its integration into the daily lives of many
people. In parallel with this, there has also been considerable media coverage of the growth of
social networking, its potential positive outcomes and concerns about the way that some people
are engaging with it.
Social networking sites offer people new and varied ways to communicate via the internet
whether through their PC or their mobile phone. They allow people to easily and simply create
their own online page or profile and to construct and display an online network of contacts, often
called ‘friends’. Users of these sites can communicate via their profile both with their ‘friends’
and with people outside their list of contacts. This can be on a one-to-one basis (much like an
email), or in a more public way such as a comment posted for all to see. For the purpose of this
research report we have purposely focused on the social and communications aspects of social
networking sites. We have deliberately not included either online networks dedicated to business
networking, or user-generated content (UGC) sites (as the latter’s primary focus is on content
creation and sharing rather than the development of online social networks).
Like other communications tools, social networking sites have certain rules, conventions and
practices which users have to navigate to make themselves understood and avoid difficulties.
These range from the etiquette of commenting on other people's profiles to understanding who
one does and doesn’t add as a ‘friend’. Social networking sites also have some potential pitfalls to
negotiate, such as the unintended consequences of publicly posting sensitive personal
information, confusion over privacy settings, and contact with people one doesn’t know. This
research aims at finding the response of the users and non users towards this form of
ommunication. It is also an attempt to profile the users among different types depending upon
heir style of usage and their motivating factors.

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OBJECTIVE
&
RATIONALE

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Objective of Study
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
To understand the attitude and behavior of the users of social networking sites.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVEs:
1. To analyze the usage pattern of different users and segment the users depending upon
them.
2. To collect information about why certain segments of internet users still reject these sites.
3. To find whether there exist any scope of personalization/customisation of services on

these sites.
Rationale and Scope of study

Social networking sites are the most visited sites on internet today. They take major chunk of the
usage time of interent for majority of users. Apart from mailing and knowledge based services
these sites are most demnded sites. In wake of this scenario there is a felt need to understand the
users of these sites. Understanding the attitude and behavior of these users will help marketers in
general and these companies in particular in having a focused approach while reaching out ot
their custoemers through the medium of interent

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INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES:

At the most basic level social networking sites are sites which allow users to set up online profiles or
personal homepages, and develop an online social network. The profile page functions as the user’s own
webpage and includes profile information ranging from their date of birth, gender, religion, politics and
hometown, to their favorite films, books quotes and what they like doing in their spare time. In addition to
profile information, users can design the appearance of their page, and add content such as photos, video
clips and music files.
Users are able to build a network of connections that they can display as a list of friends. These friends
may be offline actual friends or acquaintances, or people they only know or have met online, and with
whom they have no other link. It is important to note that the term ‘friend’, as used on a social networking
site, is different from the traditional meaning given to the term in the offline world. In this report we will
use the term as it is used on a social networking site: anyone who has invited, or been invited by, another
user, to be their ‘friend’.
In a more collaborative and peer-to-peer manner
Users communicate and collaborate while at the same time contribute and participate
Is shaping the way you work and interact with information on the web
Mindset change towards collaborative participation
Shifts the focus to the user of the information
User can search, choose, consume and modify the relevant content
Business applications
The use of social network services in an enterprise context presents the potential of having a
major impact on the world of business and work (Fraser & Dutta 2008).
Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small
businesses looking to expand their contact bases. These networks often act as a customer
relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also
use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate
globally, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world.
One example of social networking being used for business purposes is LinkedIn.com, which aims
to interconnect professionals. LinkedIn has over 40 million users in over 200 countries.

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Industry analysis
The number of social networking sites is exploding throughout the world. On the basis of content
there are their types of sites:
1. Widget or component based: Provides software applications and components.
2. Aggregation/combination of information: collection of information e.g.

Download.com
3. Content sharing: users share and discuss personal and professional contents. eg orkut
and facebook
4. Collaborative filtering: Data is filtered to have a focused content Eg last.fm, in.fm

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This study is concerned with content sharing types social networking sites eg orkut and
facebook..
Like other communications tools, social networking sites have certain rules, conventions and
practices which users have to navigate to make themselves understood and avoid difficulties.
These range from the etiquette of commenting on other people's profiles to understanding who
one does and doesn’t add as a ‘friend’. Social networking sites also have some potential pitfalls to
negotiate, such as the unintended consequences of publicly posting sensitive personal
information, confusion over privacy settings, and contact with people one doesn’t know. This
research aims at finding the response of the users and non users towards this form of
ommunication. It is also an attempt to profile the users among different types depending upon
heir style of usage and their motivating factors.

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ANALYSIS OF SITES:
ORKUT
Orkut is a free-access social networking service owned and operated by Google. The service is
designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. The website is
named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten.
Although Orkut is less popular in the United States than competitors Facebook and MySpace, it
is one of the most visited websites in India and Brazil.[2] In fact, as of December 2009, 47.6% of
Orkut's users are from Brazil, followed by India with 38.5%
FEATURES:
• Themes
• Pho sharing
• Video sharing
• Gaming and horoscopes applications
• Communities
•
the following diagram gives the traffic on orkut on 1 jan 2009 and its brakup in terms of the
country:

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FACEBOOK
Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.
[1] Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify
friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace,
school, and region. The website's name stems from the colloquial name of books given at the start
of the academic year by university administrations with the intention of helping students to get to
know each other better.
Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook with his college roommates and fellow computer science
students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes while he was a student at Harvard
University.[5] The website's membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was
expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It later
expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to
anyone aged 13 and over. The website currently has more than 350 million active users
worldwide.[6]
FEATURES
• Themes
• Photo and video sharing
• Sending gifts
• Educational and other applications
HI5.COM
hi5 is a social networking website, which, throughout 2007, was one of the
25 most visited sites on the web. The company was founded in 2002 by
Ramu Yalamanchi who is also the current CEO. As of December 2007, hi5 had
over 98 million members. In hi5, users create an online profile in order to
show information such as interests, age and hometown and upload user
pictures where users can post comments. hi5 also allows the user to create
personal photo albums and set up a music player in the profile. Users can
also send friend requests via e-mail to other users. When a person receives a
friend request, he or she may accept or decline it, or block the user
altogether. If the user accepts another user as a friend, the two will be
connected directly or in the 1st degree. The user will then appear on the
person's friend list and vice-versa. Some users opt to make their profiles
available for everyone on hi5 to view. Other users exercise the option to
make their profile viewable only to those people who are in their network.
The network of friends consists of a user's direct friends (1st degree), the

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friends of those direct friends (2nd degree) and the friends of the friends of
direct friends (3rd degree)

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MYSPACE.COM
MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-

submittednetwork 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 herefore
MySpace, News Corporation, is headquartered in New York City. According to
Alexa Internet, MySpace is currently the world's sixth most popular English-
language 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 percent of visits to online social
networking websites.
The company employs 300 staff and does not disclose revenues or profits
separately from News Corporation. With the 100 millionth account being
created
on August 9, 2006, in the Netherlands and a news story claiming 106 million
accounts on September 8, 2006, the site reportedly attracts new registrations
at a
rate of 230,000 per day. As of December 18, 2007, there are over 300 million
accounts.
Apart from the ones that are stated above there are othere sites like
Linkedin, in.com that also provide some form of social networking but they do
not form the scope of the study as they are more concentrated on certain
functional aspects.
Some of such sites are:
1. Linked in for professionals
2. Download.com for widgets
3. In.com and list.fm for music lovers
4. Blogspots etc

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LITERATURE
REVIEW

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Social networking sites offer people new and varied ways to communicate via the internet,
whether through their PC or their mobile phone. Examples include MySpace, Facebook and
Bebo. They allow people to easily and simply create their own online page or profile and to
construct and display an online network of contacts, often called ‘friends’. Users of these sites
can communicate via their profile both with their ‘friends’ and with people outside their list of
contacts. The rapid growth of social networking sites in recent years indicates that they are now a
mainstream communications technology for many people. Ofcom office of communications has
done a research on several aspects of social networking sites and their results are as follows:
Users create well-developed profiles as the basis of their online presence

The qualitative research confirmed the importance of a well-developed profile to people’s use of
these sites. Profiles often contain very detailed information about the user, even though it is not
compulsory to provide this. Users also enjoy customising their profiles, posting photos, watching
video content, playing online games, and in some circumstances, experimenting with aspects of
their personalities. Building a profile in this way enables users to efficiently develop a wide
online social network by making the most of the communications opportunities that social
networking offers. Users derive significant enjoyment from the process of building a social
network, collecting a list of their friends and using this list of friends to browse others’ profiles.
Users share personal information with a wide range of ‘friends’

Although contact lists on sites talk about ’friends’, social networking sites stretch the traditional
meaning of ‘friends’ to mean anyone with whom a user has an online connection. Therefore the
term can include people who the user has never actually met or spoken to. Unlike offline (or ‘real
world’) friendship, online friendships and connections are also displayed in a public and visible
way via friend lists.
The public display of friend lists means that users often share their personal details online with
people they may not know at all well. These details include religion, political views, sexuality
and date of birth that in the offline world a person might only share only with close friends.
While communication with known contacts was the most popular social networking
activity, 17 % of adults used their profile to communicate with people they do not know.
This increases among younger adults
Both quantitative and qualitative research showed that communication was the most popular
activity on social networking sites. Users communicated mainly with people with whom they had
at least some form of pre-existing relationship. Sixty-nine per cent of adults who have a social
networking page or profile used social networking sites to talk to friends or family who they saw
regularly anyway, compared to 17% of adults who used sites to talk to those they didn’t already

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know. In particular users of all ages appreciated social networking sites as a means to manage
their existing relationships, and particularly for getting back in contact with old friends.
Among those who reported talking to people they didn’t know, there were significant variations
in age, but those who talked to people they didn’t know were significantly more likely to be aged
16-24 (22% of those with a social networking page or profile) than 25-34 (7% of those with a
profile). In their qualitative sample, several people reported using sites in this way to look for
romantic interests.
Only a few users highlighted negative aspects to social networking

The majority of comments in thier qualitative sample were positive about social networking. A
few users did mention negative aspects to social networking, and these included annoyance at
others using sites for self-promotion, parties organised online getting out of hand, and online
bullying.
Concerns about privacy and safety are not ‘top of mind’ for most users
The people who use social networking sites see them as a fun and easy leisure activity. Although
the subject of much discussion in the media, in ’s qualitative research privacy and safety issues
on social networking sites did not emerge as ‘top of mind’ for most users. In discussion, and after
prompting, some users in the qualitative study did think of some privacy and safety issues,
although on the whole they were unconcerned about them. In addition, their qualitative study
found that all users, even those who were confident with ICT found the settings on most of the
major social networking sites difficult to understand and manipulate. Several areas of potentially
risky behavitheir are suggested by the qualitative and/or quantitative research. These include:
• leaving privacy settings as default ‘open’ ( Social Networking qualitative research) – 41% of
children aged 8-17 who had a visible profile had their profile set so that it was visible to anyone
(Children, young people and online content quantitative research) and 44% of adults who had a
current profile said their profile could be seen by anyone6 (this was more likely among those
aged 18-24) (Adult Media Literacy Audit 2008);
• giving out sensitive personal information, photographs and other content ( social
networking sites research/Get Safe Online Report 2007). Their qualitative research found that
some users willingly gave out sensitive personal information. This was supported by the Get Safe
Online research which found that 25% of registered social networking users had posted sensitive
personal data about themselves on their profiles. This included details such as their phone
number, home address or email address. Younger adults are even more likely to do this, with
34% of 16-24 year olds willingly posting this information;
• posting content (especially photos) that could be reputationaly damaging ( Social
Networking qualitative research). Examples ranged from posting provocative photos to
photographs of teachers drinking and smoking being seen by their pupils and pupils’ parents; and
• contacting people they didn’t know (and/or didn’t know well) online/accepting people they
didn’t know as ‘friends’ ( Social Networking qualitative research) – 17% of adult users said
they talked to people on social networking sites that they didn’t know and 35% spoke to people
who were “friends of friends” (Adult Media Literacy Audit 2008).
Their qualitative research indicates that some people are more likely than others to engage in
potentially risky behavior. This suggests that communications about the implications of

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potentially risky behavior may need to be looked at in different ways for different groups of
people.
Their qualitative research also showed that on the whole users appeared unconcerned about these
risks. There are several reasons for this, which include, in no particular order:
• a lack of awareness of the issues;
• an assumption that privacy and safety issues have been taken care of by the sites themselves;
• low levels of confidence among users in their ability to manipulate privacy settings;
• information on privacy and safety being hard to find on sites;
• a feeling among younger users that they are invincible;
• a perception that social networking sites are less dangerous than other online activities, such as
internet banking; and, for some,
• having consciously evaluated the risks, making the decision that they could be managed.
Besides there is other relevant information from othere cources such as:
Social networking sites, which allow users to build or be part of
online
communities, account for 44% of the country’s Internet traffic
Social networking sites, which allow users to build or be part of online
communities, account for 44% of the country’s Internet traffic, according to a
report
by consulting firm JuxtConsult Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. The space is
dominated by global players such as Orkut, MySpace, Facebook and Hi5.
Google
Inc.’s Orkut, launched in 2004, isthe most popular social networking site
among
Indians with more than seven million users, but advertising is something the
site
has only recently dabbled with.
The Perils Of Social Networking BY BRIAN DEAGON

A virus, which has been fixed by Google, had affected between 4 lakh to 7
lakh
users
MUMBAI: Google recently added a new feature on Orkut where users can post
Active X Content on their friend’s scrapbook. But the feature turned out to be
Google’s nemesis as an attacker used the vulnerability and posted a virus
that
affected between 4,00,000 to 7,00,000 Orkut users. Though Google managed
to
fix the bug on Thursday, the incident has highlighted the security aspects of
social

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networking sites such as Orkut that have a huge following in countries like
India.
A Google official, who requested anonymity, admitted that because of this
bug
several people received scraps from friends, who claimed they had never
posted
any such scraps. “The newly introduced scrapbook feature had been
exploited,”
the official said.
According to Chetan Gupta, a 26-year-old independent cyber security expert,
“The
feature allows users to post clips, songs, animation etc on their as well as
other
user’s scrapbooks,” he said.

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Research
Methodology

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Research Methodology
1. Primary Research
Primary data is collected through personal interviews with the help of structured
questionnaires.
Sampling Technique: Convenient Sampling
Sample Unit: Members of houses with internet connection
Sample Frame: SNS users and non users in Delhi/NCR
Sample Size: 91
2. Secondary Research
A secondary literature revive will be done to study the reasons behind the growing usage
of such sites and what are the various behavioral patterns of users and how do these sites
impact their day to day lives.
QUESTIONAIRE DESIGN:
Questionnaire was divided into five major heads:
• General information
• Time spent on sites
• Activities
• Privacy and safety concerns
• Their analysis of sites

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DATA ANALYSIS
We had 91 filled up questionnaire. The data from these questionnaire was analyzed through
following techniques.
CLUSTER ANALYSIS : Cluster analysis or clustering is the assignment of a set of observations into
subsets (called clusters) so that observations in the same cluster are similar in some sense. Depepdnng
upon the various motivating factors and the styles of usage hierchical clustering techniques was applied.
There was no need felt for factor analysis as only few variables emerged from the study

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RESULTS

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RESULTS :
The respondents consisted of 69% male population:
Their age profile was as such:
Social networking sites are most popular with teenagers and young adults
This research shows that just over one fifth (22%) of adult internet users aged 16+ and almost
half (49%) of children aged 8-17 who use the internet have set up their own profile on a social
networking site.4 For adults, the likelihood of setting up a profile is highest among 16-24 year
olds (54%) and decreases with age.
Some under-13s are by-passing the age restrictions on social networking sites
Despite the fact that the minimum age for most major social networking sites is usually 13 (14 on
MySpace), 27% of 8-11 year olds who are aware of social networking sites say that they have a
profile on a site. While some of these younger users are on sites intended for younger children,

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the presence of underage users on social networking sites intended for those aged 13 or over was
also confirmed by qualitative research conducted .
The average adult social networker has profiles on 1.6 sites, and most users check their
profile at least every other day
Adult social networkers use a variety of sites, with the main ones being Bebo, Facebook and
MySpace. It is common for adults to have a profile on more than one site - on average each adult
with a social networking page or profile has profiles on 1.6 sites, and 39% of adults have profiles
on two or more sites. Half of all current adult social networkers say that they access their profiles
at least every other day. The site people choose to use varies depending on the user. Children are
more likely to use Bebo (63% of those who have a social networking site profile), and the most
popular site for adults is Facebook (62% of those who have a social networking profile). There is
also a difference between socio-economic groups: ABC1s with a social networking profile were
more likely to use Facebook than C2DEs, who were more likely to have a profile on MySpace.
Two-thirds of parents claim to set rules on their child’s use of social networking sites,
although only 53% of children said that their parents set such rules
For many children, the rules and restrictions that their parents set on social networking site usage
are an important influencing factor in the child’s use of social networking sites. Twothirds of
parents whose children have a social networking page say they set rules on their child’s use of
these sites. Most commonly these concerned meeting new people online and giving out personal
details. However, significantly fewer children (53% of those with social networking profiles) say
that their parents set rules on their use of these sites.
The qualitative research found that use of, and attitudes towards social networking sites (both for
users and non-users) fell into several distinct segments. Although qualitative in nature, these
segments provide an interesting insight into how people currently use and view social networking
sites. They also help to highlight that site users are not a uniform group in terms of use, attitudes
or behavitheir.
It is important to note that the segments for users and non-users had different bases. User
segments were organised on the basis of how users behaved when using social networking sites.
The non-user segments were drawn up using the basis of non-users’ reasons for not using the
sites.

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RESULTS OF SEGMENTATION:
5.1 User segments
The qualitative research found that users fell into five distinct segments based upon how they
used social networking sites, and in particular, how they interacted with others on these sites. The
following table summarises the segments:
Clusters uses gender age Sites used %age of Motivating
defined total factor
sample
Alpha Flirting, 80% Under 25 Orkut 22.5 social
socilaisers meeting new male engagement,
people
Attention Uploading 60% Under 25 Facebook 20 a desire to
seekers photos and female increase
gaining social capital
comments and status
Functional Interests ans Male All Linkedin, 7.5 self-
hobbies orkut expression.
Faithful Keeping up Female All Orkut, 20 Curiosity
with old facebook about the
friends lives of
others,
Followers Chatting with Female all orkut 30 Curiosity
friends/peers about the
lives of
others,
Alpha Socialisers (Male, under 25, a minority of the sample)

This group consisted of regular users who went on social networking sites often, but for short
bursts of time. They searched through the profiles of people they didn’t know (usually those of
the opposite sex), commented on their pictures in flirtatious ways and added them as friends. For
Alpha Socialisers, ‘friends’ on social networking sites were anybody they had added to their
friends’ list.
For this type of user the focus was very much on entertainment and on casual communication
with others, usually people they didn’t know. It was common for users to search through the
online friends of their existing contacts to find new people to contact. Through contacting friends
of friends, and even friends of friends of friends, it was possible for their networks to be very
large.
Some of these users reported meeting in person people they had met online, and saw meeting
‘friends of friends’ as safer than meeting complete strangers.

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Attention Seekers (Female, teens to 35+, some of the sample)
This group comprised social networking site users who craved interaction with others, often from
the Alpha Socialisers. Most of these users had posted photos of themselves and friends in
provocative poses, partying, drinking and portraying glamorous lifestyles. This type of user was
keen to customise their profile. They regularly updated their ‘skins’ (the style, coltheirs, and
design of their site home pages) to reflect an aspirational image, e.g. glitter and sparkle and
images of ‘hunky’ men. Attention Seekers were willing to collect friends from all over the world,
but tended to have actual online interaction with only a few people.
Attention Seekers’ profiles had a big effect on their social identity. They were typically quite
insecure, and for them social networking sites were all about entertainment and ego. It was
important to them that others commented on the photos they posted. This gave them a sense of
acceptance and increased their self-esteem.
Followers (male and female, all age, many in the sample)

Users in this group tended not to be early adopters of social networking sites but instead followed
trends in order to be part of what was going on with their peers. For Followers, it was crucial to
behave and look like their friends online – it gave them access to the ‘incrowd’. They tended to
have an intensive relationship with social networking sites initially, which then diluted over time
as they were not as passionate about the sites as were the other typologies. Users in this group
were much less likely than Alpha Socialisers or Attention Seekers to contact or meet people who
they did not know.
Faithfuls (male and female, older 20, many in the sample)

These social networking site users had high self-esteem, tended to be settled in their lives and
social worlds, and did not crave external affirmation as strongly as the Attention Seekers. Their
most regular use of social networking sites consisted of finding old friends rather than making
new ones, as they saw social networking sites as an efficient way of keeping in touch with friends
and maintaining diverse networks. For Faithfuls, social networking site use was part of their
wider social and cultural experience. These users were less likely to add people they didn’t know
as friends. For them social networking sites were useful tools to strengthen existing offline
networks rather than to create new, virtual ones. Some of their sample appeared to be using
Facebook and other social networks in much the same way as Friends Reunited – to look for old
school and university friends.
Functionals (male, older 20+, minority of the sample)

This last group was single-minded in their use of social networking sites. They logged on for a
purpose, such as looking for music and bands, rather than conducting small talk, flirting or
looking at others’ pictures and leaving comments. They reported being pestered to join social
networking sites by friends who were more involved in the sites, but were themselves more
occasional users, generally logging on for short visits For Functionals, ‘friends’ on social
networking sites were simply people they knew and with whom they shared common interests or
hobbies. At a base level, social networking sites served a certain purpose and only at a certain
time.

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5.2 Non-user segments
The quantitative research found that non-users made up 78% of adults and 51% of children (see
Figures 7 & 8 above). The qualitative research specifically included a small portion of non-users
to explore their attitudes to social networking sites and reasons for not using them.35
However, several broad reasons emerged why non-users did not currently use social networking
sites. These were:
• simply having no interest in using social networking sites as an activity;

• not having the time available to commit to using the sites;
• not wanting to ‘jump on board’ the social networking craze;
• preferring to rely on face-to-face and other forms of communications;
• witnessing the negative side of using social networking sites among friends and choosing to
‘steer clear’; and
• concerns around safety and being stalked by other users (on and offline).
The reasons given for not using social networking sites could be categorised broadly into
three groups: concerned about safety, technically inexperienced, and intellectual rejecters.
These are summarised in the following table
Concerned about safety and security

This was the largest non-user group in the sample and was more likely to include older
respondents, and particularly parents. It included both men and women. Parents were anxious
about safety risks online relating to their children and particularly the perceived dangers that
teenage girls might be stalked, either online or offline. Some parents in this category who were
not themselves users said that they might sometimes allow their children to have access to social
networking sites. However, they would often control the amount of time their children spent on
these sites. They also wanted more privacy and safety education about social networking sites.
Younger respondents who fitted into this group were concerned that they would be approached
by ‘stalkers’ and also feared that other users could get access to their personal details.
Technically inexperienced

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This group was smaller than the ‘concerned about safety’ group. Most of the people in this group
were over 30. They felt a general lack of confidence with computers and preferred traditional
means of communication. Most of the people in this group had manual jobs and were time-poor,
with little access to, or experience of, the internet. There were also some in this group who
wanted to use social networking sites but just did not know where to start. They were often
embarrassed to ask for help from their friends.
Intellectual rejecters
This was the smallest group in their sample and was mostly older teens and young adults. Most
people in this group thought that social networking sites were a waste of time, something for
people who were preoccupied with self-promotion, and something that was beneath them. Many
in this group were confident individualistic teenagers who spent much of their free time outside
the home, rather than inside with technology. Their mobile phone, rather than their computer,
was crucial to maintaining their social life.
Several of this group had heard about or witnessed problems with using social networking sites,
such as bullying, that they did not want to involve themselves with.

30
CONCLUSION

31
CONCLUSION:
1. Different users have different expectations from the sites. The reasons for flocking one
site over the other are based on one major factor : networking effect. People use these
sites to maintain peer to peer relationship, express their view etc.
2. Customers can be segmented on the basis of their usage into : alpha socialisers,
functional, followers, faithful and attention seekers. This information can be put to
significant use while generating revenue streams from more focused advertising. Hence a
definite scope of customization of serives exist, however it will require more investment
in the IT infrastructure of the companies.
3. There were three categories of people found who gave different reasons for not using
these sites: intellectual rejectors, technically incompetent
4. There is a clear overlap between the benefits and risks of some online social networking
activities. For example, the underlying point of social networking is to share information
and at the same time sharing such information includes certain risks.

32
BIBLIOGRAPHY

33
Bibliography
 "Social Nets Engage in Global Struggle" - 66% of MySpace and Facebook users come from North
America: Adweek website. Retrieved on January 15, 2008.
 Nexopia stats on Alexa.com
 Bebo - most popular of its kind in UK,(August 2007): TechCrunch website. Retrieved on January 15,
2008.
 German Xing Plans Invasion of LinkedIn Turf: article from the MarketingVox website.
 Elevator Pitch: Why Badoo wants to be the next word in social networking, Mark Sweney , The
Guardian, December 24, 2007 , Accessed March 2008.
 Hi5 popular in Europe: article from the PBS MediaShift website. Retrieved on January 18, 2008.
 "Why Users Love Orkut" - 55% of users are Brazilian: About.com website. Retrieved on January 15,
2008,
 The Network Nation by S. Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff (Addison-Wesley, 1978, 1993)
 David Andrews (1984). The IRG Solution, Souvenir Press, 1984.
 Cotriss, David (2008-05-29). "Where are they now: TheGlobe.com". The Industry Standard.
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/05/29/where-are-they-now-theglobe-com.
 A. Weinreich, 2007, cited by Boyd & Ellison (2007, p. 3)
 Steve Rosenbush (2005). News Corp.'s Place in MySpace, BusinessWeek, July 19, 2005. (MySpace
Page Views figures)
 "Social graph-iti": Facebook's social network graphing: article from The Economist's website.
Retrieved on January 19, 2008.
 News Corporation buys MySpace: BBC.co.uk website.
 ITV buys Friends Reunited: BBC.co.uk website.
 Over 200 social networking sites: InfoJuice website. Retrieved on January 19, 2008
 Nine Ways to Build Your Own Social Network, TechCrunch, July 24, 2007
 Gross, R and Acquisti, A (2005). Information Revelation and Privacy in Online Social Networks (The
Facebook case). Pre-proceedings version. ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society (WPES)

34
APPENDIX :
Cluster analysis provided us with five clusters
Final Cluster Centers

Cluster
1 23 4 5
MOTIV 1.56 3.02 2.3 2.23 3.8
USES 1.48 3.32 2.2 2.5 3.4
COMNTY 1.36 3.511.4 1.2 1.4
EXCTNEED 2.64 3.12 1.2 1.4 3.8
FREQ 2.16 3.15 2.2 2.15 2.3
AGE 1.70 2.22 2.2 2.8 2.8
Table 1: Cluster
Number of Cases in each Cluster

Cluster 1 23.000
2 21.000
3 12.000
4 26.000
5 20.000
Valid 91.000
Missing .000
Table 2 : Number of respondent in each Cluster

35
Questionaire
NAME OCCUPATION
AGE
Q1. Do you use any social networking site, if yes mention the name(mention all sites you have your
account on)……..
In case reposndent does not use any site.
What is the reason you do not use any such site?
a) Do not feel the need
b) Technically inexperienced or no access to interenet
c) Concerned about safety
TIME SPENT
Q3 . How old is your profile on the site?
Q4 How often do you access your profile?
a) Daily
b) Once a week
c) Occassionally
d) I create new profile whenever I have to use
ACTIVITIES
Q4. If you spend 2 hours on site, what will be your distribution on the following activities?
a) Chatting with peers
b) Leaving messages to old friends
c) Discussing on communitiesw
d) Business networking
e) Photo sharing
f) Other applications
Q5 Who are your friends on social networking sites?

1. Peers

36
2. Old friends/colleagues
3. Unknown
Q6. Which communities do you regularly access?

Q8. Which applications do you regularly use?
PRIVACY AND SAFETY

Q9. Are you concerned about your privacy and safety on these sites?
Q10 what measures you take to ensure the safety of users on these sites?
a) Make profile accessible only to friends
b) Restrict the usage by children of home

37

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“SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

A Research Report Into Attitudes

A PROJECT STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, DELHI

Contents Page No.

1. Title Page (i)

2. List of Contents (ii)

4. Introduction to the problem 6

5. Objective &Rationale of Study 8

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

Sector-3, R. K. Puram, Delhi

Certified that Mr Nipun Trikha has successfully completed Project Study

Nipun Trikha Dr. S Parihar

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

3. To find whether there exist any scope of personalization/customisation of services on

Rationale and Scope of study

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES:

In a more collaborative and peer-to-peer manner

Mindset change towards collaborative participation

Shifts the focus to the user of the information

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

1. Widget or component based: Provides software applications and components.

2. Aggregation/combination of information: collection of information e.g.

4. Collaborative filtering: Data is filtered to have a focused content Eg last.fm, in.fm

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

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MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-

Some of such sites are:

1. Linked in for professionals

2. Download.com for widgets

3. In.com and list.fm for music lovers

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

Users create well-developed profiles as the basis of their online presence

Users share personal information with a wide range of ‘friends’

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

Only a few users highlighted negative aspects to social networking

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

The Perils Of Social Networking BY BRIAN DEAGON

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Sampling Technique: Convenient Sampling

Sample Unit: Members of houses with internet connection

Sample Frame: SNS users and non users in Delhi/NCR

• Time spent on sites

• Privacy and safety concerns

• Their analysis of sites

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]

The respondents consisted of 69% male population:

Their age profile was as such:

[NIPUN TRIKHA (58/08)]