MR Project_Social Networking
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Transcript of MR Project_Social Networking
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8/7/2019 MR Project_Social Networking
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Marketing Research Project
OnStudy of Social Networking Habits
Research Objectives :
Identification and study of factors that attract people towards SocialNetworking
Prioritization of these factors as per consumers priorities
Study of variation in priorities with gender
Study of features desired by consumers in Social Networking sites
Segmentation of market on the basis of their usage patterns and preferences,using clustering
Submitted By :
Ambuj Agarwal (09BM8007)
Shikha Kaushal (09BM8030)
Sujeeth Rajavolu (09BM8053)
Shilpa Gautam (09BM8085)
P Uday Kumar (09BM8086)
DS Praveen Kumar (09BM8092)
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Social Networking - Exploration
Social Networking has been the topic of discussion in several articles across news
and magazines. What is it that drives people to it and what has led to its popularity.
This is an intriguing question people have been trying to answer for a long time.
This project attempts to hint upon these questions as to why people do social
networking online and what is important for a social networking site to keep in mind
while devising its features and specifications.
Scope of work: The scope of work was limited due to time and resource constraints.
Hence most responses from people herein involve people who are involved in social
networking.
In order to establish a set of factors affecting Social Networking habits of people, we
interviewed 6 people based on the Grounded Theory method. The interviews were
taken with no preconceptions and started with the question: What do you think when
you hear the words Social Networking? The further responses and questions were
then built upon the responses provided by the respondents. This process helped us
recognize about 34 primary factors which people associate with Social Networking.
Some of these factors could not be explored in the scope of the project and hence
were dropped. These factors are :
1. Alternative World
2. Enhanced Reach
3. Alternative Method of Communication
4. Time required
5. Sharing Achievements
6. Personal Moments
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7. Multimedia Content
8. Internet Connection
9. Professional vs Personal
10. Games
11. Communities/Followings
12. Change in SN habbits
13. Addiction
14. Mobile
a. Utility
b. Handy
c. Realtime
15. Office SN
16. Staying in touch
17. Information
18. Reunion with Long lost friends
19. Specific Interest Groups
20. Decision making
21. First hand Information Gathering
22. Publicity
23. Photos/Comments
24. Applications/Puzzles
25. Educative/Informative Exercises
26. Look and feel
27. Interface
28. Security/Privacy
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29. Friends Active
30. Integrated services
31. Uptime
To find the relative importance of these factors, we developed a questionnaire based
on these factors using interval scale. Details about respondents:
1. Total Responses: 58
2. Responses eliminated for coherence : 6
3. Male Respondents: 42
4. Female Respondents : 10
The responses from these questionnaires were analyzed based on:
1. Mean: The mean value of response given to a particular question ( Each
question asked the respondent for his level of agreement with a point ) was
found and interpreted to find the relatively more important factors. The
answers to the questions were ranked according to the Mean and the
responses were analysed on this basis. The lower the mean the more
important the factor.
2. Variance: The variance of questions was individually analysed to find whether
there was a significant variation of preference amongst different people. This
was done more in order to validate our sample set.
3. Correlation: Correlation was found between the responses to the questions.
The study of correlation would lead to the knowledge of dependence and can
help in eliminating unnecessary factors.
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4. ANOVA: The responses were analysed using this technique to verify whether
the top ranked factors were significantly varying statistically or not. This
analysis helped to club the relative importance into groups of statistically
similar level of responses.
5. Clustering: The respondents were clustered according to the responses
provided to us. This analysis helps in analysing the different type or grouping
present amongst the respondents who are involved with Social Networking. It
also helps to analyse whether there are some significant grouping amongst
the user to help identify varying need at a more macro level.
This analysis was done, considering limited time and resources of the project. In
case there is more time we can work on more detailed analysis using factor analysis
and conjoint analysis.
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Social Networking - Description
ANOVA test:
ANOVA taking all the variables:
The F value is greater than Fcritical value hence we all the questions or variables we
considered are not statistically same.
ANOVA taking only top three variables:
The F value is less then Fcritical value hence we can assume that the variables or
questions are not significantly different from each other.
Correlation test:
The correlation test indicates that there is no significant correlation between any of
the questions. But a decent amount of correlation can be found between the
questions Social Networking sites help in taking simple decisions via taking inputs
from others and Informative/Educative exercises on Social Networking sites are a
big boost. This could be due to the fact that informative and educative exercises
help in taking simple decision.
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Over all relative importance of variables/factors: We found the following relative
importance for the various variables/factors from the survey results
Question or variable Ranking
Social Networking sites have helped you
reunite with your old friends you lost
track of.
1
Security/Privacy on Social Networking
sites is a major issue.
2
With Social Networking, you have found
your geographic reach of friends
enhanced.
3
Social Networks Provide an alternate
channel of communication. You find it
easier to communicate over Social
Networks.
4
You can spend a lot of time on Social
Networking sites.
5
The multimedia content showing
videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a
boost for your Social Networking
impulse.
6
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You would like to receive first hand
information from people.
7
You prefer to have all your Social
Networking needs at a single place.
8
Social Networking is an option to pass
time and lighten your mood by playing
games
9
Social Networking on mobiles provide a
very good option and has good utility.
10
You would like to share your
views/opinions and follow those of
others sharing a common
hobby/characteristics.
11
You would prefer a website with a better
interface than with better features.
12
Social Networking provides an alternate
world for you?
13
Your friend brought you into social
networking.
14
Informative/Educative exercises on
Social Networking sites are a big boost.
15
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Social Networking sites help in taking
simple decisions via taking inputs from
others
16
First priority is given to reuniting with old friends who you have lost track of ,
followed by security and privacy concerns. Third priority is given to enhanced
geographic reach by social networking sites.
Male participants priority:
The priority of the variables for the male participants was found to be as follows.
There is almost no change of priority for the male participants from the overall
priority. This could be due the skewed data points towards male participants. Note
that there are 5 times the male participants to female participants.
Question or variable Ranking
Social Networking sites have helped you
reunite with your old friends you lost
track of.
1
Security/Privacy on Social Networking
sites is a major issue.
3
With Social Networking, you have found
your geographic reach of friends
enhanced.
2
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Social Networks Provide an alternate
channel of communication. You find it
easier to communicate over Social
Networks.
4
You can spend a lot of time on Social
Networking sites.
5
The multimedia content showing
videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a
boost for your Social Networking
impulse.
6
You would like to receive first hand
information from people.
7
You prefer to have all your Social
Networking needs at a single place.
8
Social Networking is an option to pass
time and lighten your mood by playing
games
10
Social Networking on mobiles provide a
very good option and has good utility.
9
You would like to share your
views/opinions and follow those of
others sharing a common
11
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hobby/characteristics.
You would prefer a website with a better
interface than with better features.
13
Social Networking provides an alternate
world for you?
12
Your friend brought you into social
networking.
14
Informative/Educative exercises on
Social Networking sites are a big boost.
15
Social Networking sites help in taking
simple decisions via taking inputs from
others
16
Female participants priority:
The priority of the variables for the female participants was found to be as follows.
Question or variable Ranking
Social Networking sites have helped you
reunite with your old friends you lost
track of.
3
Security/Privacy on Social Networking 2
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sites is a major issue.
With Social Networking, you have found
your geographic reach of friends
enhanced.
7
Social Networks Provide an alternate
channel of communication. You find it
easier to communicate over Social
Networks.
13
You can spend a lot of time on Social
Networking sites.
12
The multimedia content showing
videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a
boost for your Social Networking
impulse.
7
You would like to receive first hand
information from people.
11
You prefer to have all your Social
Networking needs at a single place.
5
Social Networking is an option to pass
time and lighten your mood by playing
games
1
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Social Networking on mobiles provide a
very good option and has good utility.
10
You would like to share your
views/opinions and follow those of
others sharing a common
hobby/characteristics.
3
You would prefer a website with a better
interface than with better features.
5
Social Networking provides an alternate
world for you?
16
Your friend brought you into social
networking.
7
Informative/Educative exercises on
Social Networking sites are a big boost.
15
Social Networking sites help in taking
simple decisions via taking inputs from
others
13
The priority for the female participants is very different from male counter parts.
They strongly consider social networking as a pass time yet dont spend lot of time
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in social networking. They give security and privacy second importance followed by
social networking for reuniting with old friends.
Clustering the respondents:
Divided the respondents into 3 clusters based on k-means clustering method.
The clusters are :
Cluster1:
They strongly agree that social networking sites were helpful in reuniting with old
friends. For them security and privacy are most important issues in social networking
sites. They feel that social networking sites enhanced their geographical reach. They
feel social networking sites provide alternative channel of communication and they
feel it is easier to communicate over social networking sites. They strongly agree that
they spend a lot of time on social networking sites. They strongly feel all the social
networking features should be at a single place. They strongly agree that the
multimedia content showing videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a boost for their
Social Networking impulse. They would like to receive first hand information from
people through social networking sites. They moderately agree to consider social
networking as an option to pass time and lighten your mood by playing games. They
strongly agree that Social Networking on mobiles provide a very good option and has
good utility. They would like to share views/opinions and follow those of others
sharing common hobby/characteristics. They neither agree nor disagree to prefer a
website with a better interface than with better features. They strongly agree that
social networking sites provide alternate world for them. They moderately agree that
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Informative/Educative exercises on Social Networking sites are a big boost. They
moderately agree that Social Networking sites help in taking simple decisions via
taking inputs from others.
Cluster2:
They neither agree nor disagree that social networking sites were helpful in reuniting
with old friends. For them security and privacy in social networking site are not a
concern they are indifferent to it. They neither agree nor disagree that social
networking sites enhanced their geographical reach. They neither agree nor
disagree to the point that social networking sites provide alternative channel of
communication and they feel it neither easier nor difficult to communicate over social
networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree to spend a lot of time on social
networking sites. They moderately agree that all the social networking features
should not be at a single place. They neither agree nor disagree that the multimedia
content showing videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a boost for your Social
Networking impulse. They neither like nor dislike receiving first hand information from
people through social networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree to consider
social networking as an option to pass time and lighten your mood by playing games.
They moderately disagree that Social Networking on mobiles provide a very good
option and has good utility. They dont like to share views/opinions and dont follow
those of others sharing common hobby/characteristics. They neither agree nor
disagree to prefer a website with a better interface than with better features. They
neither agree nor disagree that social networking sites provide alternate world for
them. They strongly disagree that Informative/Educative exercises on Social
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Networking sites are a big boost. They moderately disagree that Social Networking
sites help in taking simple decisions via taking inputs from others.
Cluster3:
They strongly agree that social networking sites were helpful in reuniting with old
friends. For them security and privacy are most important issues in social networking
sites. They feel that social networking sites enhanced their geographical reach. They
neither agree nor disagree to the point that social networking sites provide
alternative channel of communication and they feel it neither easier nor difficult to
communicate over social networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree to spend
a lot of time on social networking sites. They neither agree nor disagree that all the
social networking features should not be at a single place. They moderately agree
that the multimedia content showing videos/pics/songs in fashion acts as a boost for
your Social Networking impulse. They neither like nor dislike receiving first hand
information from people through social networking sites. They moderately agree to
consider social networking as an option to pass time and lighten your mood by
playing games. They moderately disagree that Social Networking on mobiles provide
a very good option and has good utility. They moderately like to share views/opinions
and follow those of others sharing common hobby/characteristics. They neither
agree nor disagree to prefer a website with a better interface than with better
features. They neither agree nor disagree that social networking sites provide
alternate world for them. They neither agree nor disagree that Informative/Educative
exercises on Social Networking sites are a big boost. They neither agree nor
disagree that Social Networking sites help in taking simple decisions via taking
inputs from others.
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Social Networking- Causation
In line with the analysis performed on the matter, we came to specific conclusions.
1. People have certain expectations from a Social Networking site. The most
primary ones being:
a. Reuniting with friends and staying updated
b. Security and Privacy of their personal Information
c. Increased Geographic reach
d. A platform for entertainment
2. People can generally be classified as 3 types of Social Networking Users
3. There is a subtle but a marked difference between the preference of the two
genders
4. Internet connectivity plays a major role in the social networking habits
It was observed that the people without access to Social Networking sites in their
offices tend to move away from them and have long gaps between subsequent
visits. On the other hand, people having an access to these sites at their institutions
did not exhibit much changes.
Hence a switch of environment in terms of Internet connectivity or access to Social
networking sites, causes a significant shift in Social Networking habits. This also to
an extent hints that Social Networking does not qualify as a very serious addiction.
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In line with this, the users of different Social Networking sites, primarily Facebook
and Orkut in our sample set tend to be favouring one rather than the other.
Facebook has overtaken Orkut in terms of daily traffic and users in India ( Alexa
Survey, based on Google Insight ). The results of a lot of Online surveys show that
Orkut now lacks the entertainment quotient and its privacy features are perceived to
be lower than that of Facebook. A point to note here is that Facebook has been
cleverly updating its privacy policy giving users more and more freedom and
generating a sense of privacy. Besides, Facebook offers features like mobile
uploads, which are absent in Orkut, thus coming across as a more convenient to use
product
In Global terms Facebook ranks far higher than Orkut and hence we can see that
this may be a factor. Facebook has integrated numerous applications and allows
third party applications. The results of these are shared with friends through the
users wall. This whole activity provides for the entertainment needs of the user.
As we can see from the comparison between Facebook and Orkut, it is evident that
the factors described and found herein hold true and provide a cause and effect.
Facebook coming in with lot of applications and entertainment opportunities provided
the initial boom and imitating the same did not help Orkut. Although, initially
facebook did come across as one with a complex interface, but users took very little
time to get a hang of it and found themselves enjoying facebook much more than
Orkut. The privacy policies of Orkut have not been revised ( or explicitly
communicated ) and hence Orkut is perceived to be poorer in privacy.
Another striking observation was that females, owing to their greater needs for
privacy/security, as is the case in India, showed greater preference for the
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Security/Privacy variable, compared to the males. Also, owing to their more frequent
mood swings, they looked at Social Networking Sites as a tool to lighten their mood
and to pass time.
Clustering:
Number of Cases in each Cluster
Cluster 1 19
Cluster 2 13
Cluster 3 20
Total 52
Cluster 1 and cluster 3 have almost equal number of respondents in it (ie 19 and 20
respectively), whereas cluster 2 has got only 13. This indicates that cluster 1 and 3
constitute the major segment of the sample population(ie 75%) . If any social
networking site wants to be successful, it must consider the concerns and priorities
of these two clusters while designing the site.
Cluster1: People who love most aspects of Social Networking and do not care
much about Privacy/Security or the mode. They are concerned with enjoying the
privileges of Social Networking and they take in every new aspect of Social
Networking.
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Cluster2: People in this cluster are mostly indifferent to the aspects of Social
Networking. They have Social Networking as just another tool and use it moderately.
Cluster3: People who have moderate preferences towards the aspects of Social
Networking. They want everything but are satisfied with a decent level of it.