Marketing and Communications in the Final Frontier. (149 hits)
Virtual space..may be the last great frontier in communications. I was doing a study on why we use social networking sites and came up with startling results. When we are online we are in a web. the world wide web. I recall hearing this in 1992 at the CES convention in Las Vegas. But I didn't really grasp its meaning until much later.
My first hand observation of how people interact on the net' was through a 28-year-old magazine publisher. In order to boost ratings he would create dozens of fake profiles. Join social networking sites, leave comments some not so nice, and he is the one who spoke of the "anonymity of the internet" that some people use to mask their intentions, or to get off some personal angst, that would not be acceptable in polite society.
I thought this article was eye opening, since I always pondered, just how effective this "mass communication" would become. Many pundits say that even negative publicity is "good publicity." To that end here is a profile of the users:
Types of social networkers The qualitative research suggests five distinct groups of people who use social networking sites :
Alpha Socialisers – mostly male, under 25s, who use sites in intense short bursts to flirt, meet new people and be entertained. Attention Seekers – mostly female, who crave attention and comments from others, often by posting photos and customising their profiles. Followers – males and females of all ages who join sites to keep up with what their peers are doing. Faithfuls – older males and females generally aged over 20, who typically use social networking sites to rekindle old friendships, often from school or university. Functionals – mostly older males who tend to be single-minded in using sites for a particular purpose. The qualitative research also suggests three distinct groups of people who do not use social networking sites:
Concerned about safety – often older people and parents concerned about safety online, in particular making personal details available online. Technically inexperienced – often people over 30 years old who lack confidence in using the internet and computers. Intellectual rejecters – often older teens and young adults who have no interest in social networking sites and see them as a waste of time. Privacy and safety Despite being one of the main reasons cited by some respondents for not using social networking sites, privacy and safety are not a top of mind concern for those who use social networking sites. The research found that:
41 per cent of children and 44 per cent of adults leave their privacy settings as default 'open' which means that their profiles are visible to anyone; 34 per cent of 16-24 year olds are willing to give out sensitive personal information such as their phone number or email address (Get Safe Online Research); and 17 per cent of adult users said that they talked to people on social networking sites that they didn't know and 35 per cent spoke to people who were 'friends of friends'. The research also found that some 27 per cent of 8-11 year olds who are aware of social networking sites and have internet access have an online profile.
While s ome of these are on sites intended for younger children, the presence of underage users on social networking sites intended for those aged 13 or over was confirmed by the research. In addition, while 65 per cent of parents claim to set rules on their child's use of social networking sites, only 53 per cent of children said that their parents set such rules.
Other key findings Facebook is the most popular site with adults followed by MySpace and then Bebo. For children aged between 8 and 17, Bebo was the most used social networking site; A minority of younger women reported creating fake profiles for fun;
Some teenagers and adults in their early twenties reported feeling 'addicted' to social networking sites and were aware that their use was squeezing their study time; and A minority of people reported being aware of bullying through social networking sites and some younger users admitted using social networking sites to 'get back' at people they had fallen out with.
The research forms part of of media literacy strategy which aims to help people access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts. The research will help identify some of the current and potential future issues around people's use of social networking sites.
