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Introduction
Social media is used all over the globe in so many different aspects. With the role of
technology, social media's impact has been not only limited to college students but also to
health industries, business, and even reaching elder generations. New applications have
been created rapidly such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram to keep up with the
popular demand of social media. But an important question on many minds is, “What in fact is
social media?” According to Websters definition, social media is defined as “A combination of
website/applications that allow users to create and share content to participate in social
networking.” With that being stated, social media is easily accessible by college students on
many campuses. With every student having their phones abuzz with alerts and messages, it
creates a lot of networking, information sharing, but also the possibility of benefits or costs.
The advantages of social media include sharing a commonality of interest,
opportunities to communicate with people all over the world, conduits for free advertising, and
the ability to stay connected with family and friends. But on the opposing side, the
disadvantages include cyberbullying, corporate invasion of privacy, and a potential decrease
of productivity.
So with all of these advantages/disadvantages, why is social media so important to
everyone? Thirty years ago, no college student ever used social media or thought of
“updating their social profile regularly.” Our group realized that as times have evolved so have
college students. The social media platform is so vital to a college student's life because it
attributes to their social life, social acceptance, and whereabouts of their peers. Our
generation will continue to utilize existing and innovative new media applications because
college students have made these programs a daily habit. To conclude, our research question
is, “Which social media platforms do students use and why?”
Literature and Hypothesis Review
Before conducting research on
social media platforms, our
group knew a lot of information
pertaining to the different types
of uses and users on each
application. For example,
college students owning a
Facebook had multiple uses
including sharing status
updates, photos, connecting
with friends and school work
projects. We also knew that
older generations (parents)
mostly use Facebook to keep
up with students, children,
personal college friends and
family due to the physical
distance that may have come
between them. With our own
personal experiences amongst friends and family, we discovered that more college age
students are using Twitter and Facebook over other social media platforms. We knew that
3. each social media platform is free, allowing anyone to join as long as they have online
access. In today’s society, almost everyone has the ability to connect to internet whether it be
on their smart phone, tablet, desktop, laptop, near by library, or an online cafe where you can
pay for the exact time you wish to use online. The chart above shows our first thoughts and
knowledge of the different types of users by age compared to the specific social media
platforms used by each.
Another factor that we knew of before conducting research was the fact that
companies use social media platforms to market their companies and products. For example,
companies like Nike, Toyota, Red Bull, Reef, Real Estate companies, and so much more use
these platforms to promote their product or service to enhance the relationship effect on the
individuals who “Like” or “Follow” them. Listed below is a chart showing what social media
platforms businesses use to market their companies by either business to business (B2B) or
business to consumer
(B2C).
As a group we
expected to find extensive
statistics on the uses of all
social media platforms by
college age students. We
expected to find that most
college students would be
using Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Snap Chat,
LinkedIn, and Pinterest in
that order. We assumed
that there would be a very
small percentage of males
using Pinterest from our
own experiences with
friends and family. Due to
the accessibility of the internet we expected that most college students would be using their
social media platforms via smartphones and tablets, something more travel friendly for the on
the go lifestyle of a college student. With that in mind, we expected to find social media
platforms being used to share photos of activities or places college students have traveled
compared to non image status updates.
Methodology
Once we narrowed down our hypothesis and our goal for research, we then set out to
gather the valuable information. When we began our survey, we wanted to make sure that we
did not eliminate any choices in social media, or forget to include a newer site or app that we
have not been exposed. We then as a group decided that an open answered qualitative
questionnaire would be the best approach to discovering the most important social media
mediums to Florida State University students. We crafted a quick survey that focused on fill in
the blank questions that allowed users to list their five most used social media applications as
well as ranking them by favoritism. From the responses to our initial inquires, we learned that
Snapchat was a social media medium that we originally did not account for, and upon
4. discovering this we made a note to include this application as a topic to gain further
information.
After our first open ended survey, we then set out to create our final questionnaire of
which we will be gathering our primary data. We elected to use Qualtrics, a information
gathering program provided to us through the use of our Blackboard resources. This allowed
us a medium of which we can seamlessly create surveys and organize the information to
recognize trends and verify results.
While creating our survey on qualtrics, we made an effort to use ratio style questions,
in which each selectable answer would be equidistant from the next closest answer. This
allowed us to quantify the data much more efficiently. Although we did have to use one open
answered question, it was very easy for us to code the responses and input the data to be
processed in a numerical fashion.
Once our second questionnaire was completed, we then dispersed the link to allow
users to input information. Our chief medium for survey dispersion was using social media
sites as well as text messaging. This assisted us in narrowing our respondents to those who
do in fact utilize social media, eliminating respondents who would not provide valuable
information. We were able to reach 88 total responses to our questionnaire, which we believe
would be a sample size large enough to accurately represent the student population. We
chose to prescreen the applicants in an effort to avoid any biases, such as taking steps to
reach out to students outside of the college of business or keeping a balance between the
genders and age groups. Although we were not 100% successful in this process, we did take
precautions to avoid any skewing of our data during the collection process.
Findings
After gathering our data, we were able to determine which social media application is most
used and why. Analyzing social media usage and preference of our respondents presented
intriguing variables within our findings. In our survey, we had a sample total of 88. The graph
below is a breakdown of what social media sites are visited / belong to within our sample:
● According to our findings, Facebook had the largest market share of 98% of our
88 respondents.
● The second highest percentage was Snapchat with 88%, followed by Instagram
with 87%.
● Pinterest was the least used or identified with in our survey sample (46%)
● All of our respondents belong to at least one social media application.
6. ● From this question, we were able to see that Facebook and Instagram were ranked
evenly for the most prefered application.
● Instagram was slightly ranked higher for the second prefered social media application.
● We found that Snapchat was overwhelmingly ranked as the 3rd most prefered social
media platform. out of the options.
● Lastly, we can conclude Pinterest was ranked last as the least prefered social media
site.
Next, we wanted to address the second part of our market research question, “What social
media application is most used, and why?” We had our respondents provide responses to
examine what features they use for each social media application:
What specific features do you for use each social media application?
**(Blue= Sharing Photos Red= Posting / Commenting Green= For Work Purposes Purple=
To stay connected with friends and family)**
● From this graph, we were able to see a breakdown of the specific usage of each
platform. Facebook is primarily used to stay connected with friends and family (71%).
We found it interesting how low the percentage for sharing photos were in Facebook
due to the rise of Instagram.
● Users of Pinterest use the application for work purposes more than any other social
media site.
● Although Snapchat is primarily used to share photos, it is becoming a more common
way to stay connected with friends or family.
Through out survey, we wanted to gather as much information on social media usage to
further strengthen the market research question. We posed the question,”What social media
platform do you check more frequently throughout the day?”
9.
Conclusions and Implications for Future Research
Based on our findings, it can be concluded that (out of the 5 social media platforms we
included in our survey) Facebook is the most visited platform, and it is used mostly to stay
connected with friends and family. This answers our research question: Which social media
platform do students use most and why? However, during the course of our research, we
discovered a lot of other information that caught us by surprise, such as Twitter being the
second to lowest social media site used throughout the day. For researchers that may
conduct a similar survey in the future, we have some advice that can help:
● In the future, researchers should be up to date on all existing social media
platforms We included 5 different social media platforms in our research
(Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat). There are hundreds of
different social media websites, and researchers may want to include other
platforms other than the “popular” ones.
● Researchers should survey people outside of social media Almost all of our
respondents were messaged via Facebook’s messaging services. It could be
advised to researchers in the future to get people to take the survey by asking
someone in person, or email. This may also tie into the limitations.
● Do focused research on Snapchat as well as other newly arising social media
applications to find the underlying benefit for use for business
Recommendations
We found some valuable information that can be recommended to companies that
want to reach out to the FSU student population.
1. Firms should use photos to advertise to students on social media Based on our
findings, students prefer sharing photos over all the social media platforms than any
other feature. This might assume that FSU students find pictures or videos more
appealing than writing.
2. Companies should use Facebook’s “Page Boost” feature to attract students, especially
to female FSU students From all of the social media sites that we included in our
survey, Facebook was the most visited, with 98% of respondents saying they visit
Facebook. 100% of female FSU students visit facebook.
3. It is recommended for new and existing businesses that are launching social media to
make their platforms smartphone friendly 91% of our respondents prefer to access
social media on a smartphone than any other device.
4. Depending on which product a company would like to sell, there are different social
media sites for each purpose
a. Facebook: User experience
b. Twitter: Promoting products in short sayings
c. Pinterest/Instagram: For showing pictures of your products directly
5. Many students are not on their social media applications for long periods of time, so it
is best to focus on campaigns that attract and maintain attention to maximize results
6. Twitter is not as popular as perceptions dictate, but facebook has shown to be the tried
and true current leader in social media, with instagram showing a close second as far
as overall use
If a company was trying to specifically target one section of the student body, they should
choose the specific social media that helps them reach their desired group. But no matter
what social media a company chooses to use, if they would like to link it back to any of their
10. websites or advertisements etc., then it is paramount that the company make their websites
mobile compatible. This is due to the decrease in the usage of traditional computers to utilize
smart phone technology. If you are not mobile compatible, then you could lose potential
customers due to the widespread usage of mobile phones to surf the internet, specifically
social media applications and web sites.
Limitations
We noticed different limitations when reviewing the report of our survey responses,
which mainly demonstrate sampling bias:
● There were more female respondents than male respondents. 39.77% of our
respondents were male while 60.23% of the respondents were female.
● There were only three graduate students that participated in the survey.
● 45% of the respondents that participated in our survey are seniors at Florida
State University.
● We also used Facebook as a primary means of dispersion of our survey, which
could create a potential bias towards one social media
We found these aspects of our project to be a limit for our results. If we were going to perform
this for a company with an allotted amount of money we would be able to better disperse our
data, as with respondents motivation can cause a much more dedicated survey. We were
however able to receive a bunch of detailed information concerning social media usage by
college students, showing that students are very inclined to help other in scholastic ventures.
In conclusion, we believe it is very important that a company remains actively updated
on the trends of social media. If a new company were to start out and decide that mobile
capabilities would not be an important aspect of their online presence, then, using research,
we would be able to show them information and statistics on how the opposite is the case. As
the lines of technology and business continue to intersect, then the demand for more
technologically capable companies increases as well as the importance of the interaction of
the two. We believe that technology and business have a symbiotic relationship that will help
both not only grow but to prosper in the years to come.
