A Study On The Changing Trends In Social Media And Its Impact Globally

A study on the changing trends in
social media and its impact globally
-Deepanshu Vij
Under the guidance of-
Dr. Leena James
ABSTRACT
This research paper will help one understand the growing local and global reach of social media.
An in depth study is done on how the world's leading multinational corporations use social media
to their benefit as well as how the CEO's of these companies use various mediums of social
media. Apart from this, the social media usage patterns of a few local firms in Bangalore are
analyzed to ascertain how they use social media in various business related fields like-
marketing, staffing, accounting, etc. Another important aspect of this research paper is to
evaluate the usage patterns of social media by individuals by doing primary data collection on a
selected sample size from the target population. All these aspects put under study combine and
facilitate interpretations made on the changing trends in the world of social media, the impacts it
has globally as well as predicting the future of social media in the times to come.

1 A study on the changing trends in social media and its impact globally
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION

Introduction to the field of study – Social Media
Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and
exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Andreas Kaplan and
Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the
ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange
of user-generated content." Furthermore, social media depends on mobile and web-based
technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities
share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. It introduces substantial and
pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals.
Social media differentiates from traditional/industrial media in many aspects such as
quality, reach, frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence. There are many effects that
stem from internet usage. According to Nielsen, internet users continue to spend more time with
social media sites than any other type of site. At the same time, the total time spent on social
media in the U.S. across PC and mobile devices increased by 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in
July 2012 compared to 88 billion minutes in July 2011. For content contributors, the benefits of
participating in social media have gone beyond simply social sharing to building reputation and
bringing in career opportunities and monetary income, as discussed in Tang, Gu, and Whinston
(2012).
Much of the criticism of social media are about its exclusiveness as most sites do not allow the
transfer of information from one to another, disparity of information available, issues with
trustworthiness and reliability of information presented, concentration, ownership of media
content, and the meaning of interactions created by social media. However, it is also argued that
social media has positive effects such as allowing the democratization of the internet while also
allowing individuals to advertise themselves and form friendships.
Most people associate social media with positive outcomes, yet this is not always the case. Due
to the increase in social media websites, there seems to be a positive correlation between the
usage of such media with cyber-bullying, online sexual predators, and the decrease in face-to-
face interactions. Social media may expose children to images of alcohol, tobacco, and sexual
behaviors.

Geocities, created in 1994, was one of the first social media sites. The concept was for users to
create their own websites, characterized by one of six "cities" that were known for certain
characteristics.
Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet
forums, weblogs, social blogs, micro-blogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or
pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, v-
logs, wall-postings, music-sharing, crowdsourcing and voice over IP, to name a few. Many of
these services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms. By applying a set of
theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes
(self-presentation, self-disclosure) Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme in their
Business Horizons (2010) article, with six different types of social media: collaborative projects
(for example, Wikipedia), blogs and micro-blogs (for example, Twitter), content communities
(for example, YouTube and DailyMotion), social networking sites (for example, Facebook),
virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life).
However, the boundaries between the different types have been increasingly blurred. For
example, Shi, Rui and Whinston (2013) argue that Twitter, as a combination of broadcasting
service and social network, is better to be classified as a "social broadcasting technology."
E-commerce businesses may refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A
common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and
social interaction for the co-creation of value.
People obtain information, education, news, and other data from electronic and print media.
Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media such as newspapers, television, and
film as they are comparatively inexpensive and accessible. They enable anyone (even private
individuals) to publish or access information. Industrial media generally require significant
resources to publish information as in most cases the articles goes through many revisions before
being published.
One characteristic shared by both social and industrial media is the capability to reach small or
large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach no people or
millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social and
industrial media are:

1. Quality: In industrial (traditional) publishing—mediated by a publisher—the typical
range of quality is substantially narrower than in niche, unmediated markets. The main
challenge posed by content in social media sites is the fact that the distribution of quality
has high variance: from very high-quality items to low-quality, sometimes abusive
content.
2. Reach: Both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of
reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized
framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by
their very nature more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple
points of production and utility.
3. Frequency: The number of times an advertisement is displayed on social media
platforms.
4. Accessibility: The means of production for industrial media are typically government
and/or corporate (privately owned); social media tools are generally available to the
public at little or no cost.
5. Usability: Industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training.
Conversely, most social media production requires only modest reinterpretation of
existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of social media
production.
6. Immediacy: The time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be
long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of
virtually instantaneous responses).
7. Permanence: Industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is
printed and distributed, changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social
media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing.
Community media constitute a hybrid of industrial and social media. Though community-owned,
some community radio, TV, and newspapers are run by professionals and some by amateurs.
They use both social and industrial media frameworks.

Social media has also been recognized for the way in which it has changed how public relations
professionals conduct their jobs. It has provided an open arena where people are free to exchange
ideas on companies, brands, and products. As stated by Doc Searls and David Wagner, two
authorities on the effects of Internet on marketing, advertising, and PR, "The best of the people
in PR are not PR types at all. They understand that there aren't censors, they're the company's
best conversationalists." Social media provides an environment where users and PR
professionals can converse, and where PR professionals can promote their brand and improve
their company's image by listening and responding to what the public is saying about their
product.
There is an increasing trend towards using social media monitoring tools that allow marketers to
search, track, and analyze conversation on the web about their brand or about topics of interest.
This can be useful in PR management and campaign tracking, allowing the user to
measure return on investment, competitor-auditing, and general public engagement. Tools range
from free, basic applications to subscription-based, more in-depth tools.
The honeycomb framework defines how social media services focus on some or all of seven
functional building blocks. These building blocks help explain the engagement needs of the
social media audience. For instance, LinkedIn users are thought to care mostly about identity,
reputation, and relationships, whereas YouTube’s primary features are sharing, conversations,
groups, and reputation. Many companies build their own social containers that attempt to link the
seven functional building blocks around their brands. These are private communities that engage
people around a narrower theme, as in around a particular brand, vocation or hobby, rather than
social media containers such as Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. PR departments face
significant challenges in dealing with viral negative sentiment directed at organizations or
individuals on social media platforms which may be a reaction to an announcement or event.

Introduction to the specific topic of study – Trends & Impacts of Social Media
An increasing number of scholars have sought to study and measure the impact of social media.
A 2010 study by the University of Maryland suggested that social media services may be
addictive, and that using social media services may lead to a "fear of missing out," also known as
the phrase "FOMO" by many students. It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary
method for communication by college students in the U.S. According to Nielsen, global
consumers spend more than six hours on social networking sites. "Social Media Revolution"
produced by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman contains numerous statistics on social media
including the fact that 93% of businesses use it for marketing and that if Facebook were a
country it would be the third largest. Several colleges and universities such as Harvard, Johns
Hopkins, Columbia and Stanford among others have even introduced classes on best social
media practices, preparing students for potential careers as digital strategists.
There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals
worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows:
 Consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of
sites—roughly 20 percent of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30
percent of total time online via mobile.
 Total time spent on social media in the U.S. across PCs and mobile devices increased 37
percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012, compared to 88 billion in July 2011.
 Facebook remains the most-visited social network in the U.S. via PC (152.2 million visitors),
mobile apps (78.4 million users) and mobile web (74.3 million visitors), and is multiple
times the size of the next largest social site across each platform.
 51% of people aged 25–34 used social networking in the office, more than any other age
group.
 On average, 47% of social media users engage in social care.
 While the computer is still the primary device used to access social media despite dropping
4% in usage in 2012, the last year saw a significant increase in usage, most notably through
tablets from 3% to 16%, internet enabled TVs from 2% to 4%.

 As of 2012, Facebook has 152,226,000 unique PC visitors and 78,388,000 unique mobile
app visitors. Twitter reported 37,033,000 unique PC visitors and 22,620,000 unique mobile
app visitors. Pinterest reported 27,223,000 unique PC visitors and 14,316,000 unique mobile
web visitors. Google+ reported 26,201,000 unique PC visitors and 9,718,000 unique mobile
app visitors.
 A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December
2009.
 Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40
million tweets per day.
 Over 25% of U.S. Internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in
December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before.
 Australia has some of the highest social media usage in the world. In usage of Facebook,
Australia ranks highest, with over nine million users spending almost nine hours per month
on the site.
 Twitter has risen as the go to site for customer support in 2013, while Email's usage has
decreased by 7%.
 The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so
that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site.
 As of May 2012 Facebook has 901 million users.
 Social media has overtaken pornography as the No. 1 activity on the web.
 In June 2011, it was reported that iPhone applications hit one billion in nine months, and
Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months.
 In June 2011, it was also reported that U.S. Department of Education study revealed that
online students out-performed those receiving face-to-face instruction.
 YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
 In four minutes and 26 seconds 100+ hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube.
 One out of eight couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media according to
statistics released June 2011.
 One in six higher education students are enrolled in an online curriculum.

 In November 2011, it was reported Indians spend more time on social media than on any
other activity on the Internet.
 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook.
 In a study conducted by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, it
was found that on average, any individual is just 12 hours of separation from another around
the world, using social networking sites.
According to a report by Nielsen
“In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites have increased 83 percent year-
over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year,
growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No.1
social networking site for the month.”
Media has always been a significant pillar of society. Media doesn’t just report happenings, it
also builds public opinion. This puts the media in a powerful position in a democracy and
wherever there is power there is a chance of misuse of that power.
In some countries, powerful media houses are said to have influenced election results by
portraying people and events a certain way. In India too, some time ago, a nexus between
prominent people in the media and some politicians came to light.
The media space has changed a lot with the emergence of social media. With social media, the
public has eyes and ears everywhere. They are not limited to camera crews of a few TV
channels.
Social media is a platform that showcases public opinion such that it cannot be easily doctored. It
reflects the pulse of society. Even traditional media channels keep an eye on ongoing social
media trends.
In the recent past, we have seen so many top news stories originate from social media. Apart
from highlighting issues that are socially relevant and crucial, social media has also exposed
disconnect between the government and the population. People are more aware of what our

leaders are up to and exchange notes on how laws and policies affecting them are being made.
Gone are the days when the government could pass laws behind closed doors without the public
realizing it. Thanks to the social media, discussion on political issues and implications is
widespread and immediate.
Some politicians thrive on keeping communities apart and playing one’s interests over the other
to secure their vote banks. As boundaries between people blur over social media, and they
become more aware and better informed, this will no longer be easy to do. One needs to be more
aware and alert while making speeches or statements. People see through any gimmick done
with an ulterior motive and any sign of a narrow mindset comes in for severe criticism.
Like all powerful tools, social media should also be used with utmost care and responsibility
failing which it can cause damage to the society. In 2011 London riots, arsonists used social
media widely to plan and execute their attacks. More recently, in India, social media was used to
spread panic among people from North-eastern states living in Bangalore and Hyderabad leading
to a massive exodus to their native places.
However, with its potential to bring people together, social media also holds immense promise as
a tool for social change. We have recently seen many successfully executed protests organized
over social media that have made the right impact. Another application of social media could be
to effectively utilize the vast diversity of human resource that India has which is still lying
untapped. For instance, in Volunteer for a Better India, somebody announces a medical camp in
a locality on a date and others join. Likewise, somebody announces a tree plantation or a
cleaning drive and people support the initiative with their time or resources.
We are clearly passing through a phase of transformation. India is a nation of youth who have a
big role to play in that transformation.
Social media is a medium that connects them and gives them voice. This voice is growing
louder. It is a welcome sign.

Literature Reviews
N.G. Barnes and E. Mattson (2008) portray a very unique relation between the F500 companies
and their ways of interacting socially through various online media like blogs, Twitter,
Facebook, podcasts, etc. The facts and figures were accurately provided through continuous
evaluative surveys. It was found that 81 companies out of the 500 in 2008 used blogs and
industries such as- computer software, peripherals and office equipment had 8 companies each
with active blogs. 38% of the companies in the top 100 used blogs. Adding on, out of the 81
companies, 23 were linked to official Twitter accounts. The use of podcasts and videos were to
the extent of 16% and 21% respectively out of these companies. However, in comparison with
other sectors it was found that the F500 companies use social media the least. The sectors of
Inc.500, higher education and charities were found to be using social media more than the F500.
No doubt F500 companies have taken a huge leap into blogosphere and are adding a new range
of perspectives to the online conversation. Given the multitude of challenging communication
obligations that large organizations have to a diverse range of stakeholders, it is exciting to see a
lot of adoption already by the F500 in the world of social media.
A. Bashar, I. Ahmad and M. Wasiq (2012) state the effectiveness of social media in the field of
marketing. Business today is being transformed from a transactional relationship to a social
relationship. Big MNC’s are moving forward by marketing and advertising through social media.
This article focused upon various aspects like- examining the extent social media affects
consumer decision making, studying the gap between consumer expectation and performance of
social media and how this gap can be bridged. To facilitate completion of these objectives, the
authors conducted a number of surveys through questionnaires. A number of facts were analyzed
by the researchers which lead them to making apt and meaningful conclusions. Most of the users
of social networking websites preferred Facebook and they spent 1-2 hours per day socializing.
The major part of social media platforms is connecting with friends. Consumers most often than
not buy products and services listed on media platforms. However, it was found that grievances
of consumers were not addressed to when 62% of the surveyed people reported this. No doubt
that social media has been an effective marketing tool for business firms in the recent past and

has led to a positive influence in the decision making process of consumers. But the gap between
expectations and reality is widening as the redressal statistic showed. Questions and issues raised
by consumers are not being answered by the brand pages in the speculative time frame of the
consumer. As India was the main geographical area under study, we can conclude that social
medium is growing very fast and holds huge potential in India but still requires more time and
space to expand its prospective customer base. Therefore, it is time for the companies to make
effective strategies and execute them to win larger share of business through this revolutionary
age of social media and becoming innovative firms of the coming future.
The basic objective of H. Sun and M.D. Peterbaugh (2013) was to explore the use of social
media for an international collaborative project. It is an impossible fact to deny that social media
has widened the scope for higher education in the 21st
century. This article addresses the issues
forming through international collaborations taking into consideration distance, technological
differences, language, culture and the role that computer-mediated communication through social
media can play in overcoming the obstacles. There are mainly 3 types of organizations formed
through international collaborations. First, there are macro-level collaborations involving large
initiatives by collaborating nations or large international organizations. Then there are meso-
level organizations which usually involve collaboration among individual institutions such as
universities working across national boundaries. Lastly, there are micro-level collaborations
which involve single researchers or a group of individuals working together. The benefits
associated with collaborations are- lower transaction costs, eliminates long distance, greater
commitment of resources, etc. The challenges associated with collaborations are- physical
distance, variations in technology, cultural differences and sustainability. These challenges are
hard to overcome otherwise. Sustainability is the biggest challenge that the collaboration world
faces from social media. There are many factors affecting sustainability such as organizations,
participants, common grounds and social media tools. To conclude, social media has transformed
the collaboration process between institutions. The technology has widened the channels of
communication and promoted the possibility of international engagement and collaboration.
S. Asur and B.A. Huberman (2011) state how social media has become ubiquitous and important
for social networking and content sharing. The authors have demonstrated how social media
content can be used to predict real world outcomes. A simple model built from the rate at which

tweets are created about particular topics can outperform market based predictions. Further, they
have demonstrated how sentiments extracted from Twitter can be further utilized to improve the
forecasting of social media. Social media because of its ease to use, speed and reach is fast
changing the public discourse in society and setting trends and agendas in topics that range from
the environment and politics to technology and the entertainment industry. The discovery made
is that the chatter of a community can indeed be used to make quantitative predictions that
outperform those of artificial markets. The enormity and high variance of the information that
propagates through large user communities presents an interesting opportunity for harnessing
that data into a form that allows for specific predictions about particular outcomes. A specific
task of predicting box office revenues for movies using the chatter from Twitter was considered
and the focus was on two topics. The topic of movies is of considerable interest among the social
media users community, characterized both by large numbers of users and variance in their
opinions and the real world outcomes can be easily observed from box office revenue for
movies. A linear regression model was constructed for predicting box office revenues of movies
in advance of their release. They even showed that results outperformed in accuracy those of the
Hollywood stock exchange and that there is strong correlation between the amount of attention a
given topic has and its ranking in the future. Also the sentiments were present in tweets and the
efficacy at improving predictions after a movie released demonstrated.
L. Mathews (2010) states that social media has revolutionized corporate communications. The
paper aims to examine the relationship between social media and corporate communications.
Focusing on the use of social media for public relations and analyzing the changes that have
occurred within the industry as a result of social media tools. In today’s corporate world, the
success or failure of any company hinges on public perception. Social media has forced
corporate communications to shift to a dialogue to which the stakeholders and not just the
companies have power over the message. The purpose of this research is to qualify aspects of
traditional public relations and aspects of public relations utilizing social media and through
comparison to analyze the changes that have occurred within the industry and make projections
over the future. An analysis of traditional public relations has been made which says that if
Facebook was a country it would have been the fourth biggest in the world. It is also found that
in 51% of organizations, PR leads digital communications. It is responsible for micro blogging at
52% of all organizations. The conclusion drawn from the study is that the speed at which the

shift from traditional corporate communication practices to the public relations has occurred has
led to a split within the industry separating early adopters from those who are slow to join the
social media age. How companies are responding to the social media revolution is an indication
of future success as companies who are too slow to adopt these new technologies and practices
are going to be left behind. Social media is continuously going to develop and change and
corporate communication practices are going to change with it. Social media has already proven
itself as an invaluable tool to the industry, and the future hold a wider teaching and
implementation of this tool. The advent of social media has resulted in the evolution of corporate
communications.
C. Johnson and N. Burclaff (2013) tell how employers must balance the need to stay relevant and
engaged on social platforms while they must also manage social media effectively in order to
protect the organizations’ assets, reputation and future with a social media policy. Organizations
should provide just brief expectations and guidelines but should avoid arbitrary rules without
first seeing where the opportunities and risks really are. There is a link between mission
statements and policies. Policies must be integrally connected to libraries priorities, missions,
goals and objectives. Policies must be reviewed and revised to reflect changes to a library’s
mission statement or values. The purpose of this research is to look into the role mission
statements play when considering social media policies. There is a large gap in literature,
considering the importance of clearly connecting values to their action. Social media is linking a
library’s mission with a social media policy. The main purpose is to explore the relationship
between mission statements and social media policies in academic libraries. The result of the
survey revealed 94% of libraries have some social media presence. Many institutions indicated
they had accounts on multiple platforms. Of the 94%, only 17% had formally written guidelines
or policies that dictate the library’s usage of social media. Out of these 4% indicate their policies
were for internal use only and could not provide them for the survey. After coding the themes,
the most frequent theme present in the mission of libraries that have a social media policy was
‘provides access’, ‘improves institutional outcomes’ and ‘supports curriculum’. Overall, themes
present in library missions were rarely present in the policies or guidelines dictating the way
those libraries use social media. Libraries with their own social media policies borrowed themes
from university missions and libraries need to have their own social media policies that reflect
their unique purpose and service for the university community. Policies manifest an

organization’s beliefs, priorities and commitments. The development of thoughtful policies gives
libraries an opportunity to revisit and demonstrate the intent of their mission. General themes in
library missions should drive the library’s activities and should therefore be present in the social
media guidelines policies.
Research Gap
The research gap identified in this research project is the extent to which human behavior is
affected by the usage of social media. Researchers have conducted researches related to the
patterns of usage of social media by humans but have never actually discovered direct effects of
this usage pattern through primary data collection methods. Through this research, we aim to fill
in this gap by actually surveying a sample group of 20 individuals on the basis of their usage.
Their responses are purely based upon their personal views and no external pressures of any sort
were applied. This gap analysis helps us to actually understand and interpret how social media
usage affects individuals rather than a large user community which researchers generally study.

CHAPTER 2 – RESEARCH DESIGN

Title of the project
A study on the changing trends in social media and its impact globally.
Introduction
Social media has been the cause of rapid globalization. Thus arose the need to study this global
phenomenon and its various aspects/trends that affect human behavior as well as the corporate
world.
Statement of the problem
How has the use of social media revolutionized the communicating process?
Review of previous literature
We have reviewed a total of 6 previous literature articles obtained from various online databases
such as academia.edu.
Scope of the study
To analyze trends of big MNC’s globally and a few known local companies as well as a few
individuals to see how social media affects humans and a part of the corporate world as
conducting a research on a bigger scale would be practically impossible and unfeasible.

Objectives of the report
 To analyze changing trends in social media around the world
 To study the relationship of social media with the corporate world
 To predict the future of social media in the years to come
Conceptual model
Hypotheses
 Ho 1: Social media affects each and every aspect of living in an individual’s life as well
as all individuals irrespective of age, occupation, gender, etc.
 Ho 2: Big MNC’s and firms resort to social media to fulfill objectives in all fields like
marketing, finance, human resource, etc.
 Ho 3: The ways and channels of communicating through social media will change in the
times to come.
Sample of 20 individuals through
survey
F500 and big multi-national
corporations
Few local companies and how
they grew through it
Usage pattern of social media

Operational definition of concepts
Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share and
exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.
Significance of the study
Through this study, we will be able to conclude how usage patterns in social media differ
through different mediums and levels of interaction as well as how the trends may be in the near
future.
Geographical area under study
A few local companies that are well established all around India will be studied. Secondary data
would include these companies as well as companies from all over the world from lists like
F500.
Reference period
3-5 years as the study is a trend analysis of social media.
Methodology
The overall typology of the design is survey and descriptive. Further methods adopted will be
observation, analyzing and interpreting.

Sampling Plan
A sample of 20 individuals to survey to study human usage patterns of social media. 2-3 local
companies as well as big corporate players will be studied to assess how they are affected by
social media apart from the big MNC’s information gathered by secondary sources.
Tools for gathering data
Primary data rom individuals will be collected through a survey. Secondary data will be
collected through online databases and news websites.
Plan analysis
Type of statistical analysis used is inferential analysis which will include statistical estimation
and testing of hypothesis. Types of statistical measures used are measures of central tendency
and time series analysis.
Chapter scheme
1. Introduction
2. Research design
3. Data analysis and interpretation
4. Findings and conclusions
References
Appendix

Time budget
 Initial review of literature – 4 hours
 Formulation of problem and research plan – 3 hours
 Construction of tools and pre-testing – 3 hours
 Field work experimentation and collection of data – 8 hours
 Processing and analyzing – 4 hours
 Planning and report writing work – 5 hours
 Drafting and finalizing report – 8 hours
 Total time – 35 hours

CHAPTER 3 – DATA ANANLYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION

Usage pattern of local firms
Here we analyzed the social media usage patterns of 3 local Bangalore based companies’ being-
MindTree, UST Global and Infinite Computer solutions. These companies go viral using social
media and use social media as a source if hiring prospective employees for the organization.
MindTree is bringing together a team of about half a dozen social media experts whose only goal
will be to ensure that online videos highlighting its employee-friendly policies go viral, or in
other words ensure that they get as many views as possible. "Attracting the best is a huge effort,"
said Ravi Shankar, chief people officer at MindTree. It has about 11,000 employees and hopes to
hire 3,000 more this year. The Bangalore-based company said the social media team, formed by
hiring professionals from multinationals, will be given specific targets like the number of hits
expected for a video. Its performance will be evaluated every few weeks.
Since finding the right fit is vital for both the student as well as the company, social media sites
help raise awareness and reduce costs arising from a possible mismatch. The IT industry in India
hires around 2 lakh engineers every year, with campus placements commencing in September.
This year the big ones are playing it cool - while Infosys indicated that it may not go to all the
370 campuses it visited last year, the country's third-largest software exporter Wipro is hiring
fewer people directly from campuses.
UST Global also has its own strategy in place. With more than 7,000 employees in India and
plans of hiring about 2,500 this year, it relies on cloud-based campus-hiring platform Bind to
inform students who sign up about placement dates and other updates. The company began its
social media marketing efforts almost a year ago. They realized how important online platforms
are especially when it comes to engaging with campus hires and prospective employees.
A few others have even asked the bosses to pitch in. Infinite Computer Solutions told its CEO
Upinder Zutshi to join Twitter last month. The company, which will conduct interactive sessions
using Facebook, has put in place a team to monitor conversations about it on social media
platforms.

Usage pattern of famous multi-national corporations
Multi-national corporations are using conversations on social media platforms to shape entry
strategies in new markets, address consumer grievances and communicate directly with target
groups. Merely being present on social media is no longer sufficient for some of the world's
largest corporations, who are turning to young technology for help in decoding social chatter for
business gain. These companies are using insights gained from conversations on Facebook,
Twitter and other social media platforms to shape entry strategies in new markets, address
consumer grievances and communicate directly with target groups.
This study focused on social media usage of the F500 companies and hence it was found that
adoption of blogs, Twitter and Facebook appears to have plateaued, with no significant change in
the past year. Here is just a small sampling of the findings-
Blogs: About 23% of the 2011 F500 have corporate public-facing blogs with a post in the past 12
months. Back in 2008, only 16% of F500 companies had blogs. But, blog adoption rates among
F500 companies have been relatively flat ever since, with 22% in 2009, and 23% in 2010.
Twitter: More than 62% of the 2011 F500 have corporate Twitter accounts with a tweet in the
past thirty days –but that’s only an increase of 2% from last year. Interestingly, all the top ten
companies in the 2011 F500 are tweeting. And, overall, about 49% of the Twitter accounts
belong to the top 200 companies on the list; about 34% belong to those ranked in the bottom 200.
Facebook: 58% of the 2011 F500 have Facebook pages. Last year, researchers found 56% were
on Facebook. As with Twitter, about 48% of the Facebook accounts belong to the top 200
companies on the list, while 35% belong to those ranked in the bottom 200.
It’s also worth noting that this year’s research discovered that 31% of the 2011 F500 still have
neither a Twitter account nor a Facebook presence, at all.
Another aspect that was analyzed in this report was the extent to which CEO’s of big multi-
national corporations in the F500 use social media. Surprisingly, despite the powerful reach of
social media it was found that only one third of the CEO’s of big firms were active on social
media platforms. According to a study done by CEO.com, only 32% of the top CEO’s have at
least one account on a social networking website. Some 68% have no social presence at all.

Not surprisingly, CEO’s are most active on LinkedIn. Some 27.9%, or 140 CEO’s, have
LinkedIn accounts. That’s up from 25.9%, or 130, a year ago. In fact LinkedIn is more popular
with CEO’s than with the general public. According to a study released earlier in August 2013,
20% of the U.S. population who is on the web is on LinkedIn. Among the CEO’s who have
LinkedIn profiles, just 25 of them have more than 500 connections.
A few examples of CEO’s with LinkedIn profiles: Hewlett-Packard CEO Met Whitman has
265,852 connections. Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase has 146,653 connections. Weirdly,
Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer is on LinkedIn but only has 139 connections. Alan Mullaly, CEO of
Ford Motor Company, is not on LinkedIn at all.
Twitter has far fewer CEO users, with just 5.6%, or 28, from the top 500 companies. That’s up
from 3.6% last year, but still a small number. Among online adults in the U.S., 18% are on
Twitter, according to Pew. Of the CEO’s on Twitter, only 19 are “active,” according to the study,
meaning they tweeted in the 100 days prior to the study. The active CEO’s tweet, on average,
about one time per day. Aside from Warren Buffett, tweeting bosses gain an average of 838 new
followers each day.
The number of CEO’s on Facebook is slightly higher than Twitter, at 7.6%. That’s down slightly
from a year ago, at 7% and strikingly smaller than the U.S. population. According to Pew, 67%
of online adults use Facebook.
Google+ has hardly any users among CEO’s: just five bosses out of the top 500. Not
surprisingly, the most popular CEO on social media is Mark Zuckerberg, with 18,764,161
followers.
One interesting note about the study is that it explores how many of the CEO’s’ 2-million-plus
Twitter followers were fake, and finds that some 30% have fake profiles. Given the rise of
Twitter and the public’s hunger for instantaneous news, CEO’s may want to consider diving into
the medium. But they should focus on the quality of their posts, in order to attract serious
followers.

Usage pattern of humans
Social media has a great impact on humans and their behavior. To analyze and interpret this, a
random sample of 20 individuals was selected and a questionnaire was made to analyze how
different people from various age groups and walks of life are influenced by social media. The
age of the people surveyed was between 16 years and 56 years. The sample included 6 females
and 20 males. Following are statistics collected from the survey based on the questions asked and
answered purely on the basis of personal choice.

Statistical analysis method used is inferential analysis. The two areas of statistical inference are-
statistical estimation and the testing of hypothesis. Also, types of statistical measures used are-
measures of central tendency and time series analysis.
Statistical estimation involves estimation of the population parameters from the results of sample
data analysis. In order to arrive at accurate estimates of parameters, the researcher has to
effectively deal with three problems: (i) the precise definition of population, (ii) the
determination of adequate sample size, and (iii) the selection of a representative sample.
Testing of hypothesis involves the testing of hypothesis with the tests of significance. This
testing involves the assessment of the probability of specific sampling results under assumed
population conditions. Assumptions about the population parameters are made in advance and
the sample provides the test of these assumptions. An inference is also drawn about the
relationships among variables.
Measure of central tendency consists of a single value that represents the average characteristic
of the frequency distribution. This measure can be in the form of mean, median and mode.
A time series analysis is done by analyzing a set of ordered observations of a quantitative
variable taken at successive points in time in terms of years, months, weeks, days or hours.
Statistical estimation
Population is the number of people who fall under the target population to be surveyed. These
are the people who fall in the category of being able to be surveyed. These are selected from the
universe. In this project, population consists of everything or everyone that uses social media.
The determination of adequate sample size is a major task for the researcher to identify. For this
project, the adequate sample size could be of any number of people or companies that use social
media. However, primary data collection was only extended up to the research done on
individuals rather than companies. As social media is a part of everyone’s life nowadays, the
sample size could consist of any number of individuals from varied age and occupation groups.
The representative sample is the one that can represent the target population and their varied
choices. Since surveying and collecting data from all units in the target population is technically
not feasible from the time and money point of view, so the representative sample chosen has to
account for all the varied choices all units in the target population would make. The selection of
this sample has to be free from bias completely. In this project, 20 individuals from varied age

and occupation groups from all walks of life undertook the survey on their usage pattern of social
media.
In this way, effective statistical estimation is done where all the three problems the researcher
faces are addressed to.
Testing of hypothesis
The hypothesis of the survey was to see if social media impacts people of all ages. This can be
tested and proved after conducting the survey. So we are under the assumption that it does not
impact people of all ages before the survey but after the survey it impacts people of all ages. To
prove this we need to conduct the ‘t’ test as the sample size is lesser than 30. So-
Ho: It does not impact people of all ages
H1: It impacts people of all ages
Sample of people = 20
Mean age before the survey = = 25 (assumed)
Mean age after the survey = ̅ = 30
Sample SD = 5.59, by applying √∑ ̅̅̅
So, applying the test we get observed value = 3.891, by applying
̅
√
Whereas the tabular value at 5% level of significance (since no specific level taken) doing the
two tail test is = 1.96
Therefore, we can see that the observed value 3.891 falls in the critical region which is rejected.
Hence, alternative hypothesis is accepted that it does affect people of all ages.
Measure of central tendency
The 3 kinds of measures of central tendency are mean, media and mode. The key aspects to be
analyzed after doing the survey are the ages of the respondents and their rating to the current
scenario of social media.
With respect to age- Mean = 30.35, Median = 24.5 and Mode = 19
With respect to current scenario of social media- Mean = 2.1, Median = 2, Mode = 2

The formula used for mean was, ̅
∑
The formula used for median was,
Mode was the most recurring value as all data was classified into individual series.
Time series analysis
This analysis identifies 4 types of changes in the time series phenomena which are- secular trend,
cyclical fluctuations, seasonal variations and irregular variation.
Secular trend shows the direction of series in a long period of time. In this study, the secular
trend grows over time as the use of social media has been increasing over the years.
Cyclical fluctuations show the wave like recurring rises and declines in an activity. The cyclical
fluctuations of social media have been shown in the figure-
Seasonal variations refer to recurring changes within a year. In this study, there is little or no
seasonal variation as the usage of social media is constant by every individual or firm.
Irregular variation is a non-recurring unpredictable variation taking place at random. In this
study, such a variation can only occur if there are laws put in place to curb usage of social media
or if any disruption is caused in the usage of internet and the world wide web.

CHAPTER 4 – FINDINGS &
CONCLUSIONS

Findings
At the outset, it was first seen how social media is used effectively by local firms such as
MindTree, UST Global and Infinite Computer Solutions. These companies provided a perfect
example of how any business can grow to new heights by using the world of social media. They
used social media for various purposes right from updating the world about their firm’s news to
hiring new employees. It’s not just the big players in the market who grow through social media.
It’s also the small and medium size enterprises who take good advantage of social media.
Next we came to the usage patterns of social media by the big multi-national players in the
market. The main focus was placed on the companies that feature in the Fortune-500 list. We
saw how their usage patterns differ but they do use social media very effectively as they haven’t
grown into what they are today over a night. They use all kinds of social media to reach out to
the public. Right from publishing finance reports to publishing about their corporate social
responsibility, everything is done through mediums that govern social media. Through this report
we also saw how even the CEO’s of these big companies have been using social media to their
and their company’s good advantage by also getting their personal opinions across through
mediums like Twitter and LinkedIn.
Finally, a very important source of primary data collection in the form of a survey was used to
analyze how social media impacts the lives of individuals. These individuals were randomly
chosen irrespective of their age, occupation, gender, etc. to avoid any sort of sampling bias. The
responses were then collected and thoroughly analyzed through the method of inferential
analysis which included statistical estimation and testing of hypothesis along with using
measures of central tendency and doing a time series analysis to certain key areas in the survey
process. Through this we found the variations in the kinds of responses people gave and how
usage patterns are similar and different to one another’s. The survey done through the
questionnaire proved to be an effective means of primary data collection.

Conclusion
To conclude this research study, it is a must to say that social media impacts everything and
everyone around us. Right from big multi-million dollar rich firms to the people we greet and
meet in our everyday lives. We saw how each and everything is affected by social media. It is the
upcoming trend in the usage of the internet and the World Wide Web. Need to share something,
need to see something, need to research something, need to market your product then social
media is the way to go. Social media is the way forward and adoption is a must if the world has
to develop and grow into a much more sustainable, connected and equal place to live.

References
1. Adams, S. (2013). Less Than a Third of Top CEOs Are on Social Media. Retrieved from
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ceos-are-on-social-media/
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaarthur/2011/11/01/are-corporations-giving-up-on-social-
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farther along than expected.
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13. Asur, S., & Huberman, B.A. (2011). Predicting the future with social media.
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missions and policies.

Appendix
Copy of the questionnaire-

A Study On The Changing Trends In Social Media And Its Impact Globally

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