Impact of Social Media on Youth

FIELD PROJECT

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Contents

1. Abstract...................................................................................................................................4
2. Introduction............................................................................................................................4
3. Objective ………………...……………………..……………………...…………………….5

4. Methodology………………………………………………………………………………...6

5. Findings…………..…………………………………………………………………………8

5.1 Univariate Analysis………………………………………………………………….8

5.2 Factor Analysis…………………………………………………………………….12

5.3 Cluster Analysis……………………………………………………………………14

6. Conclusion………………………….…………………………………………………….16

7. Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………...17

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express a whole-hearted gratitude to all those who have helped us with the
report or have been associated with the report in any way and made it a worth-while experience.

We are greatly indebted to our batch mates and our seniors for having shared their invaluable
experience that went a long way in the successful completion of our report.

We are also grateful to, who has given us the opportunity for working on such a project and his
incessant support & guidance leading it to successful completion.

Thank you.

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1. ABSTRACT

The aim of this project is to understand the impact social media has on the youth of the
country.

We have conducted a survey with various demographics to identify the usage of social media
amongst youth and how it affects their daily life, their buying patterns, their lifestyle choices
and the overall influence social media has on their lives.

The survey was in the form of a questionnaire which was floated to people of various age
groups, education and occupations. This will help us understand that with the growing
emphasis on social media from every aspect how the youth is adapting and getting impacted
by the same.

2. INTRODUCTION

India has one of the largest and the fastest growing populations of internet users in the world-
190 million as of June 2014 and growing rapidly. It is estimated that there will be over 500
million Internet users in India by 2018. Out of 243 million active Internet users, 118 million
are active on social media with 100 million active on social media via mobile. Growth in the
numbers of active mobile social accounts saw a spike of +39% since January 2014.

The impact of social networks on young people is significant. Children are growing up
surrounded by mobile devices and interactive social networking sites such as Twitter,
MySpace, and Facebook, which has made the social media a vital aspect of their life. Social
network is transforming the manner in which young people interact with their parents, peers,
as well as how they make use of technology. Facebook rules in India when it is about top
active social media platforms.

The effects of social networking are twofold. On the positive side, social networks can act as
invaluable tools for professionals. They achieve this by assisting young professionals to
market their skills and seek business opportunities. Social networking sites may also be used
to network professionally. On the negative side, the internet is laden with a number of risks
associated with online communities. Cyber bullying, which refers to a type of bullying that is
perpetrated using electronic technology, is one of the risks.

Bullies have taken to internet sites such as Twitter and Facebook, where the hide behind the
anonymity provided by the internet to carry out their despicable acts. Young people also run
the risk of inadvertently disclosing their personal information since on most occasions; they
usually neglect to read carefully websites’ privacy policies. Whenever young people fail to

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read the policies and disclaimers, they are exposed to risks of having their personal
information disclosed. This is especially a serious matter in light of the rising cases of
cybercrimes such as identity theft. New studies reveal that social networks have the ability to
sway people to spend money by running advertisements on the user’s page. Such forms of
near-subliminal advertising can subconsciously cause an individual to buy certain
merchandise.

It is becoming increasingly clear that social networks have become part of people’s lives.
Many young people are using their tablet computers and smart phones to check Tweets and
status updates from their friends and family. As technology advances, people are pressured to
adopt different lifestyles. Social networking sites can assist young people to become more
socially capable. However, they may also make them clumsy and incompetent, as well.
Therefore, it is imperative to exercise caution and restraint when dealing with such issues.

3. OBJECTIVE

The research has been conducted with the purpose of identifying the impact of social media
on youth on various aspects of their lives. The main objectives were as (1) To analyze the
influence of social media on youth social life (2) To assess the beneficial and preferred form
of social media for youth (3) To evaluate the attitude of youth towards social media and
measure the spending time on social media.

To this extent, primary data has been collected by mailing a carefully generated questionnaire
to public intended to record their responses. Care has been taken to ensure relative normal
distribution across gender and occupation of the respondents.

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 4. METHODOLOGY

The Research Design was made by having a brainstorming session amongst the group members
and focusing on the research question. The primary objective was to identify any underlying
impact of SNSs amongst the end users. So online survey mode was preferred as it was supposed
to be the most cost effective and relevant medium in context of our research.

4.1 Data Type

The data collected was primary data. It included a mix of quantitative data as well as qualitative
data. It was collected within a time frame of one week. The data collected was cross sectional
data.

4.2 Data Collection Tools

We used Questionnaire Method to gather data on the gender, age, occupation, educational
qualification and the SNSs usage patterns. The data was collected online. Data collection was
done using conventional mailing approach as well as via the usage of SNSs.

4.3 Population and Sample Size

Since the population size is very large a statistical method has not been applied to determine the
size of the sample. Rather, a sample size of 124 respondents at random was considered which
satisfies a large sample criterion. The key aspects in sample selection were:

1. Sample was heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, occupation and educational

qualification.

2. Sample provided an apt base and adequate representation for testing our primary
objective.

Data Analysis

The data analysis was carried out in following order:

1. Univariate Analysis:

Under univariate analysis, we analysed the demographic variables of gender, age and occupation
using a pie chart. The basic objective is to introduce the sample to the readers.

2. Multivariate Analysis:

Here we carried out two different analyses namely:

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a. Factor Analysis: The main purpose for factor analysis is to determine the various
factors that are responsible for impact of social networking sites. This was
achieved by identifying a number of underlying variables and conducting a survey
asking the respondents to rate these variables on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the
importance they attach to them while using their favourite social networking sites.

b. Cluster Analysis: We have tried to identify clusters which represent a group of

users with characteristics which are different and unique to each of those clusters.

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4 FINDINGS

Sample A total of 135 responses were captured

taking into consideration gender, income and
age diversity.
Data Collected Appendix 1
Survey Questionnaire Appendix 2

4.1 UNIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Gender Diversity:

Gender Total
Female 37
Male 87
Grand 124
Total

Gender Diversity in the sample:

Fig 1: Respondent Gender Distribution

This indicates that out of the total respondents, a significant portion (70.2% out of 124) were
Male as compared to the Female representation (29.8%% out of 124).

Age Group distribution:

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 Age Total
15-20 12
years
21-25 77
years
26-30 29
years
31-40 6
years
Grand 124
Total

Fig 2: Respondent Age Distribution

The number of respondents in the age group 21 – 25 dominated the survey with an
overall 62.1% of responses. This is the age group which we can safely presume are the
ones who are most likely to be attached to various forms of Social Networking sites.

Occupational Diversity:

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 4.00%
4.00% 0.80%
4.80%

Student
Service
Self-employed
Govt employed
56.00%
Unemployed
36.30% Other

Fig 3: Respondent Occupation Distribution

The overall qualification of the respondents is diverse and is predominantly distributed in two
segments, which are “Students (56%)” and “Service sector (36.3%)”.

Distribution of aggregate family income per annum (in Rs.)

Aggregate family Total

income per year
(Approx. in Rs.)
<1 Lakh 11
1-5 Lakhs 30
5-10 Lakhs 42
Above 10 Lakhs 40
Other 1

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 Fig 4: Respondents Income Distribution

What social sites do people actively use? (124 responses)

Fig 5: Favourite SNS distribution

This indicates that the most popular SNS amongst all our respondents is YouTube,
which is an entertainment media and next is Facebook, which is primarily a multi-
purpose SNS with facilities of social networking and entertainment in form of games
and applications. Next in the list is Whatsapp and LinkedIn, which is primarily a
professional networking site preferred by working and post graduate students.

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 On an average, how long in a day do you spend on social media platform?

8.10%
15.30%

27.40%
Less than an hour
1-2 hours
3-5 hours
More than 5 hours

49.20%

Fig 6: Respondent time duration pattern in SNS

This indicates that nearly half of the respondents spend 1-2 hours on different social
networking sites each day and nearly 27% of respondents spend 3-5 hours a day.

4.2 FACTOR ANALYSIS

The study involved responses of people to study the Impact of Social Media on their
social lives

The following were the observations using factor analysis:

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 KMO and Bartlett’s test of Sphericity

Per the table, KMO statistics is 0.680, which suggests that a factor analysis can be performed.

In the factor analysis we have grouped the manifest variables into 6 latent variables- Trusting
People and Information, Importance of Social media, Befriending Strangers, Bad Effects of
social media, Use in professional field and Interaction Level Preference. It covers a variance of
68.185%. We observe that people generally trust information they receive on social media.

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Though they prefer personnel level interaction over virtual settings; they don’t consider social
media as an intrusion to their privacy.

4.3 CLUSTER ANALYSIS

We have done cluster analysis to identify the target groups which are being affected by
social media. We have considered the demographic variables to form the clusters.
Below are the clusters mentioned:

Cluster1: Males who belong to the age group of 21-25 years and have an average
household income of Rs. 5-10 lakhs. They are Student and single. They spend around
1-2 hours everyday accessing social networking sites. It constitutes nearly 95% of the
sample.
Cluster2: Males who belong to the age group of 26-30 years and have an average
household income above Rs.10 lakhs and are married. They spend around 1-2 hours
everyday accessing social networking sites. It constitutes nearly 5% of the sample.

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Factor Analysis of Cluster 1

Importance, Trusting people Bad effects of Befriending Privacy Intrusion

Finding and information Social Media on Strangers
Information and professional, social
Professional life
Connect
P.V 16.033% P.V 14.551% P.V 13.119% P.V P.V 8.490%
11.881%
Finding Trust people(.649) Prefer Social Media Accept Privacy
Information(.793) over face to face Requests(.830) Intrusion(.722)
interactions(.749)
Important Part of Believe On professional Try to
Life(.765) Information(.659) life(.706) befriend
strangers(.875)
Professional Sharing without On social life(.625)
Connections(.755) verifying(.756)
Events Influenced by
Promotion(.568) Advertisement(.686)

In Cluster 1 we observe that the respondents mostly rely on social media to find relevant
information and to make professional connections and feel that their privacy is not getting
intruded.

Factor Analysis of Cluster 2

Role of Social Media in Adverse effects on Social Interface of Interaction with

personal and Social Life professional Social Media
professional activities
P.V 34.614% P.V 27.315% P.V 24.564% P.V. 13.507%
Finding Adverse effect on Professional Try to befriend
Information(.763) Social Life(.991) Connections(.994) strangers(.969)
Important part of Trust Prefer Social Media over Sharing without
life(.654) Information(.991) face to face verifying(.774)
interactions(.642)
Adverse effect on
professional life(.921)
Maintaining personal
relationships(.910)
Accept Friend

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Requests(.614)
Trust People(.865)
Advertisements(.915)
Sharing Personal
details(.710)
In cluster 2, the respondents feel that social media has an adverse effect on their lives and hence
they are hesitant to make connections using the interface.

5 CONCLUSION

(1) We find, through our research, that the youth is significantly influenced by the
information available on various social media platforms. They may even go as far as to share
the information without further verification. Social media is a convenient means the youth
uses to find new friends. Though they prefer to communicate with their “friends” in person,
they do not consider social media as an obstruction in their social lives. Social media, for the
youth, is an integral part of their daily life.

(2) The youth uses the internet frequently for services that help them connect with everyone
such as email and social media. They are more aware of the services that are being rendered
over the internet and are ready adopters of these services. Both men and women rely heavily
on the internet for their connectivity with the rest of the world and feel they are more
accessible to people through services like email and other social media platforms.

(3)Accessing basic services such as banking (e- banking), travelling (eg. Make my trip),
employment opportunities (eg. Naukri.com) etc that include money transfers over the internet
are not very popular with the women, due to concerns over the security of these transactions.
Whereas the men are more comfortable with the simpler way of online transactions.

(4) Women in India prefer online shopping significantly more than the men. The variety and
competitive prices that they find over the internet attracts them to the online shopping
platforms.

(5) Though the youth of India believes that social media is a reliable source of information,
they do not trust the people they come across on the social media platform.

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 APPENDIX
1. Survey Data

2. Survey Questionnaire
Attached in the mail separately.

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 SPSS OUTPUTS
3. Factor Analysis

Without Rotation:

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With Varimax Rotation:

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With Rotation and 6 fixed factors

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 4. Cluster Analysis

Factor Analysis of Clusters:

Cluster1
Without rotation

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With Varimax Rotation

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 Cluster2
Without rotation

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With Varimax Rotation

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K-Means 3 Clusters

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K-Means 2 Clusters

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