A PROJECT REPORT ON

IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES SUBMITTED TO:-

In Partial fulfillment of degree in Master of Business Administration

PRESENTED BY: Md.ZishanAkhtar(Rollno.82) Nandinipyasi(Rollno.85) PriyaDesai(Rollno.115) VaishaliChouhan(Rollno.111) DigvijaySingh(Rollno.73)

GLOBAL BUSINESS SCHOOL & RESEARCH CENTRE Tathawade,Pune 411 033

Batch 2011-2013

DECLARATION
Weherebydeclarethatalltheworkpresentedintheprojectreport entitledImpactof SocialNetworkingSitesofthesubjectResearch MethodologyatGBSRC,Dr.D.YPatilVidhyapeethUNIVERSITY,Puneis anauthenticrecordofourown WorkcarriedoutundertheguidanceofProfBhattacharyaandRakesh Shirase. Date:29/3/2012

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We express our deep gratitude to Prof Rakesh Shirase and Prof. BhattacharyaofGBSRC, Dr.D.Y.PatilUniversity,Punefortheirconstantsupport,guidance andmotivation whichhelpedusimmenselyincompletingthisproject.WeAlsothanks ProfAnandPrakash,Prof.MaithiliJagdale&ProfPriyafortheirhelpto carryoutourresearch.Theprojectprovideduswithan opportunitytounderstandthefundamentalsofresearchmethods inabettermanner andapplythem.Theinsistenceontakinguparelevanttopiclikethe impactofsocial networkingsitestounderstandthepsychologyofthepeopleusing these sitesbetterandcorrelatetheresearchtohumanbehavioralaspectand theirimpacton theirlife. Wealsowouldliketothankourrespondentsforgivingustheirvaluable timeand providing us with the information needed to carry out the research successfully.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TheSocialnetworkingsitesaregaininglotsofpopularitythesedays withalmostalloftheeducatedyouthusingoneortheothersuchsite. Thesehaveplayedacrucialroleinbridgingboundariesandcrossing theseasandenablingthemtocommunicateonacommon platform.Ithasbecomeapopularandapotentialmeanforthem tostayfriendswiththeexistingonesandtogrowuptheirsocial circleatleastintermsofacquaintances.sitesontheBusiness.Itis averysubjectivequestiontoanswerandisveryopinionbasedand thesameisreflectedintheresearchmethodologyadoptedbyus.The reportisinitiatedwiththedefinitionoftheobjectivefollowed withtheresearchmethodologyusedalongwiththeresearchdesign, samplesize,methodsusedforthepurposeofconductingsurvey.It alsoincorporatesthesamplingframeandthedatacollection procedure.SubsequenttothisistheIntroductiontothe networkingsitesalongwithabriefdescriptionofthemostpopular sites.Thentheissuesofconcernwhichhavecomeupalongthewayin alltheseyearssincethesesitesgainedpopularityarediscussed.The variousissuesandconcernsoftherespondentsarealsoincorporated there.Thenextpartoftheresearchhastheliteraturesurveyswhich arethearticleswetookupfromthepublishedreports.Wethen analyzedandinterpretedthedataatlength.Thelastpartdealswith thesuggestionsandrecommendationsthatthegrouphascomeup withaftercarefullyanalyzingandincorporatingtheopinionofall concerned.

INTRODUCTION
Internetistheemerginginformationtechnologywiththecredibilityof immediacyandfastness.Thus,itbringsglobalizationineveryaspectof communication. Communication through internet is more specified witheffectiveinteractivestrategyamongitsuser.Asocialnetworking siteisanonlineservice,platform,orsitethatfocusesonbuildingand reflectingofsocialnetworksorsocialrelationsamongpeople,who,for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consistsofarepresentationofeachuser(oftenaprofile),his/hersocial links,andavarietyofadditionalservices.Mostsocialnetworkservices are webbased and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as email and instant messaging. Online community servicesaresometimesconsideredasasocialnetworkservice,though inabroadersense,socialnetworkserviceusuallymeansanindividual centered service whereas online community services are group centered.Socialnetworkingsitesallowuserstoshareideas,activities, events, and interests within their individual networks. The main types of social networking services are those that contain category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with selfdescription pages), and a recommendation system linked to trust. Social networking companies continue developing their products, SNS applications are growing. Which are sometimeshelpful? Who Uses SNSs Fully 85.2% of respondent uses one or more SNSs .More than half (56.8%) of volume uses SNSs daily and rest (22.7%) uses it weekly or severaltimesperweek.


According to ComScore, up to end of November 2011 number of visitorswererecorded..
World wide
Facebook.com Twitter.com Linkedln.com GooglePlus MySpace Others

Unique visitor
792,999 167,903 94,823 66,756 61,037 255.539 1,438,877

Percentage
55.1% 11.7% 6.6% 4.6% 4.2% 17.8% 100%

TOTAL

SOCIAL NETWORK SITES (SNS) : A DEFINITION

Wedefinesocialnetworksitesaswebbasedservicesthatallow individualto: (1)Constructapublicorsemipublicprofilewithinaboundedsystem, (2)Articulatealistofotheruserswithwhomtheyshareaconnection, (3)Viewandtraversetheirlistofconnectionsandthosemadeby otherswithinthesystem.Thenatureandnomenclatureofthese connectionsmayvaryfromsitetosite.

Whileweusetheterm"socialnetworksite"todescribethis phenomenon,theterm"socialnetworkingsites"alsoappearsinpublic discourse,andthetwotermsareoftenusedinterchangeably. "Networking"emphasizesrelationshipinitiation,oftenbetween strangers.Whilenetworkingispossibleonthesesites,itisnotthe primarypracticeofmanyofthem,noritiswhatdifferentiatesthem fromotherformofcomputermediatedcommunications(CMC). Whatmakessocialnetworksitesuniqueisnotthattheyallow individualtomeetstrangers,butratherthattheyenablesusersto articulateandmakevisibletheirsocialnetworks.Thiscanresultin connectionsbetweenindividualsthatwouldnototherwisebemade, butthatisoftennotthegoal,andthesemeetingsarefrequently between"latentties"(Haythornthwaite,2005)whosharesomeoffline connection.OnmanyofthelargeSNSs,participantsarenotnecessarily "networking"orlookingtomeetnewpeople;instead,theyare primarilycommunicatingwithpeoplewhoarealreadyapartoftheir extendedsocialnetwork.Toemphasizethisarticulatedsocialnetwork asacriticalorganizing.

HOW DOES SNS WORKS

WhileSNSshaveimplementedawidevarietyoftechnicalfeatures, theirbackboneconsistsofvisibleprofilesthatdisplayanarticulatedlist ofFriendswhoarealsousersofthesystem.Profilesareuniquepages whereonecantypeoneselfintobeing.AfterjoininganSNS,an individualisaskedtofilloutformscontainingaseriesofquestions.The profileisgeneratedusingtheanswerstothesequestions,which typicallyincludedescriptorssuchasage,location,interests,andan "aboutme"section.Mostsitesalsoencourageuserstouploadaprofile photo.Somesitesallowuserstoenhancetheirprofilesbyadding multimediacontentormodifyingtheirprofile'slookandfeel.Others,

suchasFacebook,allowuserstoaddmodules("Applications")that enhancetheirprofile.Thevisibilityofaprofilevariesbysiteand accordingtouserdiscretion.Bydefault,profilesonOrkutorhi5.com arecrawledbysearchengines,makingthemvisibletoanyone, regardlessofwhetherornottheviewerhasanaccount.Alternatively, siteslikeMySpaceallowuserstochoosewhethertheywanttheir profiletobepublicor"Friendsonly."Facebooktakesadifferent approachbydefault,userswhoarepartofthesame"network"can vieweachother'sprofiles,unlessaprofileownerhasdecidedtodeny permissiontothoseintheirnetwork.Structuralvariationsaround visibilityandaccessareoneoftheprimarywaysthatSNSsdifferentiate themselvesfromeachother.Afterjoiningasocialnetworksite,users arepromptedtoidentifyothersinthesystemwithwhomtheyhavea relationship.Thelabelfortheserelationshipsdiffersdependingonthe sitepopulartermsinclude"Friends,""Contacts,"and"Fans."MostSNSs requirebidirectionalconfirmationforFriendship,butsomedonot. Theseonedirectionaltiesaresometimeslabeledas"Fans"or "Followers,"butmanysitescalltheseFriendsaswell.Theterm "Friends"canbemisleading,becausetheconnectiondoesnot necessarilymeanfriendshipintheeverdayvernacularsense,andthe reasonspeopleconnectarevaried(Boyd,2006).Thepublicdisplayof connectionsisacrucialcomponentofSNSs.TheFriendslistcontains linkstoeachFriend'sprofile,enablingviewerstotraversethenetwork graphbyclickingthroughtheFriendslists.Onmostsites,thelistof Friendsisvisibletoanyonewhoispermittedtoviewtheprofile, althoughthereareexceptions.MostSNSsalsoprovideamechanism foruserstoleavemessagesontheirFriends'profiles.Thisfeature typicallyinvolvesleaving"comments,"althoughsitesemployvarious labelsforthisfeature.Inaddition,SNSsoftenhaveaprivatemessaging featuresimilartowebmail.Whilebothprivatemessagesandcomments arepopularonmostofthemajorSNSs,theyarenotuniversally available.Beyondprofiles,Friends,comments,andprivate messaging,SNSsvarygreatlyintheirfeaturesanduserbase.Somehave

photosharingorvideosharingcapabilities;othershavebuiltin bloggingandinstantmessagingtechnology.Therearemobilespecific SNSs(e.g.,Dodgeball),butsomewebbasedSNSsalsosupportlimited mobileinteractions(e.g.,Facebook,MySpace,andCyworld).Many SNSstargetpeoplefromspecificgeographicalregionsorlinguistic groups,althoughthisdoesnotalwaysdeterminethesite's constituency.Orkut,forexample,waslaunchedintheUnitedStates withanEnglishonlyinterface,butPortuguesespeakingBrazilians quicklybecamethedominantusergroup.Somesitesaredesignedwith specificethnic,religious,sexualorientation,political,orotheridentity drivencategoriesinmind.

OBJECTIVES
1. To study the usage of social networking sites across the age range 2. To study the impact of negative experiences of online social networking. 3. To study the reasons for the use of social networking sites.

1.To study the usage of social networking sites across the age range:-

There is no doubt that young people are often more eager about embracingnewtechnologiesthanadultsandbecomehighlyskilledvery quickly. They are also more vulnerable and less inhibited in their communication than adults and therefore may become exposed to risks. The use of social networking sites has been the focus of a large number of research studies. In the current study we looked at use of social networking sites across the age range. Eightysix per cent of survey participants reported that they currently use online social networkingsites.Abreakdownofusersandnonusersbyagegroupis presentedinFigure1.Thefindingsindicatethatalmostalloftheyoung adults who completed this survey (97%) were accessing online social networking sites. However, a large number of adults aged 31 to 50 years(81%)and64percentofadultsover50alsoreportedusingthese sites.Inidentifyingthosesocialnetworkingsitesthatparticipantsused the most, an overwhelming majority of respondents reported using Facebook (95%). Smaller numbers of participants were using sites like Twitter (2%), RSVP (1%), and Windows Live Spaces (1%). There was little variation on the sites used across the age groups with Facebook being the primary online social networking site across all ages. There wasadecreaseinthenumberofonlinefriendswithincreasingagewith thoseagedbelow30reportinganaverage263friends,thoseaged31to 50 reporting an average 206 friends and those over 50 having 92 friends(theaverageoverallwasreportedas205friends).

97%81%64%3%19%36%0%20%40%60%80%100%Young Adults (18 to 30)Adults(31to50)Adults(over50)NonuserUser

2. To Study the impact of negative experience of online social networking

There has been significant interest and concern about the risks of onlinesocialnetworkingbecauseofaccesstopersonalinformationand the anonymity that the system allows. A number of public cases of bullyingandidentitythefthaveputthisissueinthepublicarena.Inthe surveyparticipantswereaskedwhethertheyhaveeverhadabadsocial networking experience. A considerable number of respondents (28%) reported having had a negative online experience with adults aged below30themostlikelytoreportthis(60%).Theseparticipantswere asked to provide further information about the negative experience. For most respondents the experience reflected unwanted contact or people posting inappropriate or upsetting information online. Some respondents specified having online bullying and provided examples such as abusive messages and harassment from someone of the oppositesex. Although research into young people reports varying rates of bullying acrossagesandbasedondefinitionsofbullying,theresultsforadults presented here are not much different from findings for younger people. However, it should be noted that in the current survey we askedparticipantstoidentifyabadexperienceratherthanbullyingper se.Ifthesurveyhadaskedspecificallyaboutbullyingthismayhaveled to different results. An interesting outcome of the survey was that when participants provided information about bad experiences many alsoindicatedhowtheymanagedtheexperiencesuchasblockingthe person from contacting them, indicating that the experience had led themtoconsiderwaystoavoidsuchoccurrencesinfuture.

3. To study the reasons for the use of social networking sites

Participants were asked their reasons for accessing social networking sites.Table2presentstheresponseswithregardtothepurpose(s)for using online social networking sites. Most respondents identified a range of reasons, with those most endorsed being about connecting withfriendsandfamily.

Table 2. Responses to the question: For what purpose(s) do you use social networking sites?

Keepingintouchwithfriends Findingoutwhatotherpeoplearedoing Keepingintouchwithfamily Trackingdownandcontactingnewfriends Generalchattingwithothers Postingphotosofmyselforothers Sharinginformationonlinewithothers TellingotherswhatIvebeendoing Invitingpeopletoanevent Makingarrangementstomeetsomeone Playingnetworkinggames Makingnewfriends Other

1387 948 908 804 788 782 742 701 625 487 393 289 86

88% 60% 58% 51% 50% 50% 47% 44% 40% 31% 25% 18% 5%

Otherreasonsforusingsocialnetworkingsitesincludedcheckingup

onkids,gettinginvitestoeventsandacommonthemewastheuse of networking sites for business, promotion and professional networking. Thesurveyresultswerepositivewhenlookingattheimpactofonline social networking on social relationships. A large proportion of respondents (53%) felt that online social networking allowed them to

beincontactwithpeoplemoreregularly,andfor79percentofsurvey participants it helped them to keep in touch with people who live far away.Twentysixpercentofrespondentsstatedthattheyattendmore social events when compared to before they were using social networking sites, suggesting that the use of online social networking sites increases both online and facetoface social interactions. Open ended responses from participants supported the convenience of online social networking as a communication tool for sharing information, making meeting or event arrangements, and staying in touchwithpeoplethattheymaynototherwisecontact(e.g.,byphone orfacetoface). Itisinterestingtonotethatmorethanhalfofrespondentsaged18to 30 felt they would lose contact with many of their friends if they stopped using online social networking (52%). This was less of a concernfortheover50agegroup,withonly26percentofthisgroup concerned about losing friendships. With regards to contact with family, over a quarter of respondents believed that they would lose contact with some family members if they ceased using social networkingsites. Respondents were asked about their preference for online communication when compared to facetoface interactions. The majorityofrespondentsreportedthattheypreferredtocommunicate with people inperson ratherthanusing online social networking sites (54%,with25%neutralonthismatter)suggestingthatpeoplearenot necessarily moving away from facetoface interactions but perhaps used online social networking to enhance their in person communications.Curiously,thesamenumberofrespondentsreported feelingmoreconfidentsocialisingonlinethaninperson(54%,with15% neutral)whileasmallnumberof participants(8%)indicatedthat they felttheyweretreatedbetteronlinethaninfacetofacerelationships.

EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

MeetUp.com

Meetup.comisanetworkingsitealmostentirelydevotedtoarranging meetingsfor communities with likeminded interests. Unlike most other social networks,wherethe focus istowardsuserprofilesandthenetworksof personal friendsor associates, Meetuporganizeslocalinterestgroupsthatmeetmonthlyatlocalcafes and establishments.Meetupearnsmoneyfromestablishmentsthatpayto belistedas possiblevenuesforthesemeetings,andalsofromservicessuchastext advertisingand itsadvancedMeetupPlusfunctionality.
evite.com

Almost the same as MeetUp. Allows users to create invitations for events,sendthemto friends,setupplacestomeet,andcoordinatetheevent.
Ryze.com

Ryze was originally an online business networking site, but members havealsobeen using the site to communicate with other members for dating and othersocialnetworking purposes through the use of photos in each members profile. It is a freeservice,but members can also subscribe to gold membership, which is a paid servicethatenables members to perform advanced searches. The Ryze site also organizes eventsforpeople

offline. Ryze profiles contain guest books for other members to leave messagesoremails forotherusers.Italsolistsasectionforclassifiedswhichmemberscan postto. Thesitecurrentlycontainsabout250,000profiles.
Friendster.com

Friendsterisprimarilyasiteforsocialconnections:fordatingthrough onesownfriends and their friends; for making new friends; and for helping friends to meetnewpeople.A membersphotoandprofileareonlyshowntopeopleintheirpersonal networkand messages can only be sent and received from those with a mutual networkoffriends. SizeoftheFriendsternetworkisabout17millionprofiles.
Orkut.com

Orkut has attracted a lot of attention because of its ties with Google, forwhomthesite developer works for. Primarily a social site, Orkut has a relatively low userbaseas it requires an invitation to join. Communities are created under thirty orsogeneral category headings and contain usual message forums and events listings.Orkuthas been criticized for its poor privacy policy, which has recently been revised. LiveJournal.com LiveJournal is basically a blogging service, but the memberscanaddothermembersas friends,thusgettingasummarybloglineoftheirblogentries.
MySpace.com

MySpace is another network with a slightly blurred target, but mostly friendoriented.

MySpace is becoming popular among teens and young people. One interestingfeature isthatmusicalartistsareallowedtocreatetheirownprofilesandare giventheoptionto poststreamingMP3softheirsongstobuilduplargerfanbases.Some bandsevenallow theMP3stobedownloaded.Size:14.5millionprofiles.
Tribe.net

Tribe aims to keep its services to members free of charge by deriving revenuefromjob postings and featured listings. While Tribe is primarily used for social purposes,for example if someone moves to a new area and they are looking for informationon accommodation or restaurants or concerts, the site does include professionalelements such as job postings. As well as each user having a defined set of friends,Tribecontains many categories of communities where each community is termed a tribe,anda message forum and events listing is associated with that tribe. Messagesfromforums are also made available in RSS format for use in desktop news aggregatingapplications.
WhoAt.com

WhoAt is a social networking and dating site designed for mobile phones.Youtellit whereyouareandittellsyouwhereyourfriendsandnearbypotential friendsare. WhoAt works via mobile phone browsers, SMS, and standard web browsers.

Business Networks:
LinkedIn.Com

LinkedIn looks like the most professional looking of all the social networkingservices, and is very oriented toward your professional network and not your broaderpersonal network.Infact,unlikealmostalltheothersites,LinkedIndoesn'tallow foryoutoadda photo to your profile page. LinkedIn allows members to look for jobs, seekingoutexperts in a particular area, or to make contact with other professionals throughachainof trusted connections. LinkedIn is probably the site with the least potentialforsocial purposes.SizeoftheLinkedInnetworkisabout2.5millionprofiles.
Ecademy.com

Ecademyisabusinessnetworkingsitebuiltupofanetworkoftrusted business connectionsforpeopletosharecontactsandbusinessopportunities.It isfreetojoin, howevermembershipcanbeupgradedtopowernetworker.Ithasalist ofEcademy clubs that its members can join, as well as listings of meetings and whentheywillbe taking place. It also contains a list of networking regions globally for arrangingmeetings andeventsoffline.
OpenBC.com

"The European Version of LinkedIn". Initially free, but has a golden membership,which

givesaccesstoextendingfeatures.

Spoke.com

Spoke is a professional networking site that helps people build their businessnetwork connections online. Spoke helps its members to increase their prospectsfor opportunities, andin helping to find ajob it also enables membersto obtainreferrals throughpeopletheyalreadyknow.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Aconsiderableamountofworkhasbeendoneinthisfieldand severalarticlesareavailableontheinternetandmagazinesaboutthe socialnetworkingsites.Sofirstwecarriedoutaliteraturesurvey oftheavailabledataforcollectionofsecondaryinformation.We followeditbyadescriptiveresearchdesigninordertounderstandthe problemandcarryouttheresearchinlucidmanner.

SamplingTechnique:ConvenientSampling SampleUnit:GeneralPublicofPune&Mumbai SampleFrame:SNSusersandnonuserinPune&Mumbai SampleSize:50 DataCollectionmethod:Aftersecondarydatacollectionthrough

datacollectionovertheinternet,aprimaryresearchwascarriedout throughaquestionnaire.Thequestionnairewaswellstructuredandthe responsesweresoughtfromtherespondents.Thenatureofthe questionswassuchthatitavoidedambiguousresponsesfromthe respondentsanditalsohelpedinquickanalysisofthedatacollected.

Twomethodsofquestioningwereusedforthedata collection: 1).PersonAssisted:Theresponseswerecollectedbypersonal

questioning.Theresponsesweretakenfromthegeneralpublic. thisformofquestioninghelpedtherespondenttounderstandthe questionsbetterandansweraccordingly.

2).Webenabled:Thequestionnairewasemailedtorespondents
whofilleditandthenmaileditbacktous.Aflawthatwerealizedhere wasthatsomeoftherespondentsdidnotunderstandthequestions andhencecouldnotanswerthemtothebestoftheircapability, unliketheothermethodemployedwherethequestionscouldbe explainedifrequired.

3).Questionnaire:Structuredquestionnaireismadeandresponses
weresoughtfromtherespondents.SecondaryResearch.

Asecondaryliterature:
Reviewwillbedonetostudythereasonsbehindthegrowing usageofsuchsitesandwhatarethevariousimpactonSociety.
QUESTIONAIREDESIGN:

Questionnairewasdividedintofivemajorheads: 1. Generalinformation 2. Timespentonsites

3. Activities 4. Useofsocialsitesforbusiness 5. Theiranalysisofsites

SAMPLING
SamplingDesign:
Thetargetpopulationforourresearchwasdefinedasthestudents

whoformthemajorchunkofusersofthesesocialnetworking sites.Thiswasdonetohaveabetterinsightintotheresearchas thetargetpopulationwasonewhichisthemostaviduserof thesesitesandcouldprovidegoodresponses.Eventhe understandingofthequestionnairewaseasytothemastheywere familiarwiththesitesandquiteclearaboutthereasonstheyuse itforandthevariousproblemsthattheyface.Theextentofthe surveywaslimitedtothegeneralpublicofPune&Mumbai, Maharashtra.However,throughonlinesurveysomeregions outsideBhubaneswarwerealsoreachedtovalidatetheinformation collectedfromBhubaneswar.Samplingframecanbedefinedasall theusersofsocialnetworkingsitesinthevicinity.Oncethe samplingframewasdecidedsimplerandomsamplingmethodwasused toselecttherespondent.Inthepersonassistedsurvey,almost everyoneinthesamplingframehadanequalchanceofbeingselected andwegottheresponsesfilledthroughthosepeoplewhowerereadily andwillinglyacceptingtofillit.

DATA ANALYSIS
Wehad50filledupquestionnaire.Thedatafromthesequestionnaire wasanalyzedthroughfollowingtechniques.
CLUSTERANALYSIS:Clusteranalysisorclusteringistheassignmentofaset

ofobservationsintosubsets(calledclusters)sothatobservationsinthe sameclusteraresimilarinsomesense.Dependinguponthevarious motivatingfactorsandthestylesofusagehereticalclustering techniqueswasapplied.Therewasnoneedfeltforfactoranalysisas onlyfewvariablesemergedfromthestudy.