Social Networking Usage on Mobile Devices

Jason Vikram Mariadas

(Product Design, PG-2013)
Faculty: Prof. Madhusudan Mukherjee

Introduction
The advent of the internet has made the world a two dimensional neighborhood, with random
precision at the beck and call of anyone with malicious intent. Uninformed teenagers and
immature adults flock in droves to this magical medium that promises a new level of coolness,
uploading and sharing tons of information and useless irrelevant data that is best sent to the
recycle bin.
This report barely scrapes the surface of what can be a much wider and deeper report on the
fallacies of human beliefs and how we are under the delusion that the world is interested in our
intimate day to day activities. People post, boast, upload pictures of French toast and a hundred
other random happenings.
What started as something innocent, (though not from uncontroversial beginnings) to share and
meet peers has become a complex and intricate maze of scams, lies and deception, with a
smattering of truth every now and then.

Use of Social Networking Sites

This study briefly touches upon peoples awareness about the device they use, their attitude
towards the data they share, their dependence and perception of the so called networking
they engage in.
Humans have never been more mislead by this gross impression that security is a relative
measure and one persons pudding is anothers poison applies to the binary world as well. We
are all victims of the realities we forge through the choices we make, forever under the
impression that the data we share is not privileged to our near and dear but also to anyone with
a modem and a browser- and they need not have our best interests in mind.

Survey Data:

Current internet access through:

Wi-Fi

10

42%

3G/2G

14

58%

Which all networking sites are you a member of?

Facebook

24

26%

Whatsapp

21

23%

Skype

14

15%

Instagram

12

13%

Pinterest

8%

Twitter

6%

Orkut

4%

Tumblr

2%

Flikr

2%

MySpace

1%

How much do you know about your phone?

less than 50%

13%

50-70%

33%

70-90%

21%

more than 90%

25%

I know all of everything

8%

In a day, how many hours would you spend?

less than 1

39%

1-2

22%

2-3

22%

3-5

9%

More than 5

9%

Do you post statuses, upload pics, etc. on these sites regularly?

Yes

10

43%

No

9%

11

48%

Sometimes

Do you feel the urge or need to update these sites?

Yes

35%

No

30%

Sometimes

35%

Do you feel comfortable sharing personal information on these sites?

Comfortable

9%

Not comfortable

17%

Don't care really

17%

13

57%

Some of it

Do you check and adjust the privacy settings to suit your needs on these sites? Or are you
comfortable with sharing your data?

I adjust everything

12

52%

Defaults are cool

13%

I fine tune everything

35%

Would you check out someone on these sites?

Yes

13

57%

Not really

30%

I check everyone out to make sure they are real

13%

Do you ever regret posting or sharing anything?

Sometimes

13

57%

Nah, Never. Too smart for that.

30%

Not really, people don't judge.

13%

What motivates you to post/ update your status?

the time of the sunrise Stay connected My sense of humor To make people laugh my good looks at
times Friends Life moments an achievement I would want everyone to know. Occasions When I feel
like sharing something with my friends General conversation and updating friends The love of my
life when something come across to my mind that is worth sharing I update my statuses whenever I
feel like nothing My friends' valuable comments. For the Good of all!!! I just post it generally nothing
as such Cool stuff happening around People

Do you feel that people post updates for sympathy?

Yess
Yes,
Sometimes
Sometimes
Possible
Yeah, especially vain wannabe hotties
dont care
Some of them do
No
Yes
some of them
Yes
Sometimes
Maybe
Sometimes they do.
Sometimes yes!
No
Yes
Yeah, girls, singles.
Attention seekers
Not really

What features do you dislike?

anyone can reach to you.
Unnecessary posts by any group defaming a celeb or a public character.
Group chats
Nothing
poking,
suggested pages
Privacy
Candy crush notifications
None
People trying to gain sympathy
that u get blocked sometimes for days!! A very long period.
it depends on situation
Can't put my finger on d particulars
quizzes, game requests n pokes
Game requests
poking
notification chain
game requests,
facebook ads, marketing gimmicks
all
There is no option of choosing which photos (posted by other friends of yours) to be shown to others or
not?

Observations:
The general view one gets is that all people have Facebook on their smartphone
Facebook is the most popular.
People want to see who visited their profile, but dont want to show stuff. (You show yours, Ill
show you mine- NO!)
Dependent on Facebook for personal esteem gratification.
Many believe that privacy is guaranteed.
Implicit trust that the social networking site is not using data for other reasons.
Many people feel that others post for sympathy.
Many people feel that others are attention seekers.