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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter

NoTITLE Page No

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF TABLES iii

LIST OF FIGURES iv

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY v

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Need for the study 10

1.3 Scope of the study

1.4 objectives of the study

1.5 Chapter summary

2 THEORETICAL FRAME WORK & REVIEW OF

LITERATURE 14

2.1 Theoretical frame work

2.2 Literature Review

2.2.1 Marketing

2.2.2 Social Media

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2.2.3 Social Media and advertising

2.2.4 Facebook and its features

2.2.5 Facebook revenue generation

2.2.6 Types of advertisements in Facebook

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research Design

3.2 Sampling

3.3 Data collection

3.4 Instruments used

3.5 Tools used

4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INFERENCE 30

4.1 Biographical data of the sample

4.1.1 Gender, age and education groups in the sample

4.1.2 Hours spent on internet

4.2 Social network behavior and understanding of the

advertisements in Social networks

4.2.1 Number of social networking sites belong to

4.2.2 Period started using Facebook

4.2.3 Frequency of use of social networking sites

4.2.4 Number of friends in Facebook

4.2.5 Extend of awareness

4.2.6 Change in perception companies that advertisements in

Facebook

4.2.7 Places where Facebook advertisements are noticed more

by the

4.2.8 Purpose of using Facebook

4.2.9 Ranks given to social media/networking sites by

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respondents

4.3 Demographic information regarding Social Network behavior

and advertisements

4.4 Attitude analysis

4.4.1 Reliability of the data

4.4.2 Belief factors of social network advertising

4.4.3 Internet users attitude towards social network advertising

4.4.4 Predictions of internet users’ attitude towards social network advertisements

5 FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY 69

6 CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION 74

REFERENCES xi

APPENDICES xiv

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LIST OF TABLES

Table No TABLE TITLE Page No

4.1Frequencies and percentages of age, gender groups

4.2Frequencies and percentages of hours spent on internet

4.3Frequencies and percentages of number of SNS belonged to

4.4Frequencies and percentages of period started using SNS

4.5Frequencies and percentages of usage frequency of SNS

4.6Frequencies and percentages of the number of friends in

Facebook

4.7Frequencies and percentages of the extent of awareness about the

social networking sites

4.8Frequencies and percentages of the change in perception about

the companies that advertise in Facebook

4.9Places where Facebook ads of the companies are looked more by

the respondents

4.10Prioritizing the purpose of using Facebook

4.11 Ranks of the social media and social networking sites

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No FIGURE TITLE Page No

4.1 Gender demographics regarding Social network membership

4.2Age demographics regarding Social network membership

4.3Internet usage hours regarding Social network membership

4.4Education regarding awareness of the Social network

membership

4.5Gender demographics regarding Facebook ads

4.6 Gender regarding perception about the company after seeing Facebook ads

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The way people communicate with each other in this century has changed a lot. ‘Social

media’, is that popular mode of social communication. The trend in advertising is also

changing. Media, now a-days are more cluttered and advertisers are willing to overcome its

disadvantage. So social networks advertisements are emerging and seem to be a powerful

solution for advertisers targeting the same.

The research is aimed to find out the social network preferred mostly, followed by the

attitude of the young Ernakulum consumers towards the Facebook ads along with the factors

affecting the attitude. It also examines the behavior of youths on social networks and to find

the preferred location of ads in Facebook so to suggest to the practitioners.

The research is based upon primary data and it can be considered as a questionnaire based

cross sectional study. Based on Convenience sampling a total of 72 respondents only if they

are being a part of at least one social network were selected for the study. Statistical package

for social studies, G*Power 3, excel sheet were used and reliability tests, t tests, regression

analysis, Friedman rank test were conducted along with basic percentage analysis.

It is found that the attitude towards the social network advertisements is Positive and the

belief factors credibility, entertainment and informative-ness are positively and irritation is

negatively related to attitude as similar to the studies referred but the most significant factor

while considering the attitude is Informative-ness unlike the referred studies conducted

earlier. It is found that Facebook followed by Twitter and the social media ‘You tube’ are

ranked most. The Location for ads in Facebook preferred is the side bar of other peoples

profile followed by Facebook applications

The overall attitude is positive and since they consider informative-ness to be the most

significant factor it is therefore apt for companies to highlight the information aspect of ads.

Since through Facebook it is possible to select the target audience more closely it is

suggested for practitioners to positively use Facebook as an advertising tool than any other

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social network without irritating the users as they may change the attitude if its level exceeds

other positive factor’s levels.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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1.1 Background of the study

Many people, in the past years who have access to Internet, use it to send and receive

mails only and it is no longer the same purpose. Later, chatting was one of the popular

activities on the Internet where people can talk to anyone across the world and now, its social

sharing and networking.

Social networking sites has facilitated and enhanced the way people communicate

with each other online. Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, Geocities are few

of its kind. The number of people using these social networking sites is increased and

currently in one of such social networking sites, Facebook, there are 800 million active users

as on September 2011. Modern day advertisements like digital bill boards and advertising in

the above said sites, has been under complete traffic today. Social networks worldwide are

estimated to bring in $3.3 billion in advertising dollars by the year 2010 according to updated

estimates by e-marketer.

Furthermore due to globalization, every company form everywhere around the world

wants to become global player. So they are pushed to a state where they need to strengthen

their competitiveness by differentiating themselves from the competition. They found that

traditional means of marketing their products and services are not properly responded. They

carefully observed the peoples’ behavior and changed their dynamics of marketing.

Foreseeing the changes before their competitors do is what essential.

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1.2 Need for the study

Attitudes of the people towards the advertised idea, in general for any form of

advertisement, were expected to influence the success of any particular advertising. For many

years, researchers have been measuring the attitudes of adult consumers, student samples and

even children for judging and enhancing their advertised idea by conducting research from all

around the world.

Social networks are one of the most significant and current online tool of

communication, linking people all around the world. In spite of the knowing this fact

marketers are rushing towards this space with their messages, making it as a place for

advertising. The property of being inexpensive is also one of the most important factors that

make them as an attractive advertising media. The advertisers target the younger generation

in a social networking site advertisement since the social networks have a better reach to this

age group as of now. It should also be taken into consideration for better future planning that

the number of professionals using it is also gradually increasing. So this research considers

the younger age group for studying the attitude towards social network advertisements along

with their behavioral pattern study to understand it much better.

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1.3 Scope of the study

The popularity of social media is growing in India and it is therefore relevant for

marketers to consider it, especially for the enterprises wanting to promote their product. This

subject is a concern currently, Although many research is conducted world-wide for

understanding the consumers attitude, This research is one of this kinds aimed in

understanding about the behavior of the people on the social networks and attitude of them

towards the social network- based advertisements among the young population of the city of

Ernakulam, India, as no much similar study on this is made previously. All this is to view

how companies use this tool positively.

Also the among the various number of social media platforms like blogs, discussion

forums from Yahoo, Google, video-sharing site You tube, Picture-Sharing site Flickr etc.,

and networking sites like Orkut, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and so on, Facebook

has gained huge popularity than any other site (studies on social networking sites) and it has

been observed that in the sampling frame considered for the study also that more people are

the users of Facebook. So the attitude on the Facebook advertisements is chosen for the

study.

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1.4 Objectives of the study

1. To determine the attitude of the youths towards the Facebook advertisements

2. To understand the factors affecting the attitude towards Social network

advertisements

3. To understand the behavior of youth in Social Networking sites

4. To find out the preference towards social networking sites

5. To find out the preferred location for ads in Facebook

6. To offers suggestions to the practitioner

The major variables that are considered in the study are

Credibility

Entertainment

Irritation

Informative-ness

Attitude towards social network advertising

Relevant demographic factors

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1.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 1 deals with the introduction to the topic taken for the study; the need for this

study and also the scope for the study are also discussed here. The objectives of the research

are also stated in this chapter.

Chapter 2 deals with the literature review collected for this study. It includes all those

studies conducted earlier in each and every component of the topic. It includes studies

conducted for marketing, social media, social media and advertising, Facebook and its

features, Facebook revenue generation and also about the types of advertisements in

Facebook.

Chapter 3 describes in detail about the research methodology. It includes in the

research design, sampling method, size of sample, sample frame, Data collection,

respondents, the instrument used for the study; tools used for statistical analysis are also

specified.

Chapter 4 includes the analysis details for the study; it includes the basic demographic

analysis, attitude analysis, respondent’s behavior on the social networks, understanding of the

advertisements in social networks, reliability tests of the data and the demographic

information regarding social network behavior an advertisements.

Chapter 5 includes the findings of the study, implications of the study to practitioners

and the summary and conclusions of the study are also included. Chapter 6 includes the

bibliography of the references considered for the study.

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CHAPTER 2

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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2.1 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Different models have been formulated by different researchers and academicians for

studying the attitude of consumers towards advertising. Tsang in 2004 gave the model for

determining consumer attitudes towards mobile marketing. Schlosser, A.E., Shavitt, and

Kanfer in 1999 with their study on attitude towards Internet advertising also have given a

similar model. Ducoffe in 1996 developed model of advertising containing three factors that

can affect consumers’ attitude towards advertising. This model was later used by Brackett

and Carr in 2001 for examining consumers’ attitude towards web advertising. It added two

other factors of credibility and demographic factors. This model is used in many studies for

determining the attitude of youth towards internet and mobile advertising. Therefore the

model by Brackett and Carr can be adopted by considering the factors involved to determine

the attitude of youth towards social network advertising.

Credibility, informative-ness and entertainment were found to be positively affecting

the attitude towards advertising whereas irritation was found to be negatively affecting the

attitude was found from various studies conducted before. Age and gender were studied in

many studies in order to examine attitude of consumers towards advertisements depending on

age and gender.

The Factors affecting the attitude towards advertising includes Entertainment,

Informative-ness, Irritation and Credibility.

The following research hypotheses are formulated based upon the considered research works:

H1: Irritation of the SN advertisements is negatively related to the attitude towards SN

advertising

H2: Credibility of SN advertisement is positively related with attitude towards the SN

advertising

H3: Entertainment factor of SN advertising is positively related with the attitude towards SN

advertising

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H4: The informative-ness of SN advertisement is positively related to the attitude towards

SN advertising

2.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.2.1 Marketing

“The role of marketing has not changed; it still defines target markets, communicates

with prospective customers, builds loyalty, etc. It is only the techniques that have changed;

and so the questions are the same as before, but the answers are different”. Also the objective

of marketing according to most companies’ is

1. To build and leverage relationships between the organization and its customers

(current and prospective), as well as its employees, partners, shareholders,

government, the media, analysts, etc.

2. To establish and extend brand value, to strengthen and protect corporate reputation,

and boost demand through marketing managers

3. To improve return on investment by having a limited marketing budget and needing

to reach more people more efficiently in the highly competitive global economy.

Also the two challenges that marketer face is stated as follows

1. Demand from senior management to justify spending by being clearer about

marketing investments and the return on those investments.

2. Connecting and delivering the message to customers and possible customers is

increasingly difficult as they are becoming less and less reachable and less open to

marketing messages (Weber, 2009).

Marketing in social media is through Word-of-mouth marketing or buzz marketing

which rely on the consumer to initiate the conversation and that is how awareness is created.

Also the role of marketers is that they can encourage these conversations by providing

authentic experiences and creating talk-worthy events and it is controlled by the individual,

not by the advertiser or public relations agency.

It is also added that the Word-of-mouth marketing is “business-to-customer-to-

customer” marketing which means that a marketer gives an idea worth taking about to the

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customers and then the customer repeats it to another friend of him who again tells another

friend, etc. and the promotion is created at last (Sernovitz, 2006).

2.2.2 Social Media

Social media is the best medium to communicate with customers and spread messages

by word-of-mouth because people are receptive to messages and information.

“Social media provides the way people share ideas, content, thoughts, and

relationships online. Social media differ from so called ‘mainstream media’ in that anyone

can create, comment on, and add to social media content. Social media can take the form of

text, audio, video, images, and communities.” (David Merman Scott)

In other words, social media can be define as the participatory online media for social

interaction which includes internet forums, blogs ( an online journals with many short

articles), online communities, social networks, group creation, message boards, vlogs (video

blogs), podcasts (a non-streamed webcast which is a series of digital media files)

Students/people researched reacts differently towards the social networking sites and

they are not overwhelming lean in a particular direction but different Individual users

perceive the social networking sites differently as said by the Users and gratification theory

by Katz et. Al (Katherine K Roberts, 2010).

2.2.3 Social Media and advertising

According to the uses and gratifications theory, an audience based theory which

hypothesizes that different consumers use the same media messages for different purposes,

depending on their individual needs and goals is based on certain assumptions that the

audience is active, the media choice lies with the audience member, all mediums compete

with other sources of need/goal fulfillment, mass media goals can be found in the message of

the source, and cultural value judgments should be not be taken into consideration as the

audience explores their own opinions (Katz et al., 1974).

The emergence of the social networking sites has made marketing personal, precise

and social. It is also possible for the marketers to micro-target customers using community

members’ profile information and to promote word-of-mouth marketing to the existing

customer base (Shih, 2009).

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“Facebook advertising doesn’t feel like advertising because it comes from your

friends” (Tim Kendall, the director of monetizing at Facebook). Facebook is an effective

platform for marketing because networking and communication are taking place. This allows

companies to be connected into conversations of the members by simply appearing on the site

(Lear Month, 2009).

Facebook has not only transformed the research and the purchase consideration stage

but it also provides the shoppers with a platform to advocate for the products/services they

love (Swedowsky, 2009). Facebook ads are extremely relevant to users because they are so

highly targeted (Gangadharbatla, 2008).

An experiment has done to test the effectiveness of Facebook’s advertisers’ micro-

targeting method. He creating his own Facebook advertisement targeted to his girlfriend by

mentioning the specific demographic and found that it was possible to place the ad directly

on her Facebook website. This test is an evident that how the advertisers’ can utilize

Facebook with its Nano-targeting of the market which is a unique features not seen in any

traditional advertising method (Lessin, 2008).

It is highlighted that Zynga, a social-network gaming company dominates the site

with its gaming applications like City Ville which has over 126 million active users. They

spend $50 million on Facebook advertising annually and likely to increase on further

development. They also see virtual products with a credit card to advance further in the game.

These provided Zynga with Facebook-user generated revenues and so they are developing on

the site and advertising more (O’Neill, 2009).

The advertisers have the option to create a free fan page on the Facebook where

companies and individuals can invite users to become a “fan” of a product, service, person,

company, brand, etc. Fan page is similar to a profile page with the option to add status

updates, photos, announcements, etc. (Klaassen, 2009). According to Facebook’s 2009

statistics, over 10 million users become fans of pages on a daily basis, which provides grow-

ing possibilities to reach consumers without any financial risk. Facebook has another feature

expanded called ‘gift shop’ which includes real gifts along with the virtual ones. This gives

the chance for the users to buy birthday gifts here.

2.2.4 Facebook and its features:

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Facebook is the world’s largest social network. It is not just like any other sites

providing casual networking with friends but they add new feature and develop it on a

consistent basis making it damn popular. In a variety of ways Facebook can be used and each

of the different features allows creativity and experimentation in advertising. Some of its

features are “News Feed” which highlights the recent activities from the users, every account

also has a personal profile page, a “wall” to write public messages to the users, Facebook

generated applications like photos, events, groups, videos, notes and links are very popular to

mention and it also gives an message box to write private messages to other users. They also

have additional optional features called platform applications like games (FarmVille,

MafiaWars etc.,), fan pages and gifts to connect in new ways.

Companies can utilize Facebook’s features to reach their audiences in different ways.

Since creating an account in Facebook is free of cost, Facebook has to generate its revenue

through a venue such as advertising.

2.2.5 Facebook Revenue generation

“Facebook is to generate over $2 billion in revenue from display advertising in 2011.

It is quite clear from their working models that free user accounts and easy marketing options

for the marketers, advertisements are the foremost revenue yielder to the company. It is on

track to become the top online display-ad selling company in the U.S passing Yahoo. It is

likely to take over 17.7% share of this market with so much money being invested in

Facebook ads” according to a study by e-Marketer in 2011.

2.2.6 Types of advertisements in Facebook

There are 10 different types of Facebook ads available to marketers today.

Page Ads - These are unique ads in that users can ‘Like’ a page directly from the ad.

When a user ‘Likes’ the page, it’s listed beneath the ad for their friends to see.

Website Ads - Clicking the ad takes you to the advertiser’s landing page or website.

Website ads will look like Page ads without the Like button. It is like web

advertisements.

Event Ads - To promote a sale, product promotion, trade show, or any event. Event

ads are integrated with Facebook Events and include an “RSVP” call to action. When

the RSVP is clicked, the event details are displayed, including the number of

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Facebook users and friends attending.

It will generate a newsfeed story within the user’s profile for all of their friends to see.

Sponsored Stories let marketers take social content and turn it into a marketing

message. With sponsored stories an advertiser pays to have user interactions with

their brand (Likes, Check-ins) show up on your friends’ pages while appearing in

other paid promotions on the website.

Video Ads allow advertisers to integrate video into an ad. The video can be played

online, where people can share comments and Like the video. A newsfeed story will

be generated for their friends to see.

Application ads allow Facebook application developers to drive more engagement

for their app by directing people to the app when they click on the ad.

Comment ads - With this ad a brand will make a statement or pose a question, and a

comment box is available so the user can enter a response. When users respond to the

question, the exchange shows up as a part of their newsfeed, thereby moving the

conversation through the individuals’ social network.

Polling ads lets advertisers start conversations by conducting polls. People who

respond can see how others voted and how each of their friends voted in the poll. The

poll generates a story on the advertiser’s page, and can appear in newsfeed of the

users who liked the brand and in their friends’ newsfeeds.

Gift ads - Used to drive visitors to pages within and outside of Facebook. It allows

users to send a gift to a friend within Facebook, along with a custom message.

Messages are public and can appear on the user’s page, as well as in their friends’

newsfeeds.

Hybrid engagement ads combine different ad types, such as a video ad with a

polling ad, or a video ad with an event ad.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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3.1 Research Design

The research is basically focused on the understanding of the usage pattern of youth

towards social networks and their attitude towards the social network advertisements. This

research is a quantitative research and it is normally conducted with a questionnaire and it has

emphasis on testing and verification. The quantitative data is based on meaning derived from

numbers and analysis is performed through the use of diagram and statistics. It is completely

contrast to the qualitative data which completely emphasizes on understanding and

conceptualization.

The research is based upon primary data as the secondary data alone could not help to

achieve the research objectives. Therefore this study can be considered as a questionnaire

based cross sectional study.

3.2 Sampling

Samples are selected based on accessibility and availability of the respondents in the

researchers’ convenience and it is ensured that the participants selected consisted of both

male and female. So convenience sampling is used for selecting the respondents.

72 respondents were selected for the study and the sampling frame consists of

consumers drawn from the family, friends and contacts of the researcher. The respondents

were selected only if they are being a part of at least one social network and so the

respondents were gathered through social networking sites especially Facebook. So in short

the target population for the study is the youth who are in at least one social network and they

are from Ernakulam and the surrounding area.

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The number of samples needed for the study is determined using the g3 software and

it is listed below;

The input parameters requested includes,

Tail(s) – two (entered value)

Effect size ІρІ – 0.5

α err prob - 0.01

Power (1-β err prob) – 0.99

And the output generated includes the total sample of 76, Df – 74 and δ (non-centrality

parameter) value is 5. So the sample size selected includes 75 and actual taken for study

includes 72 as suggested by G*Power 3. The sample composition is detailed in the data

analysis section below.

3.3 Data collection

The data collected for the study includes both the primary data and the secondary

data. The secondary data collected includes the studies made on the same topic from various

countries, about the Facebook advertisements types and other articles related to social

network and its members’ attitude and behavior towards its advertisements. The primary data

collected includes; Questionnaire segmented first to know their behavioral pattern on the

social networking sites, second had questions to obtain their attitude and the demographic

information about the respondents in the third segment.

So the data collection method is a structured survey includes the framing of the survey

tool (questionnaire) before starting the data collection and then distributed to the respondents

via electronic media (through Facebook) and the data are entered to the excel file and then

kept for data analysis. Other question apart from the questionnaire is not asked from the

respondents. The questionnaire is originally distributed to 150+ people and only 75 turned up

on time and taken for analysis and out of which 3 were rejected because of incomplete

response.

3.4 Instruments used

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The instrument used for the study is a pre-designed questionnaire. It is framed based

on the findings and results of the previous studies which were intended to measure attitude of

the consumers towards advertising in various medium of advertising including general

advertising in TV, mobile advertising etc.,. In order to create interest to the respondents the

information regarding their social network behavior are listed in the first segment. It includes

their membership in number of social networking sites, their period of using it, third question

is listed with 8 different social networks and they are asked to rank their preference, their

purpose of being in social network, the applications which they have used, the number of

friends in their profile, the extent they were aware of ads, to rank the place where they see ads

most, and their perception about the company advertising; few of these questions are taken

from the study on Spin group by Arminen and Leena, May 2010 and the rest of them are

taken from the study by Katherine K. Roberts, 2010. All the last 5 questions are specifically

about Facebook as my study of the attitude limits only to Facebook ads. All the questions in

this section are multiple choices.

The second section consists of 9 questions which include an attitude related one and

others the underlying belief factor which result to a particular attitude as formulated in the

research model and hypothesis of this segment. All the questions in this segment are 5 point

Likert scale questions which ranges from strongly disagree to strongly agree. All these

questions in this segment are taken from the study by Faraz Saadeghvaziri and Seyedreza

Seyedjavadain, 2011.

The third segment consist of demographic related questions which includes the

gender, age, education and the hours spent by the respondents on the internet per day.

3.5 Tools used

The tools used for the analysis of the study include the SPSS (Statistical package for

social studies), g3 software and Microsoft excel sheet. SPSS is used from which all the

percentage analysis of the demographic questions, behavior related questions are calculated.

Also the reliability tests, independent t tests to test the hypothesis, regression analysis,

Friedman rank test were all conducted for analysis the data collected. The g3 software is used

in order to find the number of samples required for the study and excel sheet is used both for

data collection and for generating graphs comparing the demographic details with the

behavioral aspects.

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CHAPTER 4:

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

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4: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Biographical data of the sample:

A sample of 72 respondents was obtained. Biographical data of respondents obtained

included the following: gender, age and education. Additional information such as number of

hours spent on internet per day is also obtained.

4.1.1 Gender, age, education groups in the sample

Table 1: Frequencies and percentages of Gender, Age and Education groups

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

Valid

Valid

Female 33 45.8 45.8 45.8

Male 39 54.2 54.2 100.0

Total

18 to 21

22 to 25

26 to 29

Total

Employed

Graduate

Post Graduate

Total

72

14

45

13

72

16

13

43

72

100.0

19.4

62.5

18.1

100.0

22.2

18.1

59.7

100.0

100.0

19.4

62.5

18.1

100.0

22.2

18.1

59.7

100.0

19.4

81.9

100.0

22.2

40.3

100.0

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It can be observed from the above table that the slight majority of the sample consisted of

males making up 54.2% and the female respondents making up the remaining 45.8%. In the

age groups, the majority (62.5%) of the sample consisted of respondents belonging to the 22-

25 year age group, (19.4%) belonging to 18-21 years age group and about (18.1%) of 26-29.

In the education group, the majority of the respondents (59.7%) are post graduates students,

(22.2%) are employed professionals and the remaining (18.1%) are graduate students.

4.1.2 Hours spent on internet per day

Table 2: Frequencies and percentages of hours spent on internet per day

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid < 1 hour 4 5.6 5.6 5.6

> 2 hour 57 79.2 79.2 84.7

1 to 2 h 11 15.3 15.3 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

The majority of the respondents (79.2%) spent more than 2 hours on internet per day,

followed by 15.3% of the respondents who spend 1 to 2 hours per day and 5.6% spend less

than 1 hour a day.

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4.2 Social Network Behavior and understanding of the advertisements in social

networks

4.2.1 Number of social networking sites belonged to

Table 3: Frequency and percentage of the number of social networking sites belonged to

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid More than three 25 34.7 34.7 34.7

One 9 12.5 12.5 47.2

Three 13 18.1 18.1 65.3

Two 25 34.7 34.7 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

It is inferred that34.7% of the sample users are belonged to more than 3 social networking

sites and an equal percentage (34.7%) of the sample belonged to two of the social networking

sites. 18.1% belonged to three sites and a small 12.5% belonged to only one social

networking site.

4.2.2 Period when started using Social networking sites

Table 4: Frequency and percentages of the period when started using social networking sites

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Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid >2 years 49 68.1 68.1 68.1

1 to 2 years 18 25.0 25.0 93.1

less than 1 year 5 6.9 6.9 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

Majority of the respondents 68.1% are using social networking sites for more than 2 years

from now and 25% are using it only before 2 or 1 year and a mere 6.9% of the people just

joined recently.

4.2.3 Frequency of the use of social networking sites

Table 5: Frequencies and percentages of usage frequency of the social networking sites

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Daily once 29 40.3 40.3 40.3

Monthly 2 2.8 2.8 43.1

Several times/day 32 44.4 44.4 87.5

Weekly 9 12.5 12.5 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

44.4% of the respondents use social networking sites several times a day and almost 40.3%

use it at least once in a day. Only 9% of the users use it once in a week and 2.8% once in a

month.

4.2.4 Number of friends in Facebook

Table 6: Frequencies and percentages of the number of friends in Facebook

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Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid 1 to 100 2 2.8 2.8 2.8

101 to 200 11 15.3 15.3 18.1

201 to 300 21 29.2 29.2 47.2

301 to 400 17 23.6 23.6 70.8

401 to 500 4 5.6 5.6 76.4

501+ 17 23.6 23.6 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

29.2% of the respondents have 201 to 300 friends in Facebook, 23.6% of respondents have

301 to 400 and more than 500 friends each. Only 15.3% have 101 to 200 friends and 5.6%

have 401 to 500 friends and only 2.8% have very less friends of 1 to 100 members.

4.2.5 Extent of awareness about the Facebook ads

Table 7: Frequencies and percentage of the extent of awareness about the Facebook ads

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Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid I am aware of advertising 100% of the

time I go on Facebook

23 31.9 31.9 31.9

I am aware of advertising 25% of the

time I go on Facebook

15 20.8 20.8 52.8

I am aware of advertising 50% of the

time I go on Facebook

22 30.6 30.6 83.3

I am aware of advertising 75% of the

time I go on Facebook

9 12.5 12.5 95.8

I am not aware of advertising on

Facebook

3 4.2 4.2 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

31.9% of the people are 100% of the time aware of Facebook ads, 30.6% are only 50% of the

time aware about the ads and 20.8% are only 25% of the time aware. 12.5% are 75% of the

time aware an only 4.2% of the people are not aware of the Facebook ads at all.

4.2.6 Change in perception about companies that advertise in Facebook

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Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid No change in my perception about that

company

44 61.1 61.1 61.1

Yes - My views about the company are

changed negatively

3 4.2 4.2 65.3

Yes – My views about the company are

changed positively

25 34.7 34.7 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

Table 8: Frequencies and percentages of the change in perception about the companies

that advertise in Facebook

There is no change in perception about a company that is advertising in Facebook says 61.1%

of the sample. About 34.7% of the respondents’ perception have changed in favor of the

company and only 4.2%‘s perception is turned negative to the company.

4.2.7 Places where Facebook ads noticed more by the respondents

Table 9: Places where Facebook ads noticed more by the respondents

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Mean Rank

In Facebook applications 2.65

On the main home page 2.51

When I write a wall post for a friend’s birthday 2.04

On the side bar of other people’s profile 2.79

Test Statisticsa

N 72

Df 3

Asymp. Sig. .000

It is observed from above that the advertisements are noticed more on the side bar of other

people’s profile followed by advertisements in Facebook applications, on the user’s main

page and lastly in their friends wall.

4.2.8 Purpose of using Facebook

Table 10: Prioritizing the purpose of using Facebook

To maintain existing friends/contacts 1.27 1

To find new friends 2.61 2

For business networking 3.02 3

To find activity partners 4.18 4

Dating 5.74 6

Others 4.58 5

When asked to rate purpose of them being in the Facebook, the following result is obtained.

4.2.9 Ranks given to Social media/networking sites by the respondents

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Table 11: Ranks of the social media and networking sites

Social networks Mean Rank

Orkut 4.44

My space 6.14

Twitter 4.03

LinkedIn 5.00

Facebook 1.29

You tube 2.85

Friendster 7.29

Geocities 8.18

Others- Flickr, Google+ 5.78

Test Statisticsa

N 72

Chi-Square 359.324

Df 8

Asymp.

Sig.

.000

a. Friedman Test

It is observed from the table above that Facebook ranks first followed by You Tube, Twitter,

LinkedIn, Orkut, Flickr, My space, Friendster and Geocities as voted by the respondents.

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4.3 DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION REGARDING SOCIAL NETWORK

BEHAVIOR AND ADVERTISEMENTS

X-axis - Membership in number of social networking sites, Y-axis – frequency (Gender)

Graph 1: Gender demographics regarding social Network membership

The graph above shows that females within the sample showed a much higher tendency to be

members to the Social networking sites than males. There were 9 males who are not a

member of at least one site i.e. males showed a slightly higher tendency towards non-

membership than membership regardless of an approximate equal number of male and female

in the sample

X-axis - Membership in Social networking sites, Y-axis – frequency (age)

Graph 2: Age demographics regarding membership in Social networking sites.

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The graph above indicates that there was a higher frequency of membership in the age group

of 22 to 25 years than any other age group. And membership in number of sites is almost

seems mixed irrespective of the ages.

X-axis - Membership in social networking sites, Y-axis – Frequency (time online)

Graph 3: Internet usage hours regarding membership in social networking sites

From the above graph it is very clear that more the time spent on internet higher the

membership in social networking sites. In other words people use internet more because they

are members of the social networking sites.

X-axis - Awareness about Facebook advertisements, Y-axis – Frequency (Education)

Graph 4: Education regarding awareness of Facebook advertisements

It is observed that the post graduate students are almost aware about the advertisements in

Facebook than the graduates and the employed professionals. Awareness of the same among

the employed and the graduate students are almost same. 36 | P a g e

X-axis - Awareness about Facebook advertisements, Y-axis – Frequency (gender)

Graph 5: Gender regarding awareness of Facebook advertisements

From the graph, it is very obvious that the male in the sample are more aware of the

advertisements in Facebook than the female population regardless of the percentage of the

male and female in the population.

X- axis - Change in perception, Y-axis – Frequency (gender)

Graph 6: Gender regarding perception about the company after seeing their Facebook

ads

There is no change in perception for a majority of the population. However male showed a bit

higher level of chance in perception than their female counterparts

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4.4 ATTITUDE ANALYSIS

4.4.1 Reliability of Data

Table 13: Reliability of data

Number of questions Cronbach’s alpha result

Informative-ness

Irritation

Credibility

Entertainment

2

2

2

2

0.832

0.895

0.778

0.840

It has been observed from the above that the Cronbach’s alpha result for all the items are

higher than the lower limit 0.767 which ensures that the data taken for the study are reliable.

4.4.2 Belief factors towards social network advertisements:

Table 14:One-Sample Statistics

N Mean

Std.

Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

I use SNS Ad as a reference when I am

purchasing

72 2.68 1.085 .128

I trust ads on SNS 72 2.93 .861 .101

I like to look at most of that I am exposed to 72 2.82 .969 .114

SN based advertisements interests me 72 2.82 1.142 .135

I feel that ads are almost there in every social

network

72 1.97 .934 .110

I receive too much of ads on my SN page 72 2.40 1.083 .128

Ads in SNS provides info I need 72 2.88 .855 .101

I feel nothing unpleasant in receiving ads in

my SNS

72 2.97 1.113 .131

Overall I like SN advertisements 72 2.93 1.025 .121

(1-strongly agree, 2-agree, 3-neutral, 4-disagree, 5-strongly disagree)

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The respondents marked their level of agreement with a five point Likert scale to indicate

their belief and attitude about social network (Facebook) advertising. Results suggested that

respondents believed them as Informative. They agreed that the ads in them provide the

information they needed (Mean=2.88, SD=.855) and they are not unpleasant in receiving ads

in their profile page (Mean=2.97, SD=1.113). Most of them also agreed that these are

entertaining. They liked to look at most of the ads they are expose to (Mean=2.82, SD=0.969)

and it interests them (Mean=2.82, SD=1.142). They also had an agreement with the

credibility of the ad in the social networking sites. When asked whether they use social

network ads as a reference when they are purchasing we got a positive answer i.e., most of

them are agreeing (Mean=2.68, SD=1.085) and they also trust social networking

advertisements (Mean=2.93, SD=0.861).

On the other hand, respondents opinioned about the negative side of the

advertisements too. They agreed that they receive too many advertisements (Mean=2.40,

SD=1.083) and they feel that SN ads are almost they in every place (Mean=1.97, SD=0.934).

This result’s ensures their slight irritation belief about the social networking ads.

4.4.3 Internet users’ attitude towards social network advertisements:

The general attitude towards social networking sites however seems to be positive.

They have given a mean = 2.93 and SD=1.025 when an open question “Overall I like social

networking advertisements’ is put to them.

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4.4.4 Predictors of internet users’ attitudes towards SN advertisements:

Regression analysis was used to determine the social network user’s beliefs about its

advertisements and their attitude towards internet advertising.

Table 15: Multiple Regression of belief factors towards attitude

Model

Unstandardized

Coefficients B t

(Constant) I use SNS ads as a reference when I am purchasing -.002 -.011

I trust ads on Social Networking Sites

Credibility

.204

.101

1.049

0.519

I like to look at most of the ads I am exposed to .285 1.56

Social Network based advertisements interests me

Entertainment

-.014

.136

-.091

.735

I feel that ads are almost there in every Social Network .302 1.780

I receive too much of ads on my SN page

Irritation

-.350

-.024

-1.820

-.019

Ads in SNS provides info I need -.270 -1.318

I feel nothing unpleasant in receiving ads in my SNS

Informative-ness

.417

.147

2.656

.669

The multiple regression analysis was carried out to test the hypothesis. From the result from

the above table the positive values of ‘t’ in case of informative-ness and entertainment leads

to prove that they both positively relates to the attitude proving the

H3: Entertainment factor of SN advertising is positively related with the attitude towards SN

advertising and

H4: The informative-ness of SN advertisement is positively related to the attitude towards

SN advertising

The negative value of‘t’ in case of irritation also proves the H1: Irritation of the SN

advertisements is negatively related to the attitude towards SN advertising. However due to

the positive value of ‘t’ in case of credibility we accept the null hypothesis H2: Credibility of

SN advertisement is positively related with attitude towards the SN advertising. Thus from

the above table the hypothesis framed for this study are verified.

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The values of unstandardized beta coefficients for informative-ness show positive relation

and therefore can be considered as the most significant antecedent for user’s attitude towards

social network advertisements. Hence the overall mean value for the attitude and belief

factor is 2.66 which show that the value is lesser than the neutral value of three and hence the

overall attitude of youngster towards Facebook advertising is positive.

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CHAPTER 5:

FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

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5.1 FINDINGS

i) The first objective of the study is ‘To determine the attitude of the youth towards

the Facebook advertisements’ and it is found from the analysis that the young peoples’

attitude towards the Social network advertisements is Positive.

ii) The second objective is to understand the factors affecting the attitude towards the

social network advertisements and it is found that the belief factors credibility, entertainment

and informative-ness are positively related with attitude and irritation is negatively related to

attitude as similar to the studies referred but the most significant factor while considering the

attitude is Informative-ness unlike the referred studies conducted earlier.

iii) The 3rd objective is to understand the behavior of youth in social networking sites

and the following is found. About 68% of the respondents are there in social networks for

more than 2 years, a higher percentage of the people are using these sites several times a day.

At least 50% of the people are aware of the advertisements 100% of the time. The perception

about the companies is neutral.

iv) It is found that the preference towards the social networking sites is as follows;

Facebook, You tube, Twitter, Orkut, LinkedIn, Flickr, Google+, My Space, Friendster and

Geocities.

v) The preferred location for ads in Facebook is found to be as follows; the

advertisements in the side bar of other peoples profile, the advertisements in Facebook

applications like games, the advertisements on the main home page of the user and the

advertisements noticed when writing a wall post for a friend’s birthday.

vi) The suggestions to the practitioner is included in the next section.

5.2 IMPLICATIONS

The overall attitude of young Ernakulam consumers is positive towards

advertisements in social networks (Facebook). They consider informative-ness to be the

most significant factor while considering the attitude. It is therefore apt for companies to

advertise in the social networking site especially Facebook to target the youth segment in

Ernakulam. Since informative-ness is most significant to them the advertiser should provide

or highlight the information aspect of their ad to be successful in their ad campaign. Further

most of the people are several time users of social networks so it is recommended to allot 2 to

5 advertisements in a particular location for a particular day so that it can be viewed by large

number of people.

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Since through Facebook it is possible to select the target audience more closely it is

suggested for practitioners to positively use Facebook as an advertising tool without irritating

the users than any other social network.

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CHAPTER 6:

CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION

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6.1 CONCLUSION

Thus the attitude of the young Ernakulam consumers towards social network

advertisements is positive. Since they have more significance to informative-ness the

advertisers has to give importance to it when designing the advertising campaign for targeting

them. Further advertisers can go for Facebook as their first option followed by twitter and

LinkedIn for placing their ads. When choosing Facebook as their digital media vehicle then

apt place is that on the side bar of the other people’s profile followed by placing them on the

Facebook apps. However this place choice is highly subjected to change when people started

observing advertisements specifically. Also it is observed that the perception towards the

company which is advertising in the SN sites is neutral in the 2nd case it also changes

positively for some of them. It is seen that irritation is always accompanied with the other

beliefs the user show positively. So the advertiser do not irritate the user and the social

networking sites also has to keep an eye on the advertising segment and streamline them even

though they generate most revenue for them because it may lead to loss in active number of

members.

6.2 LIMITATION

The data is collected on the basis of convenience sampling so the result can be

optimized by including more youth sample from the city. The scale for measuring the attitude

was adopted from study of ling, Piew and chai which was for general advertising therefore a

new scale which is exclusively developed for analyzing the attitude towards social network

advertisements might provide more appropriate results. From the study although consumers’

fins ads informative they don’t like them clutter and irritate them.

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APPENDIX

Questionnaire for the survey

Section A - Behavior on social networks:

1. How many social networks have you joined/belong to? (like Facebook, Twitter)

a) None b) One c) Two d) Three e) >three

2. How long have you been using social networking sites?

a) < 1 years b) 1 to 2 years c) > 2 years

3. How often do you use Social networking sites?

a) Several times/day b) Daily once c) Weekly d) Monthly e) More rarely

4. Rank your preference

Orkut ___

My space ___

Twitter ___

linkedIn ___

Face book ___

Youtube ___

Others________ ___

5. Rank your purpose of being in Social network

To maintain existing friends/contacts ____

To find new friends ____

For business networking ____

To find activity partners ____

Dating ____

Others ____

6. What Facebook ‘Applications’ have you used?

a) Events, photos, Groups (Facebook generated aps)

b) Games (Farmville, Jetman, Mafia wars, etc.,)

c) Fan pages (Being a “fan’ of a product or service)

d) Quizzes (Social Interview, Quiz Maonster, etc.,)

e) Gifts ( Giftshop items – including virtual and real gifts)

7. How many friends do you have on Facebook?

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a) 1-100 b) 101-200 c) 201-300 d) 301-400 e) 401-500 f) 501+

8. To what extent are you aware of advertising on Facebook right now?

a) I am aware of advertising 100% of the time I go on Facebook

b) I am aware of advertising 75% of the time I go on Facebook

c) I am aware of advertising 50% of the time I go on Facebook

d) I am aware of advertising 25% of the time I go on Facebook

e) I am not aware of advertising on Facebook

9. Where do you see advertising on Facebook?

a) In Facebook ‘Applications”

b) On the main homepage

c) When I write a wall post for a friends’ birthday

d) On the side bar of other peoples’ profile

10. Does Facebook advertising change your perception of the companies that advertise

(Do you see them as smarter, more relevant, etc. or as less ethical, more manipulative,

etc.?

a) Yes – My views about the company are changed positively

b) Yes - My views about the company are changed but negatively

c) No change in my perception about that company

Section B - Attitude towards social network advertising

11. Rate the following statements in a five point scale (SA –strongly Agree, A-Agree, N-

Neutral, D-Disagree, SD –Strongly Disagree)

SA A N D SD

I like to look at most ads that I am exposed to

I use social network advertisements as a reference for my purchase

I feel that advertisements are almost there in every social network

I trust advertisements on social networking sites

Advertisements in social networks provide information I need

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I receive too much ads on my social networking page

Social network based advertisements interests me

Overall I like SN based advertising campaigns

I feel nothing unpleasant in receiving advertisements in my social networking sites

Demographic profile of respondents:

12. Gender a)

a) Male b) Female

13. Age group

a) Less than 18 b) 18 to 21 c) 22 to 25 d) 26 to 29

14. Educational qualification

a) Diploma b) Graduate c) Post graduate d) Employed

15. On an average how many hours per day do you spent on internet?

a) < 1 hour b) 1 to 2 hours c) > 2 hours a day

----------------------------------------------#THANKYOU#----------------------------------------------

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