1. Introduction
Research Objective The Singapore Youth and Social Media survey aimed to find out about Singapore Youth’s usage patterns, security and privacy, and general attitudes towards social media.
2. Methodology
The Singapore Youth and Social Media survey was administered on a representative cross-section of 800 Singapore youth aged between 15 and 34* years old. Face-toface survey interviews were carried out by teams of second year Media and Communication students working in groups of between 4 and 6 people at high human traffic areas including HDB town centres, bus terminals, MRT stations, shopping centres and the central business district. Student surveyors were instructed to avoid places which had homogeneous people groups such as institutions of higher learning, offices, factories and schools to better ensure a representative sample. The National Youth Council has defined youth as those between 15 to 34 years old.
AGE GROUP 15 – 19 20 – 24 25 – 29 30 – 34
TOTAL TOTAL M F 103 88 98 106 395 98 87 104 116 405 201 175 202 222 800
(The above quota sample is derived from statistics found in the Yearbook of Statistics Singapore 2009, Singapore Residents by Age Group And Sex, End June 2008 – Affordable Custom Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay from Pro Writers) The survey was administered from June to July 2009. Completed survey questionnaires were compiled, tabulated and analysed quantitatively using the SPSS statistical package.
I need help writing my essay – research paper note that due to rounding off, figures may not add up to 100%. Unless otherwise stated, the 800 respondents answered all the questions. Respondents were asked a screener question of whether they used social media before they were surveyed. The results were cross-tabulated according to age and gender. Only significant findings are discussed in this report.
3. Usage of Social Media
In this section, respondents were asked a series of questions in relation to their usage of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and etc. Social media sites that youth go to on a regular basis Daily
Facebook
Twitter
Friendster
MySpace
Wikipedia
Bebo
Plurk
Hi5
Blogs
YouTube
Flickr
Last.fm
Daily
64%
9%
6%
5%
17%
1%
1%
1%
30%
35%
11%
16%
Weekly
24%
8%
9%
4%
31%
1%
1%
1%
25%
36%
19%
19%
Monthly
6%
3%
12%
5%
17%
2%
2%
3%
10%
13%
18%
12%
Rarely
4%
8%
36%
16%
16%
6%
6%
12%
22%
8%
25%
17%
Don’t go
4%
72%
38%
71%
19%
90%
90%
84%
13%
8%
27%
37%
It can be seen that respondents go to Facebook most regularly with 64% of respondents going to it daily and 24% of respondents going to it weekly. This is followed by Youtube with 35% of the respondents going to it daily and a similar number (36%) going to it weekly. 30% of the respondents go to blogs daily and 25% of the respondents go to blogs weekly.
Going to Facebook Vs Age 80% 71% 74% 60% 58% 54% 15-19 years 20-24 years 31% 26% 19% 17% 6% 9% 25-29 years 30-34 years 3% 3% 40% 20% 0% Daily Weekly Monthly In terms of usage of Facebook, we can see that a greater proportion of the younger respondents from the 15-24 age group go to Facebook daily compared to the respondents aged 25-34. Instead of going to Facebook daily, the older respondents tend to go to Facebook on a weekly or monthly basis. Going to Youtube Vs Age 60% 7% 46% 40% 40% 34% 31% 27% 23% 20% 11% 5% 0% Daily Weekly Monthly 17% 19% 37% 15-19 years 20-24 years 25-29 years 30-34 years In terms of going to Youtube, similar to going to Facebook, a greater proportion of the younger respondents from the 15-24 age group frequent Youtube daily compared to the respondents aged 25-34.
Going to Youtube Vs Gender 0% Male 40% 40% 33% 30% 38% Female 20% 13% 13% 0% Daily Weekly Monthly Male respondents seem to go to Youtube more regularly than female respondents. 40% of the male respondents go to Youtube daily compared to 30% of female respondents. Going to Wikipedia Vs Gender 40% 34% 29% Female 22% 20% 12% 17% 18% Male 0% Daily Weekly Monthly Male respondents seem to go to Wikipedia more regularly than female respondents.
Reasons as to why youth have a social networking account (like Facebook etc) Reasons Number of respondents To keep in touch with friends 751 and re-connect with old friends To stay in touch with the latest 360 news and trends To make new friends 263 Friends’ influence 243 To play the games 240 Out of curiosity 181 To build contacts for my career 179 or business To create awareness for my 173 ideas, opinions, talents etc. % 93 45 33 30 30 23 22 22
Our respondents were asked to tick the top three reasons as to why they have a social networking account from a list given. An overwhelming 93% of the 800 respondents said that they have a social networking account to keep in touch with friends and re-connect with old friends. This is followed by to stay in touch with the latest news and trends and to make new friends.
Specific things youth do on social media sites on a regular basis Daily Watch video clips online Read blogs Ace my homework – Write a blog entry Tweet Read other people’s tweet Visit a photo sharing site Update profile on social networking site Visit friend’s profile on social networking site Leave a comment on a blog Leave a comment on a social networking site Upload photos on a photo sharing site Upload video clips on a video sharing site Download a podcast Upload a podcast Subscribe to a RSS feed Remix content Upload music to livestreaming music sites 35% 30% 9% 7% 8% 15% 16% Weekly 38% 25% 20% 6% 7% 27% 25% Monthly 12% 10% 8% 3% 3% 18% 22% Rarely do 11% 22% 22% 12% 10% 25% 30% Don’t do 3% 13% 41% 72% 72% 15% 7% 32% 33% 16% 13% 6% 11% 25% 12% 32% 21% 21% 32% 14% 22% 11% 6% 18% 27% 33% 17% 4% 7% 11% 38% 40% 3% 1% 3% 2% 3% 7% 3% 5% 4% 7% 9% 5% 6% 10% 8% 26% 21% 21% 23% 21% 56% 71% 67% 62% 62%
Listen to music on livestreaming music sites Upload photos on a social networking site Upload video clips on a social networking site Post links on a social networking site Create quizzes on a social networking site Do quizzes on a social networking site Join special interest groups on a social networking site Create special interest groups in a social networking site Play games on a social networking site 21% 22% 18% 17% 21% 8% 22% 29% 28% 14% 5% 8% 12% 40% 36% 6% 12% 14% 36% 32% 2% 6% 9% 30% 54% 10% 22% 2% 24% 23% 4% 14% 26% 37% 19% 2% 4% 9% 27% 59% 27% 24% 15% 16% 18% As can be seen from the above table, the top 6 things that youth do daily on social media sites include watching video clips online (35%), visiting a friend’s profile on a social networking site (32%), reading blogs (30%), playing games on a social networking site (27%), leaving comments on social networking site (21%) and listening to music on livestreaming music sites (21%).
Specific things youth do on social media sites on a daily basis vs Age 15-19 Watch video clips online Read blogs Ace my homework – Write a blog entry Tweet Read other people’s tweet Visit a photo sharing site Update profile on social networking site Visit friend’s profile on social networking site Leave a comment on a blog Leave a comment on a social networking site Upload photos on a photo sharing site Upload video clips on a video sharing site Download a podcast Upload a podcast Subscribe to a RSS feed Remix content Upload music 44% 45% 18% 7% 9% 17% 19% 20-24 46% 38% 8% 9% 12% 14% 22% 25-29 33% 23% 5% 8% 10% 16% 13% 30-34 21% 17% 4% 5% 8% 14% 12% 36% 42% 28% 23% 17% 14% 6% 7% 26% 28% 17% 15% 8% 6% 5% 6% 5% 2% 4% 4% 4% 3% 3% 5% 6% 3% 1% 2% 1% 2% 3% 1% 3% 2% 2% 2% 1% 3% 0% 3%
to livestreaming music sites Listen to music on livestreaming music sites Upload photos on a social networking site Upload video clips on a social networking site Post links on a social networking site Create quizzes on a social networking site Do quizzes on a social networking site Join special interest groups on a social networking site Create special interest groups in a social networking site Play games on a social networking site 28% 24% 19% 14% 11% 7% 7% 5% 7% 4% 4% 4% 7% 2% 7% 5% 4% 3% 1% 1% 14% 11% 8% 6% 7% 5% 4% 2% 4% 0% 2% 1% 40% 31% 26% 14%
Taking a look at the specific things that youth do daily on social media sites, we can see that there are certain things that younger respondents tend to do compared to older respondents. These include watch video clips online, reading blogs, writing blog entries, updating their profile on social networking site, visiting a friend’s profile on social networking site, leaving comments on blogs as well as social networking sites, doing quizzes and playing games on social networking site and listening to music on livestreaming music sites.
Specific things youth do on social media sites on a daily basis vs Gender Male Watch video clips online Read blogs Ace my homework – Write a blog entry Tweet Read other people’s tweet Visit a photo sharing site Update profile on social networking site Visit friend’s profile on social networking site Leave a comment on a blog Leave a comment on a social networking site Upload photos on a photo sharing site Upload video clips on a video sharing site Download a podcast Upload a podcast Subscribe to a RSS feed Remix content Upload music to livestreaming 41% 27% 6% 7% 9% 14% 16% Female 30% 33% 12% 7% 10% 17% 16% 31% 33% 9% 13% 20% 22% 6% 6% 5% 3% 3% 1% 4% 1% 4% 2% 1% 2% 1% 3%
usic sites Listen to music on livestreaming music sites Upload photos on a social networking site Upload video clips on a social networking site Post links on a social networking site Create quizzes on a social networking site Do quizzes on a social networking site Join special interest groups on a social networking site Create special interest groups in a social networking site Play games on a social networking site 22% 20% 8% 7% 6% 4% 7% 4% 3% 1% 9% 10% 6% 3% 3% 1% 28% 27% On a daily basis, male respondents seem to watch online videos more than female respondents. On the other hand, female respondents seem to read blogs and write blog entries more than male respondents.
Number of hours youth spend on the Internet daily 39% 4 0% 32% 9% 2 0% 6% 0% Les s t han 1 hour 1-3 hou rs 4-6 hours M ore t han 6 hours Don’t go online everyday 4% 39% of the Singaporean youth spend 1-3 hours on the Internet on a daily basis while 51% spend more than 3 hours online daily. Number of hours youth spend on the Internet daily Vs Age 60% 45% 43% 40% 39% 35% 33% 34% 30% 24% 20% 10% 4% 0% Less than 1 hour 1-3 hours 4-6 hours More than 6 hours Don’t go online everyday 6% 2% 4% 5% 3% 5% 23% 21% 18% 16% 15-19 years 20-24 years 25-29 years 30-34 years Based on the above chart, the respondents who used the internet for less than 1 hour are mostly the 30-34 years (10%). The older respondents aged 25-34 tend to spend about 1-3 hours online daily.
About 4 in 10 respondents aged 15-19 tend to spend about 4-6 hours online daily. It is interesting to note that while 21% and 23% of the younger respondents aged 1519 and 20-24 respectively spent more than 6 hours online daily, older respondents are not that far behind with 18% of the 25-29 year olds and 16% of the 30-34 year olds saying that they spend more than 6 hours online daily.
4. Security & Privacy
Respondents were asked about the type of information that they reveal about themselves on social networking sites.
Information Revealed On Social Networking Sites 100% 96% 79% 97% 80% 75% 62% 71% 71% 65% 60% 40% 32% 30% 20% 9% 0% 11% 5% As seen in the above chart, the majority of our respondents think nothing of revealing their name, age, gender, ethnicity, date of birth, email address, marital status and personality attributes. It is interesting to note that 9% of respondents leave their contact number and 5% of respondents leave their home address on social networking sites.
Information Revealed On Social Networking Sites Vs Gender Male Age Ethnicity Contact no Home address Email Marital status Personality attributes Religious affiliation Political affiliation Sexuality 85% 69% 15% 9% 78% 73% 71% 40% 16% 37% Female 74% 55% 4% 1% 65% 68% 60% 24% 7% 24% As seen in the above table, male are more open than females in revealing certain types of information on social networking sites. Who youth add on Social Networking Sites? 100 % 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 76% 7 7% 78 % 33% 3 5% From the chart, the majority of the respondents add people that they know in real life, siblings, colleagues and relatives as friends on social networking sites.
About a third of the respondents (33%) would add their parents on social networking sites. A similar number of the respondents (35%) would add strangers.
Age vs Adding Siblings On Social Networking Sites 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 86% 78% 75% 67% From the chart above, it can be seen that the older the respondents, the less likely they are to add their siblings as friends on social networking sites. Age vs Adding Strangers On Social Networking Sites 50% 43% 40% 32% 30% 20% 10% 0% 32% 31%
From the chart above, it can be seen that the younger respondents aged 15-19 have a greater tendency to add strangers on social networking sites.
Gender vs Adding Strangers On Social Networking Sites 6 0% 5 0% 41% 4 0% 3 0% 2 0% 1 0% 0% 28% From the above chart, it can be seen that 41% of the youth who adds strangers are male compared to 28% of them who are female. Why Do Youth Add Strangers On Social Networking Sites? 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 77 % 7 1% 43% 47% 15% 19%
The 35% of respondents (N=276) who would add strangers were asked to choose from a list of reasons why they would add strangers on social networking sites. They were asked to tick all the relevant reasons. 77% of respondents added strangers because the strangers added them first. 71% of respondents added strangers based on mutual friends. 47% of respondents added strangers because they had the same interests and 43% of respondents added strangers because of how the strangers’ look.
Age Vs Why Do Youths Add Strangers On Social Networking Sites? 15-19 Looks Celebrities 51% 21% 20-24 32% 21% 25-29 47% 23% 30-34 40% 12% As seen from the above table, 51% of respondents aged 15-19 tend to add strangers based on looks. Younger respondents also have a tendency to add strangers if they are celebrities. Gender Vs Why Do Youths Add Strangers On Social Networking Sites? Male Looks Same interests 49% 53% Female 35% 40% More male respondents tend to add strangers on social networking sites based on looks and if they shared the same interests.
How Often Do Youths Restrict Access To What They Post Online? All of the Time 60% Most of the Time Sometimes 52% Never 54% 50% 40% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Ph otos Videos Blog Entri es 29% 24% 17% 14% 13% 12% 27% 11% 8% From the chart above, it can be seen that respondents do restrict access to what they post online when they deem it necessary. Which Of The Following Have Youth Done? 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 70% 18% 9% 18% 11%
I have modified the I have dated a stranger I privacy settings for my met on a social networking site account I have been sexually harassed on social networking sites
I have conducted I have c ond ucted research on a research on a prospective employer on prospective employee on social networking sites social networking sites From the charts above, 70% of respondents have modified their privacy settings for their social networking account. They have also conducted research on prospective employers and employees using social networking sites. 18% have dated a stranger that they met through a social networking site and 9% of respondents said that they have been sexually harassed on social networking sites.
I Have Dated A Stranger I Met On A Social Networking Site Vs Gender 30% 20% 20% 15% 10% 0% Male Female From the chart above, 20% of male respondents have dated a stranger they met on a social networking sites compared to 15% of the female respondents who have done so.
5. General Attitudes
In this section, respondents were asked a series of questions in relation to their attitudes and beliefs while using online social networking tools. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with the statement: “I am addicted to social media tools. ” 34% of the 800 respondents strongly agree or agree with the statement while 32% of them strongly disagree or disagree.
“I am addicted to social media tools” vs Hours youth spend on the Internet daily 40% 31%31% 26% 22% 20% 11% 22% Less than 1 hour 37% 36% 33% 30% 27% 25% 16% 14% 10% 5% 0% 11% 8% 7% 1-3hou rs 4-6 h ours Mo re than 6 h ours 0% Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
Within all the respondents who spend less than 1 hour on the internet, 63% of them disagree or strong disagree with the statement that they are addicted to social media tools. Within all the respondents who spend more than 6 hours online daily, 51% of them agree or strong agree with the statement that they are addicted to social media tools.
“I am addicted to social media tools” vs Age 40% 33% 30% 28% 26% 21% 19% 14% 12% 7% 5% 13% 13% 15% 12% 7%7% 15-1 9 20-2 4 25-2 9 30-3 4 36% 35% 33% 33% 20% % Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree The younger respondents aged 15-24 tend to strongly agree/agree with the statement that they are addicted to social media tools as opposed to the older respondents. 44% of the respondents aged 15-24 strongly agree/agree with the statement as opposed to 24% of the respondents aged 30-34 who strongly agree/agree with the statement. “The number of friends a user has is a reflection of his/her popularity. ” Strongly agree 3% Neutral 29% Agree 18% Disagree 32% Strongly disagree 18% 21% of the 800 respondents strongly agree/agree with the statement that “the number of friends a user has is a reflection of his/her popularity. 0% of the respondents strongly disagree/disagree with the statement.
Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with the statement: “I love social media tools because they broaden my social circle. ” 42% of them strongly agree/agree whilst 18% of them strongly disagree/disagree. 40% of the respondents remained neutral about the statement.
What is the main factor that helps you determine whether to trust the content posted on social media sites? 40% 30% 30% 27% 20% 7% 4% 0%
The content is The content is I have visited the site attribu ted to experts sponsored by a for a long period of or authorities who company that I know time and have come have credential s in and trust to trust the con tent the subject posted there Content that is recommended by friends Content that is recommended by family Others 1% Respondents were asked to state the main factor that helps them determine whether to trust the content posted on social media sites. 0% of the 800 respondents will believe the content posted on social media sites if it is attributed to experts or authorities who have credentials in the subject while another 30% of them will only trust social media sites which they have visited for a long period of time and have come to trust the content posted there. 27% of the respondents will believe content that is recommended by friends while 4% of them will trust content that is recommended by family. 7% of the respondents trust content that is sponsored by a company that they know and trust.
