Social media: everyone's a user

By Nicole Salvino

While researching people who use social media I found that mostly all age groups and genders use some type of social media. Social media sites consist of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. I tried to get a very diverse group to interview which I found to be the most successful for this experiment. I interviewed about the same number of males as I did females and found out some very interesting facts.

Most of the males that I interviewed I found used mostly Facebook but also used other sites such as Twitter and Linkedin. Males who were above the age of 25 seemed to have only been active users within the past 2 years and spent less time on social media sites than younger males. Males over the age of 25 that I interviewed only use sites such as Facebook on an average of about 1 hr per day tops. Most of them do not use it for any other reason than to stay in touch with old friends and keep connected with people they knew from college and/or high school. Males who were under the age of 25 who were interviewed have been active users of solely Facebook for an average of 3 years or more. Most of these males usually use Facebook when bored at home or on their cell phones while in their daily activities. They use it on an average of at least 2 hours per day and most of the time are multi-tasking while using.

Females on the other hand that I interviewed seemed to use social media sites such as Facebook much more frequently. Females under the age of 25 use Facebook on an average of at least 3 hours a day while either at home, at school, or out of boredom and have been active users for more than 4 years. Facebook seems to be the main social media network for females under the age of 25. Females that I interviewed who were over the age of 25 use sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, and Match.com. These users go on for an average of 1 hour per day and do not use it other than at home and do not multitask while using.

A common similarity between all of the people I interviewed was the reason why they use these social media networks. Both males and females interviewed gave the reason that they use social media networks to keep in touch with old friends, family, and contacts. Mostly everyone enjoys using the social media sites, mostly Facebook, to be able to stay in contact with people who are not close by such as friends and family who live in different states. The majority of both males and females interviewed agreed on the fact that they have been able to keep and maintain relationships with people but as far as building a true relationship many felt as if it is not the same as meeting someone in person.

The negatives that most people said about social media sites such as Facebook was that they did not like the fact that people they did not want to talk to or have find them are able to. Both males and females interviewed believe that there is a lack of privacy when it comes to social media sites. Males and females also do not like the fact that people are able to see what you are doing and when you are doing it on sites such as Facebook.

In conclusion I found that all age groups and genders use social media sites and most of them for the same reasons, which is to stay in constant contact with friends, family, and business contacts. It is an easy way for them to stay connected within their busy lifestyles. Younger individuals who have more time on their hands use social media networks much more than older individuals though. Overall social media networks are just what it says so in its name it’s a way to stay social through the means of media and helps people create networks of friends, family, and contacts for all ages and genders.