Dr Noureddine Miladi
.jpg)
A new study by the Media and Mass communications Department at Qatar University shows that social media networks have become necessary tools in the lives of Qatari youth, as they are for youth around the world. Research findings revealed aheavy presence of technological gadgets in people’s lives. Results showed an increasing trend in terms of ownership of smartphones and their constant use by Qatar university students. Forty five per cent of the respondents claimed that they normally carry two or more smart phones at all times for their daily uses.
When asked about the reasons behind their choice of ownership of more than one smart phone, 36% said they use each telephone for a different purpose, like voice communication or to keep accessing specific social media networks. Twenty seven per cent responded that they use each telephone to communicate with different types of people such as family, friends or work colleagues.
Sites like Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram constitute important socializing platforms and have become a considerable focus of their daily interactions. Results showed that 96% of the respondents regularly use social media networks and 45% said they are always connected to the internet. A sizeable number from among them also said they visit their favourite social media sites few times per day. This reflects the trend with regard to media consumption in general which is less and less inclined towards old media in favour of internet platforms.
Nowadays social media spaces have become indispensible components of the Qatari youth’s everyday lives. Almost 67 percent said they cannot do without social media networks, being dependent upon them for their daily routines and tasks. Forty four percent among them said they actively use it between 1-3 hours per day, 28% say they use it between 4-6 hours and 28% use it over 7 hours per day.
Therefore, apart from attending lectures, 72% of students in this sample spend a substantial part of their daily free time (4 hour and more) on social media sites.WhatsApp is the most popular among students as almost 97% actively use it regularly. It is obvious that this platform is becoming the most favourable medium of communication, compared to older social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Maintaining an online presence and preserving an online self, seeking information as well as entertainment, remain key objectives of being online. In the online world, youth cultivate a sense of who they are and who they are not, based on their consumption behaviour and the persona they establish for themselves- a persona they consciously present, edit or delete as per their need.
Another significant finding is related to the respondents’ ownership of personal social media pages. About 10% claimed that they own a page and run a group on social media. 24% are active participants in comments and sharing. 66 per cent only view material and rarely contribute with comment or sharing. However, in addition to being an admin for a group, a few users affiliate to various other groups of their interest.
As for the aims behind running a social media site, respondents expressed a keen interest in being heard or actively seeking information regarding what is happening around them. A sizeable majority (73.5%) claimed that by having their own social media sites, this helps them follow up the current affairs and what is going on in society. Also 23% of the respondents feel such sites help them express themselves freely, and constitute an opportunity for their voices to be heard by others. However a minority of 3.42 from among the respondents use their social media sites as vehicles for social activism.
In addition to, and despite the high use of social media, a notably high percentage of the respondents rely heavily on the internet as an educational tool. A majority (96%) of students capitalise on the university blackboard, search engines like Google, Wikipedia, homes pages of media organisations and other educational institutions, and social media as key sources of information about their research papers, study projects and other assignments.
Moreover, other activities which take place on the internet are notable such as news and information seeking, social and cultural activities, and consumption of music and online gaming. A high interest in news and current affairs was expressed by a large number of respondents. About 73% of respondents confirmed that the main sources of news about local and international affairs, or other news of all types, for them are social media networks. Old media such as TV, radio and newspapers score very low in the respondents’ list of interests. About 16% refer to TV as a source of what they learn about the world and newspapers attract about 11per cent of their interest, while radio scored the lowest.
Other key findings from the survey included influence on students’ choices of lifestyle and fashion because of exposure to internet advertising. Nineteen percent claim that role models such as film stars, artists and religious figures on social media are very important in influencing their choice of consumer products like clothing, accessories, perfume, hairstyle etc. There was a high awareness about new consumer products advertised via social media networks. Over 76% of the respondents confirm that social networks constitute the primary sources of information about new manufactured products.
TV as a medium for advertising in this case ranks second and constitutes only 15.5% of people’s attention about news products, whereas newspapers and street billboards are source of awareness about new products for only 3.45%, and only 0.86 of the respondent claim that radio is a source of information for new products.
These findings have implications for all types of institutions, organisations and businesses. Trends among students are likely to be an indication of the general behaviour of the youth on the internet, obviously with an educational bias. If anyone wants to target the youth with educational material, information about events, or to market products to them, then the results of this study should inform their strategy, if it is to be effective.
This could have a knock on effect regarding future investments as these might become focused less upon television, newspaper and radio and more on the internet and webpages, if the young consumer is considered important. On the other hand, perhaps if these latter types of media became better connected to social media websites, then they would more successfully connect with the upcoming audiences of the future, and thereby maintain investors’ interest. Social media marketing and news distribution is the future!
The writer is Associate Professor in Mass Communication, School of Social Sciences, Qatar University. This article is a summary of the results of a long study conducted by the author in June 2015. He can be reached via e-mail: nmiladi@hotmail.com
