How students use social media

The last 3 years I've had the honor to give a guest lecture to a group of around 30 students. They are in their 2nd year of college. The class they are taking is about ‘consultancy’ and I was asked to share my consultancy experiences in the intranet and enterprise 2.0 field. I really enjoy lecturing for and discussing with them. They hardly have any feeling for working in mid-sized or larger organizations. They really keep you grounded by their straight-forward approach to projects and problems. This year I used a case from one of my clients, described the case and asked them to ‘solve’ it. How would they address the client’s assignment? I thought it was a lot of fun and we had a lively discussion about it.

Trends in social media use

But what I wanted to share with you is which social media they use and how they use it. The previous years I also shared these numbers with you. I think it gives an interesting insight into social media usage patterns. The group is quite small so we can’t jump to conclusions. (More research on this topic can be found here and here.) But it does give a small indication of where things are heading.

The numbers
First let me give you the numbers. I basically asked them which social media they are using, if they use just have an account, only consume info or post & consume info. Here’s the list:

• Twitter: 18 have an account, 14 use it to consume tweets, 2 actively use it for interaction (read and post)
• Facebook: 24 have an account, all use it for interaction
• Hyves (Dutch social network): 16 have (had) an account, nobody uses it
• Google+: 2 have an account, 2 use it for reading, nobody for posting
• Snapchat: 9 have an account, 7 use it for posting and reading
• Whatsapp: 24 have an account, all use it actively
• LinkedIn: 14 have an account, only 2 use it actively
• Instagram: 14 have an account, they use it every now and then
• Pinterest: 2 have an account, they use it every now and then
• Foursquare: 1 has an account and uses it actively
• Youtube: of course almost consume video, only a few post video's every now and then
• Blog: 5 have blog, 5 read other blogs and 2 blog actively

What students say about social

I also wrote down the remarks they made about the platforms:

• Google+: don’t see added value
• Snapchat: fun to use and not pervasive (vluchtig)
• LinkedIn: only for resume, not used for groups
• Pinterest: hardly any users, only girls, for inspiration
• Instagram: like the fact that it’s mobile only
• Blog: had to blog for a class, so actually everybody has a blog. Only 5 blog regularly. One used it to share insights related to the company that he owns and for linkbuilding. Another used it to share his passion about his hobby (music).

Patterns in the numbers

I’m fascinated by these numbers. I like the practical way they talk about using and choosing the platforms. It also shows that some of the platforms are clearly not for students but for employees. LinkedIn is hardly used, but I’m sure they’ll use it much more to find a job and when they have a job. Another think that strikes me is how Twitter is used to consume not publish information. They follow people they look up to and Twitter keeps them up to date on their lives.

Comparing these results with last year's I see the following:

• More students actively use Twitter compared to last year.
• Instagram is more popular than last year, but not very popular. The same goes for Pinterest.
• Google+ is hardly used
• Whatsapp wasn't mentioned last year and now use by all students.
• Facebook remains a core social tool for youngsters.
• LinkedIn and Foursquare show the same level of engagement among teens.

Your ideas

I’m curious what you learn from this list. And if you interact with youngsters and student, do you see the same or different patterns?

Social Students?

What social tools are young people using? As a (internal) social media advisor for several companies I'm very interested in the answer to this question. So, when I get a change to talk for students, I'm honored, but also very curious what they will tell me.

Recently I was asked to guest lecture for students at the Radboud University of Nijmegen. It's the university I went to years ago. I was asked to share my experience with using social media concepts and tools inside organizations. I basically used a shorter version of the slides I use for my guest lectures for a college, but spent more time on the conceptual, philosophical if you will, side of 'social'.
I also asked them which social tools they use and why they use them. What did they say? Here's what I learned (there were 40+ students attending my lecture):

• None use Google+. Why? Nobody/none of their friends is there.
• All except 3 use Facebook. The 3 that didn't use FB, just didn't see the value of using the service.
• None of the students blog. Some said they didn't because they thought nobody is interested in what they have to say. Some said they wanted to but didn't have time.
• There are no Hyves users in this class (Hyves is a Dutch social network).
• 75% uses Twitter. Most use it to consume information, not publish/share it.
• They know Foursquare but don't use it.
• All have a LinkedIn account, but don't use it. It's for after their student-life.

Interesting, I find. It's pretty different from the usage pattern I collected while lecturing at a college. To me the most worrying answer is the one about blogging. At college and university hardly anybody blogs. I usually point to my blog and tell them what it brought and brings me. I hope that inspires them...

What's worrying to me is the reason why they don't blog: because they conclude what they think and would share is not interesting to others. And these students will be paid to think in the future. Wouldn't it be great if these young people would share their thoughts with us? I think so and hope they will in the future. The big question is: how do we get them to share?

Which Social Media do Millenials use?

Giving a guest lecture is great fun, I find. I recently had the chance to interact with about 60 college students. They were in their second or third year. The topic of the lecture was social media use within company. So, Enterprise 2.0 or Social Business. My slides can be found here (in Dutch...).

I kicked off my lecture with some open questions. I'd like to share the answers to one question with you. I was curious what social tools they use themselves to get things done in their lives. With all the talk about millennials being digital natives (or aren't they), easily moving in the social space, organizing their life and work with these tools, etc I thought I'd see if this if the case in practice.
I shared what I got from the students on Google+. In sum, this is what they told me.

Of the 60 students:

• 40 use Twitter
• Almost all use Facebook
• Just over half use Hyves (Dutch social network)
• 1 uses a bookmarking tool
• 2 blog
• 0 have a wiki (although all have experience using wiki's)
• 6 use Google+
• 2 use Foursquare
• 16 are on LinkedIn

Let me reflect on this a bit.
Of course these results are not statistically valid. It's just 60 students from one college in a city in Holland telling me what they use. But I'll will poll them two more times this year. (Great idea from Chee Chin Liew!) Let's see what we learn from the trends in this class.
I didn't have time for a real discussion about the data. Of course you wonder why only 2 blog, for instance. LinkedIn is not much used either. Does this point to the fact that LinkedIn is a business network for people looking for a job or that have a job? This poll also shows Foursquare, Google+ and bookmarking are hardly used. The students using Google+ said they signed up to see what Google+ is and find out if it has added-value compared to their current toolset. Facebook is very popular and the Dutch network Hyves is clearly becoming an echo chamber for them. Several said they stopped using Hyves or just use it to be reminded of their friend's birthday.

Interesting data, don't you think? If you have any question I should ask them, please let me know!