The concept of a ‘social media network’ dates back 3 decades, however the revolution we have witnessed in this domain in the last decade is unparalled. Traditionally, these forums allowed people to stay connected with friends and family, and people with similar interest to share and learn. Over the years, these have progressed to becoming a good medium for professional networking as well. Further progression reveals that these sites have been a great connector to job sites, such as careertunity. Although the number of sites has mushroomed and some are more popular than others in a particular region, the top 4 social media networks worldwide always includes Facebook, Linked-In or Twitter.We at Careertunity.com conducted a survey among active members of the site to understand their preferences and usage patterns regarding social media network. Below we present a collation of responses from 100 respondents on our site.
As the term ‘social media’ suggests, the majority of respondents (72%) engage utilise the media to network with friends and families; the next most common use of this media is to look for jobs, as stated by 63%. Another 40% keep in touch with their professional contacts through these social network sites while 23% access the latest news through this medium.
In terms time spent on social media network sites in a day varies from less than 30 minutes to some spending even 8 hours in a day, albeit small. Majority of the networkers spend 30 minutes to 4 hours in a day on an average to keep in touch with their networks and also looking for jobs.
Social networking sites are usually used by users during the evening time (5-8 p.m.) while users are at ease at home or at office, post office hours. However, 1/3rd of respondents like to network online during the day between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Among the top social media sites, we gathered information to gauge the popularity of Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in and they were ranked on a 5-point scale. The most popular of these is Facebook (4.5) followed by Linked-in (3.5) and Twitter (3.4).
We also found out the social media network site that has helped our users to be connected to CareerBuilder.com and it showed that Facebook is the biggest connector, followed by Linked-in, blog of Careertunity and Twitter. As opposed to traditional means of looking at jobs, online medium is gaining popularity in keeping job seekers abreast of job openings and is evident from the study as 77% of the respondents expressed that social network sites are good medium to know about job openings and opportunities.
