Social Media Usage Behavior of Working Professionals

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2017 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: A, ICFAI IBS Business School Hyderabad, language: English, abstract: India ranks among top five countries when it comes to the pace of growth in internet and social media usage. Global average growth of in internet users is measly 19%, India alone is at 90%. India's web users have 153 million active social media accounts. The social media users are increasing by 23% approximately each year. India has over 195 million Facebook users which makes India a country that has world's largest number of Facebook users. On the other hand, India has 2nd largest Twitter users in Asia-Pacific region with 23.2 million users. India contributes a great part in social media networking sites. A huge contribution is by the youngsters who are involved in communicating and interacting with friends and family. Social media is also being used for educational purposes in order to make the students understand things better. Employees are using social media to relieve their stress and increase their professional networks. Businesses are also using social media networking sites to stay in touch with their current customers and search for potential customers. Social media is a platform which is being used for different purposes by different type of people. This study is being carried out to understand the usage behavior of working professional towards social media. It shall also help to identify the factors that influence the social media usage behavior among the working professionals. The study focuses on identifying which sites do professionals prefer in case of non-professionals social media networking sites. Quantitative research was selected to collect numerical data and Descriptive research method was adopted to conduct surveys. In case of sampling technique, Convenience sampling was adopted and the sample of study extended to 126 respondents. The data was collected through Questionnaires that aimed at the preference of non-professional sites and the factors that influence the usage of social media among professionals.

A rare amalgamation of an educator, an administrator and a researcher, Dr. Kunal Gaurav has earned his Doctorate in Business Administration from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh, India. Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has the distinction of being one of India's most renowned and iconic Higher Education Institutions, occupying a crucial place in the emergence and preservation of both cultural and intellectual heritage of India. His doctoral research was intended to investigate the Impact of Relationship Marketing and Perceived Service Quality on Customer Loyalty in Indian Automobile Industry. He is an agriculture science graduate and holds MBA (Gold Medalist) with specialization in marketing management. He is an AIMA - Accredited Management Teacher and currently working as Professor in the area of Marketing & Associate Dean (Strategic Research) at ICBM - School of Business Excellence, Hyderabad. ICBM - School of Business Excellence, Hyderabad is one of the top business schools in the country blessed with ACBSP accreditation in addition to the approval from AICTE, Ministry of HRD, and Govt. of India. He has published a number of books in the area of General Management, Brand Management and Social Entrepreneurship. Apart from research article publications in various refereed journals he has presented several papers at national and international conferences. He also holds the honorary position of Senior Vice President of Operations - Internationally Accepted Marketing StandardsBoard (IAMSB), International Institute of Marketing Professionals (IIMP), Canada.