Research Analysis 

Introduction

The aim of this research is to find out what type of short videos do students studying digital media at the university of Roehampton share, what are their purposes behind sharing these videos and with whom they share this content with. This research could help us into understanding what normally students post and share with different audiences and what do they like to view in form of short videos. This research overall can give us a better understanding on what type of videos are trending nowadays and common between students.

Research Question

The main question of focus in our research was ‘Why do Year 1 Digital Media Students (at Roehampton University) share short videos on social media?’

Me and my research partner came up with more sub-questions from the main question itself to allow us to analyse the data better and to be able to create a corresponding questionnaire.

The 3 sub-questions we came up with together were the following:

‘What type of videos do these students normally share based on their age? Does the gender play a role in which social media is used more? (What is the main type of short video do they share and view on social media, what is the most recent video they shared on their most used social platform?)’.

Research method

The research method used to answer and analyse the key points of the question was to carry a survey questionnaire online which consisted of 11 questions. Afterwards an analysis was conducted by me and my partner working on this project. In our case we used mail survey combined with a questionnaire which consisted of sending a written questionnaire with multiple choices via mail to the students.

The Main purpose of choosing a questionnaire was because information could be collected in a short time. The benefit of this type of method was that it did not cost us anything and the people who filled the questionnaire stayed anonymous which guaranteed them privacy. Survey methods are a primary data collection method and normally are faster and cheaper to conduct. The data gathered is short and easier to analyse. (Research-Methodology, 2018). This was the most convenient way to conduct a survey since all the students have access to internet and have Roehampton university student emails. They all possess at least a phone and a Laptop.

Target population

The target audience were the students studying digital media in their 1rst year Undergraduate program in the university of Roehampton.

Sample

The sample analysed was of total 8 participants from which 5 were males and 3 were females.

Variables

The variables chosen for this Research analysis were:

Independent variable: Social networks

Dependent variables: student age and gender

In this research an analysis of different video sharing on different social media platforms was analysed before seeing the results of the questionnaire so the results could be compared to the already data published on online articles and books. For the conduction of this research it was assumed that the students are active users of media. This is the ‘Uses and Gratifications theory’ of Bulmer and Katz that suggests that the users use the chosen media by them for various purposes that benefit them. (Blumler and Katz, 1974).

The objectives of the study are:

• What type of videos do students enrolled in a full time 1rst year digital media students at the university of Roehampton normally share based on their age?
• Does the gender play a role on which social media is used more?
• What main type of short video do they share on social media? What is the main type of video that is more viewed and shared between these students?

Scope of this research

The main scope of this research was to see what approach do students of this university studying digital media take on viewing and sharing short videos on these platforms and for what reason. And if the results favour the general statistics of data already published on online articles and books showing the usage of these platforms. This research could be used for businesses for their advertising and marketing purposes to target their audience better by looking at which social media is used the most by students and what type of video content they prefer.

Ethics

The data collected is only for university assignments research purposes and not shared with anyone not related to the study being conducted. All the students who filled the questionnaire stayed anonymous because of their privacy protection.

Data Summary

Basic information of the students

1. The gender of the students filling the questionnaire

2. The age

As the data shows most of the students filling the questionnaire are males. In total only one person filling the questionnaire is above 30 whilst the others are ages 17 to 22 and none is between 23-30.

3. Social media used more often in general

The results show that students prefer using snapchat (75%) and Instagram (62.5%), followed by YouTube and Facebook (50%). Then we have minority of Twitter Skype and WhatsApp. This is really interesting and it will be discussed later on in the ‘Findings and Discussions’.

4. Social media used more often to post any kind of short videos

Again the top social media platforms chosen by the students are Instagram and snapchat both scoring 50%, followed by YouTube and other apps. 12.5 % of people chose Facebook and Twitter, while one person chose none meaning they do not post any short videos of any social platform. This could be a personal preference since privacy comes in play when people decide to not share any type of content on their social platforms.

5. Hours spent on a daily basis on the most used chosen social media

75% of the students spend around 1 to 2 hours while 25% In total spend more than 3 hours daily. This is surprising because being digital media students we would have expected for the students to be using social media for more than 2 hours.

6. Electronic device used to use that particular social media the most

As expected, 75% of the users use mobile devices to navigate through this social platform to post/ view short videos. From which 50% use apple (iPhone) while 25% use Samsung devices. This does not come as a surprise since most of the  students prefer apple products because of its simple and appealing design. According to the results 12.5% use 2 devices iPhone and apple MacBook; while another 12.5% uses a laptop.

7. Short videos viewed more often on a daily basis on social media

The most common type of short video watched was user generated content including people themselves 62.5% which include vlogs of ‘influencer’ in the society nowadays. Following the lead there is Breaking news/ trending videos and tutorials/ How-To both with 50% and Events with 37.5%. While promos and deals, interviews and behind the scenes are 25%. The least commonly chosen are Feature/ product videos, live videos and give ways with 12.5% each.

8. The type of short videos posted more often

The main types of short videos being posted are user generated content/ people filming themselves, events and some chose ‘other’ these options scored 37.5% each. Followed by 25% of tutorials and how to; following we have 12.5% each of videos about interviews. Behind the scenes, live videos, announcement and reveals. While feature videos, promos and deals, give ways and breaking news/ trending was not selected by anyone.

9. The purpose of sharing short videos on social media

80% of the students said that they do this to highlight their skills followed by  of videos about showing how to do something and showcasing an event both with 40%. While the reasons such as wanting to show how good oneself is looking, revealing a new product, going behind the scenes, putting across an opinion on social media is 20% each.

10. The people these short videos are shared with

All of the students share these videos with their friends/close friends (100%). Followed by followers/ subscribers with 62.5% and work colleagues with 50%. While they share less frequently with public and relatives (37.5% each).

Ethical Question:

11. Students feeling insecure about their posts

Most of the students said hey do not feel insecure about their short video posts (87.5%) while only person was not sure about it (12.5%).

Findings and Discussion

To understand better video sharing on social networks relationship with students studying digital media we conducted a survey by sending an online questionnaire to all the students interested. We received a total of 8 responses. The students are 1rst year undergraduate digital media studying at the university of Roehampton.

From the findings the most used social media by the students  for video sharing/viewing was Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube this does not come as a big surprise in fact according to various research I have done with my partner by looking at online articles and books we found that Facebook has the largest numbers of users in general, ‘more than 2.07 billion monthly active users’ (Wyzowl, 2018). The main act done by the users from using this platform is in fact watching and sharing videos which is the subject of our research. Since Facebook is a very large social platform for people it is quite difficult to diversify in a hierarchy what type of videos are shared and watched the most. But it can be generalised by saying according to articles online the most famous are ‘funny videos’ or ‘tutorials’. (Wyzowl, 2018). This has been the case with the data collected from our survey too. Another big platform that is used for this purpose is YouTube. In fact, in 88 countries in 76 languages 1 billion hours of videos are watched on a daily basis on YouTube. (YouTube.com, 2018). Instagram is one of the other top used social networks nowadays but definitely comes after YouTube and Facebook when we analyse how many videos are shared and viewed by people. This platform has 800 million monthly actives, 500 million daily actives and 250 daily story actives. (Instagram, 2018). Instagram takes a very simplistic, less wordy and more visually pleasing approach for the Viewer and user. This is why it attracts a lot of young audiences since the new generation prefers a simplistic approach to everything. (Forbes.com, 2018). The fourth platform is Snapchat this social network became popular people in the recent years. This app makes use of filters which gives it a more ‘chill and playful’ view. This platform is mainly used by young audiences and the survey we done favours this since 17-22 aged students use it. “There’s a raw quality to Snapchat that’s part of all the fun”. (Wyzowl, 2018). This platform is mostly consisted of a regular usage of emojis. The main feature that is unique is the disappearing content after 24 hours. According to a report published by Emarketer.com (2018) the majority of audience on snapchat was aged 12 -24 while only 5%-6% were users aged 35 to 44 in 2017. This point is really interesting since the data from the survey favours this point; when we looked at individual responses the people aged 30+ did not choose snapchat at all. According to the report this is changing since snapchat is gaining more popularity and older people are starting to use this platform more to stay up to date with major political events that are being captured live on snapchat.The uniqueness of this platform is that it covers moments that it will not happen again and will not the be available for long since the stories disappear after 24 hours. (Wyzowl, 2018).

Limitations

The students who actually participated by filling the questionnaire was quite small and there was a majority of males compared to females so it wasn’t gender fair. As mentioned not all students were available to form the questionnaire so not enough information was gathered and there was not enough time to analyse bigger samples or conduct more surveys. Students could have provided inaccurate information too by not understanding the questions properly since it is not easy to formulate questions in a way that everyone understand them the same way me and my partner do.

Conclusion

From the all the research conducted we can conclude that user generated content like people filming themselves, Tutorials and posting coverage of events type of  is most viewed and shared by the students studying Digital media at the university of Roehampton aged between 17-20, their gender does not affect this factor as shown by the data collected. Since the targeted audience was mainly aged between 17-22, the most used social media to post these short videos and to view them were Snapchat and Instagram, these are more popular between younger audiences in general. Most of the students normally shared their videos to highlight their skills with the public and their friends.

Bibliography

Blumler, J. and Katz, E. (1974). The Uses of mass communications. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Business.com. (2018). 30 Crazy Stats From #SMMW15 – Business.com. [online] Available at: https://www.business.com/articles/30-crazy-stats-we-heard-at-social-media-marketing-world.

Emarketer.com. (2018). Snapchat to Grow 27% This Year, Surpassing Rivals – eMarketer. [online] Available at: https://www.emarketer.com/article/snapchat-grow-27-this-year-surpassing-rivals/1014058 .

Forbes.com. (2018). Why Instagram Is The Top Social Platform For Engagement (And How To Use It). [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/03/28/why-instagram-is-the-top-social-platform-for-engagement-and-how-to-use-it/#57f63d9f36bd .

Instagram. (2018). Our Story. [online] Available at: https://instagram-press.com/our-story.

IPG Media Lab. (2018). IPG Media Lab + Twitter Release Beyond Completion Rates: How Social Video Works – IPG Media Lab. [online] Available at: https://www.ipglab.com/2016/08/18/ipg-media-lab-twitter-release-beyond-completion-rates-how-social-video-works.

Research-Methodology. (2018). Survey Method – Research-Methodology. [online] Available at: https://research-methodology.net/research-methods/survey-method.

Wyzowl. (2018). Why Video is Exploding on Social Media in 2018. [online] Available at: https://www.wyzowl.com/video-social-media-2018.

Youtube.com. (2018). Press – YouTube. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/press.

Questionnaire

This survey is for educational and research purposes only. The data will be collected to try to analyse the use of social media of digital media 1st year students better. The identity of each person who fills the form will stay anonymous.

What is your gender?

• M
• F
• Other

What is your age?

• 17-19
• 20-22
• 23-30
• 30+

Which social media do you use more often in general? (you can chose more than one)

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• Twitter
• Skype
• YouTube
• Whatsapp
• Any other

Which social media do you use more often to post any kind of short videos? (you can chose more than one)

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• Twitter
• Skype
• YouTube
• Whatsapp
• None
• Any other

How many hours do you normally spend on daily basis on your most used social media?

• 30 minutes or less
• 1 hour – 2 hours
• 3hours
• 4 hours or more

What type of short videos do you normally view more often on a daily basis on the social media? (you can chose more than one)

• Interview/ Q&A
• Behind the scenes
• Feature/ product video
• Live videos
• Promos and Deals
• User-Generated Content including other people filming themselves
• Give ways and Contents
• Announcements/ Reveals
• Events
• Breaking News/ Trending
• Tutorials/ How-Tos
• Other

What type of short videos do you post more often? (you can chose more than one)

• Interview/ Q&A
• Behind the scenes
• Feature/ product video
• Live videos
• Promos and Deals
• User-Generated Content including other people filming themselves
• Give ways and Contents
• Announcements/ Reveals
• Events
• Breaking News/ Trending
• Tutorials/ How-Tos
• Other

For what purposes do you post these short videos on social media?

• Because you want to show how on point you or your outfit is looking and attract likes or attention
• Show How to Do Something
• Highlight Your Skills
• Showcase an Event
• Reveal a New Product
• Go Behind the Scenes
• Use What You Have to put across your opinions

With who do you share these videos on social media?

• Friends close friends
• Your followers/ subscribers
• Public
• Aimed to a certain person
• Your relatives
• Your work colleagues
• Other:

Do you feel insecure while you share these videos on social media/ worried how other will react to what you just have shared?

• Yes
• No
• Not sure

Thanks for your time and for helping with the research by filling this form.