August
The Results Are In
The results are in for the web usage survey circulated to current students and incoming freshman here at Warren Wilson.
- Social Networks, especially MySpace and Facebook, are in
- Outside social networks, students aren’t interested in web-based community
- iPods and MP3 players are definitely in, but for music
- Blogs, Podcasts, and RSS are out (in the case of RSS - never came in)
- News, shopping, and banking online are activities for the older student demographic
- Good text and graphics are still the mainstay of a successful website
To preface, Warren Wilson students represent a unique and socially distinct market niche. In general, they are slightly more reticent to use the web and somewhat slower to respond to technology trends. Other than that, the numbers match national surveys closely. We used zoomerang to conduct our surveys, which is a very nice tool. I managed to get about a 25% response rate for both groups. There was a couple of interesting tidbits but no real surprises. Here’s a longer summary:
Both groups tended to use the internet primarily for: email, research, social network websites, music, and instant messaging—in that order. Current students, which contained the older group, tended to also engage in activities like shopping and banking more than their younger counterparts. Also, older current students tended to read the news much more whereas incoming students engage much more in music-related activities and chatting. Conspicuous among the activities that were not engaged in much (less than 20% of respondents) were watching videos, reading blogs, and writing blogs.
When asked what elements they feel are most important in a website, the overwhelming majority listed “good text content” as being key. Below that was good images and interactive content. The younger crowd seemed to place much more emphasis on interactive, moving content such as embedded video or music players.
The majority of students polled have their own email address(es) and use a laptop with a wireless connection to get online.
Fully 56% of incoming students own a portable mp3 player and another 26% would like to. Despite the high numbers, only 26% of respondents said they listened to audio Podcasts and only 15% watched video Podcasts. Of those that listen to audio Podcasts, the majority by more than half said they only listen to music or music-related casts.
(On a personal note, I lost a bet to my boss over this part of the survey. I had figured that our specific market niche would not be enthralled with the iPod to the extent that a sizable chunk of campus would own one. Turns out I was wrong, with at least a full third of the student population toting the little white music machines. At least there was a vocal element that actively didn’t want an mp3 player. Now the bossman has the bet payment taped to the wall of his office and I have a sinking suspicion it will haunt me in the future…)
Younger students surveyed were more interested in reading personal blogs, but 53% still said “I don’t read blogs.” RSS is a bomb with the younger crowd with 86% saying that they don’t subscribe to any RSS feeds and no movement in the younger crowd. Most students also said that they weren’t interested in participating in online communities with those that did sticking primarily with the social networking sites (I suspect this may be one of those elements unique to Warren Wilson).
Finally, when asked what sites the students go to most frequently, the largest response was: myspace.com, facebook.com, google.com . No surprises there.
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