Commentary

From The Horse's Mouth: College Students' Search And Social Behavior

by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, December 8, 2009

SIS-Panel: Ball State University

Meet Beau Hennings, a freshman of environmental studies at the University of Utah; Mitch Sturges, a senior majoring in music and voice, at the University of Utah; Katie Hathaway, a sophomore studying linguistics and computer science at the University of Utah; Meghan Hekkers, a senior studying English and French at Westminster College, in Salt Lake City; and Thinh Doan, a junior in biology and premed at Westminster College.

These college students participated in a panel discussion on search and social at last week's MediaPost Search Insider Summit. I realize a panel of five doesn't quite make a broad trend, but marketers need to pay close attention to the future of media and how 20-somethings and those slightly younger view technology, specifically search.

There's no doubt there's a generational divide. In a previous panel, Kristine Sherliker, lead communications manager at Unilever, had mentioned that 25 is the average age of product managers at the consumer products goods (CPG) company. She also pointed to a distinct difference between product managers age 25 and 45, in the way they use social technologies.

These particular college students said searches on Google lead them to retail sites, such as Amazon, where they buy products. They tend to rely on Google to research items first. Although Hennings and Hathaway tend to buy most products online, they don't trust Amazon's consumer reviews.

Unlike Hennings and Hathaway, Hekkers will search for products in Amazon. When searching for textbooks she searches for the ISB number for text books in Amazon, but then compares prices with Barnes & Noble, and Textbooks.com. Doan tends to buy his textbooks at eBay's half.com.

The group also admitted to making online purchases regularly, at least once weekly. The items tend to run the gamut, from hard-to-find mountain-climbing gear, to DVDs. "I bought my laptop straight from the manufacturer's Web site," Sturges said, explaining that he might go to the store to look and feel the product, but buy it online, especially from companies he has bought from before.

Hathaway might go into the store to ask questions, but tends to buy most products online, including clothing. If while walking through brick-and-mortar retail stores she finds the same products online for less money, she will still buy them online right there. "I shop online with purpose; I usually know what I'm getting the person before hand," she says, admitting typically giving friends DVDs of movies and TV series, or books. "If I were to get my brother a Batman belt buckle, I would search on Google, and then click on the first three or four sites returned."

Hekkers shops for everything online, except for food and clothes. In her most recent purchase, searching, researching and shopping online allowed her to buy $250 in textbooks for a little more than $100, she says.

Nearly unanimously, the group points to Twitter as an annoyance, rather than a benefit. Most of their friends don't use Twitter. Some will get news from Twitter, such as the passing of Michael Jackson, or the infidelity of Tiger Woods, but they don't want to read the minute-by-minute descriptions of people brushing their teeth or going to the bathroom. Hennings doesn't think status updates from friends are the same on Twitter as on Facebook. It's not about the mundane things people do, but rather related to "funny stuff," he said. "I have enough of my own stuff going on. I don't feel the need to follow up on everyone's every move. It makes for less personal interaction when you see them, because you would already know what they do every moment of the day when you see them."

Ironically, Sturges, the senior majoring in music, is the only one of the group who syncs Twitter and Facebook status updates. So, when posting a comment on Facebook, it appears simultaneously on Twitter. He relies on Twitter more for news, and Facebook more to connect with friends.

Sturges's social media habits could reveal some behavioral insights, especially after Google's announcement Monday. Yesterday in Mountain View, Calif., Google demonstrated how Twitter status updates, or tweets, will appear in real time in search engine queries. The insight found in the tweets could give marketers one more behavioral piece of data to target display and paid search ads.

facebook, search, social media, twitter

6 comments about "From The Horse's Mouth: College Students' Search And Social Behavior ".

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Rita Burke, December 8, 2009 at 2:16 p.m.
Add to your panel of five a study of my two sons, one in college, the other in high school. I was surprised at their disinterest and outright derision of twitter. An analysis of twitter demos would be interesting
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Greg Hollingsworth from Hollico Group Advertising, December 8, 2009 at 3:54 p.m.

My two college-age daughters would fit this profile. The take on Twitter is interesting, because, again neither sees much value in it and both use Facebook extensively.

Nelson Yuen from Stereotypical Mid Sized Services Corp., December 8, 2009 at 4:50 p.m.

The reason why Twitter is seen as an annoyance is because it reflects micro-blogging from a "structural" bias. Twitter aggregates social information without the ability to "rank" the information relevantly. The function of twitter is also diminutive because it is the "COMMUNITY" that hooks users in the younger demographic, NOT the PR usability or visibility.

(Translation) Twitter isn't Google to us. It reads like an agenda because the community overall isn't relevant to us. Following our favorite athletes and celebrities is a very disingenuous way to engage our limited attention spans. Sure, I want to know what vanessa hudgens is wearing (because I'm a heterosexual male) but she can't engage me for more than 20 seconds unless she's constantly uploading naked pictures of herself to implicitly let Disney sell sex, or if she's got her webcam on. (See, this conversation is going WAY OFF TOPIC.)

Twitter is a tough sell usability wise to our generation for a gazillion reasons. This is one of them.

Jerry Foster from Energraphics, December 9, 2009 at 3:32 a.m.

Question: Are college students among the more interesting bloggers out there?

My observation is a resounding no. And I think it is a function of students not really grasping subjects due to lack of real world experience to temper the academic theory. The myth of "student activism" I will discuss below.

College students are also, on average, socially inept in comparison with older people - A 30 year old man with game can walk into a campus cafeteria and sit down and have a great conversation with coeds whom their peers are afraid to even approach, much less impress with conversation. Look at Twilight - a 100 year old man with a tendency to brood *still* outclassed his erstwhile rivals in the cafeteria with his social skills.

Twitter is just micro-blogging. If you don't know enough about your subject to blog about it (and, as importantly, if you are not financially interested or otherwise seriously invested in your cause), you won't really be able to tweet effectively and will quit both blogs and Twitter.

I doubt that "young people" embrace blogging but not micro-blogging.

Twitter is largely useful if you need to do PR for a cause, whether that cause is professional or private. You get a central theme and you upholster it with cool content and wit that makes people anticipate entertainment when they see your avatar. It is about being able to drive a conversation. Young people aren't yet good at that.

Nowhere is the lack of knowledge and maturity of the youngest adults more evident than in politics, where I see the youngest are the most easily manipulated. I personally didn't get a handle on politics until I was 35.

"Student activism" is, in my experience, mostly a joke regardless of whether it is left, right or libertarian oriented. They are easily manipulated and tend to repeat jargon (which would get boring on Twitter even to "allies"). They just don't know enough about the subject matter and maybe logic synapses haven't yet fully developed in the brain (which keeps developing its infrastructure up to age 25).

My girlfriend is in college. She got an A the other day on a paper (about the collapse of newspapers) because I was around to flesh out her knowledge and perspective.

And now I am going to get killed for writing this.

Seriously, there is a reason why that age group is in study mode.

Twitter is more for those in more of a teach mode who, of course, realize that being an effective teacher means constantly reading what peers write as well.

Michelle Cubas from Positive Potentials LLC, December 9, 2009 at 12:19 p.m.

Hi, Laurie,

. . .Out of the mouths of babes (children, not hotties!). I find Twitter annoying as well when it pops up unexpectedly.

What I find interesting about online purchases is that we're getting farther away from the sensual experience, think leather.

Enjoyed the findings.

Greg Hall from Yebol, December 9, 2009 at 6:32 p.m.

A search function that auto-compares prices would be a real winner.