Social Media : Mood of Young India

I was just flipping e-edition of Hindustan Times Delhi and found an interesting survey carried out by the publication. In fact this penetration has been manifold due to availability of internet at affordable price on mobile devices. It is to be seen that how quickly advertisers and business portals really harness in terms of business and commerce.

According to the HT-MaRS Youth Survey 2013, 46% youth in India log onto social networking sites daily. In 2012, 35.1% of the respondents had said that they accessed the internet at least once a day. Interestingly, this year’s survey shows that when it comes to accessing social networks, there is not much gap between the percentage of users in metros and non-metros. It’s Pune (59%) — not Delhi (52%) or Bangalore (55%) — that tops the table in this segment. Even Indore and Ranchi are at a healthy 48.6% and 40% respectively.

“It’s a positive thing that Internet access is growing in small towns. For young people in these places, it has always been more difficult to access certain kinds of information, or to share their own experiences with the wider world,” said Anja Kovacs, project director of the New Delhi-based Internet Democracy Project. “With growing access, they can express their opinions on matters that are important to them in a fast-changing world — whether they want to learn more about love and relationships, are looking to further their career prospects or education, or are fighting to improve government service delivery in their towns”.

While parents feel that social networking has offered the young a unique pathway to connect with a larger world, they warn that an overdose is bound to lead to problems. “Billions of bytes are being exchanged every day in addictive youthful frenzy. It is easy to be a slave of technology and almost impossible to rule it wisely,” said Abhinanda’s mother Nilanjana Lahiri, a professor of English in Delhi.

Will the growth of social media make traditional media lose its Gen Y readers? In the 2012 survey, only 27.8% of the respondents said they read newspapers or magazines daily for 30 minutes or more; in 2013, the figure has inched up a bit to 29.3%. The traditional media seems to be alive and growing in the non-metro towns thanks to its youth. Look where youth are reading newspapers for thiry minutes or more: Jaipur and Patna (both 33.3%), both way above Mumbai (21%) and Pune (22%). “The traditional media is not two-way, hence the popularity of social media among the youth — they can express themselves, exchange opinions on an issue — all in real time,” says Praneesh Prakash, policy director of the Bangalore-based The Centre for Internet and Society.

While the young are ready to invest time, effort and money on the web, they seem averse doing the same when it comes to physical fitness even though there are enough warnings, on the Internet itself, on how too much of technology can affect health. According to the survey, only 22.5% of young Indians exercise daily. While Bengaluru (31.3%), Ranchi (30%) and Lucknow (30.7%) are at the top-end of the list, Mumbai and Chennai are a dismal 16% and 14% respectively. A 2012 study by the Centre of Nutrition and Metabolic Research had warned that waistlines of young India have been widening and the reasons, no surprises here, are lack of physical activity, increasing socio-economic status and excess use of technology.