DePaul Students & Twitter

Executive Summary

This proposal addresses DePaul students' use of social media, specifically the microblogging platform known as Twitter. Previous studies have found that Twitter is embraced by slightly older audiences, so I was curious to find out whether college students' use of the platform has increased in the months since these studies were conducted, and if not, to find some reasons why this age group is resisting the urge to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. Market researchers value Twitter as an easy way to see what consumers are saying about products, places and people, so this study is important because it seeks to gain answers about a valuable yet Twitter-resistant market. Given this information, I would specifically sought to find out if DePaul students are using Twitter regularly, if they actually understand the platform, and whether or not they perceive Twitter as a valuable social media tool. I conducted a convenience survey to gain insight on DePaul students' use and perceptions of Twitter.

Results of the study showed that our hypotheses were supported; the majority of DePaul students prefer Facebook over Twitter, are unfamiliar with Twitter terminology, and those who do actually use the platrform consider it to be both fun and functional. There seemed to be a huge dichotomy between the two perspectives; either someone used the platform and loved it or tried it once and hated it. This study shows that Facebook is still the preferred method of social media for DePaul students, but there is a gorup of enthusiastic Twitter users out there. Marketers could study this group to find out how to best tap into this marginal Twitter-savvy market of college students.