23 May 2012

India’s ‘GenY’ prefers social networks to instantly connect on the move, reveals TCS survey

• School –2- Social:  Three out of four students cited “Research for School” as the main reason to access the internet followed by social reasons like chatting/connecting to friends (68 per cent) and listening to music (50 percent). Over 84 per cent of students go online from home compared to just 58 per cent (in 2009)
  • Use of Cybercafes as an online access point has dropped dramatically fallen from 46 percent in 2009 to 20 percent cent today.

• Gr8 Networks: Social Networks like Facebook is the clear favorite among students to connect with their peers with 88 percent cent of respondents from the six metros having a presence on this social platform. One-third of all respondents said FB was their preferred site. Other platforms like Orkut and India-based networks like Apnacircle, iBibo and Hi5 are more popular in mini-metros compared to metros.
  • Tweeting as a medium of communication is now being used by one in three students in the TCS survey though only one percent cent listed it as their preferred site.

• Made 4 Mobility: Eight out of every 10 high school students own mobile phones and more than 40% use mobile phones to access the internet (compared to just 12 percent in 2009). While PCs continue to dominate internet access for students (68 percent) at home, one in two said they used laptops as well. 
  • An emerging trend is the use of tablets with almost 14 percent using these new devices. 

• Text, don’t Call: The TCS Survey makes it clear that increasingly India’s urban GenNet is turning to text and chat as alternatives to voice. Fifty per cent of those surveyed in metros said they used SMS the most to communicate while 45 percent used Instant Messaging and 38 percent used FB or Twitter – all significantly higher than the number of students in metros who said they used email (34 per cent) for the same purpose.
  • Reflecting poorer connectivity levels, use of email (55 per cent) in Mini-metros continues to higher than metros (34 per cent).
  • Lower access to bandwidth also means that In Mini metros e-mail continues to be more popular for communication among high school students than SMS (23 per cent), IM (22 percent) and social networks (17 per cent).

• TV is Remote: Indian youth’s like their entertainment on the move. Their least favourite gadget is the Television with less than one percent voting for it. Their favorite gadget with 28 percent votes is the Mobile Phone. Gaming consoles are also increasingly becoming popular even in mini-metros with a little over 16% of students owning at least one gaming console as compared to nearly 45% in metros. Music players are also very popular with 60 per cent of respondents owning them.
  • Tablet PCs and Tabs though nascent has penetrated far more intensively in Metros with 15% respondents listing it as their choice of device to access with Mini Metro at 7%.

• Career@IT: The Web 3.0 generation school students are far more conscious than before. They seem to clear about what they would look for in a future job. IT remains the top Career preference amongst youngsters irrespective of geography with Engineering and Medicine following. Media /Entertainment is emerging as a clear urban favourite.

• Linking in: Early use of career sites like Linked-In are more popular in business centric cities like like Mumbai and Ahmedabad and significantly lower on an national basis.

• WHAT: The TCS Web 3.0 survey conducted  by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) the leading IT services, consulting and business solutions firm, India’s largest IT solutions provider Tata Consultancy Services, is among the largest youth surveys of its kind  in India. The survey was conducted across 12 Indian cities - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune, with a total respondents of over 12,329 high school students the ages of 12-18. The primary data was collected from the participants by means of a questionnaire at each of the locations. 

• WHEN: TCS Web 3.0 Youth Survey was undertaken from July to December 2011 during the nationwide TCS IT Wiz program to get a pulse of the digital habits of school students from class 8-12th to capture the changing trends of the youth across the Nation with a focus on technology. The objective was to comprehend and compare the difference between school students in the major metros and mini metros of India. The TCS Web 3.0 Youth Survey is one of the most comprehensive school level studies of this scale, in India, to capture information access trends, social networking preferences, career interests etc. 

• HOW: The surveys questionnaire comprised sections such as Gadgets, Social Networking, Information Access, Career Interests, Media and Communication preferences.  Interestingly a look at the media preference and usage shows that Television seems to be losing sheen. While the advent of internet is high, young India still reflects faith and belief on Newspapers as a research tool.

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