The Application of Social Networking as a Marketing Platform to Young Adults - Adoption, Usage, and Global Impact of Broadband Technologies - page 186

able on the subject of online marketing and social
networks.
These individuals are as follows:

to obtain a representative sample as under a tenth
of the South African population has Internet ac-
cess (Goldstuck, 2009). However, as the research
is only pertinent to those individuals who are
Internet users and actively utilize online social
networks, it was only necessary for that particular
market segment to be probed. Another potential
disadvantage was the fact that response rates to
Internet based surveys are generally low. This was
combated by proactively seeking respondents on
Facebook and, through the snowball effect, even-
tually acquiring a database of 202 respondents.
Table 1 on the following outlines the demo-
graphic profile of the sample.

• Ian Calvert, Chief Executive Officer -

Instant Grass, South Africa

• Alex Van Tonder, Trend advisor - Instant

Grass, South Africa

• Angela Banks, Brand Manager - Unilever,

South Africa

• Sarah Manners, Public Relations Manager

- Quirk E-Marketing, South Africa

In terms of the quantitative aspect of the study,
an internet survey was utilized in order to capture
further data about social network users. The re-
search instrument (questionnaire) was promoted
on Facebook in order to ensure that all respondents
were social network users. However, the actual
survey was hosted on a standalone site. There
were many advantages as well as disadvantages
to using online survey distribution. The main
advantages were the speed and cost effectiveness
of distributing the questionnaire in this manner,
as well as the ability to capture data in real-time,
thereby increasing efficiency and accuracy of
data collection. This method also allowed for
complete respondent anonymity, therefore allow-
ing respondents to give more honest and personal
feedback. The disadvantage was that it is difficult

USAGE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING

The degree to which online social networkers
have access to interaction with other users plays
a fundamental role in the effectiveness of any
given WOM campaign. Figure 2 illustrates the
distribution of online contacts ('friends') with
whom social networkers interact.
The research shows that the vast majority
(90%) of respondents have more than 100 contacts
on their choice of social network. This skewed
distribution is congruent with research conducted
by Vilpponen (2006), who indicates that online
social network users tend to communicate with

Figure 2. Number of online contacts