Thanks to this Spotify commercial, the Hub was curious: What role does social media play in student relationships at Texas Tech University? The Hub conducted an anonymous survey, which more than 100 students answered, and here is what we found.
Read: What’s Your Number, Tech?
After asking about several well-known social media brands, such as Tinder, Grindr, Yik Yak, Gaggle and Whisper in our unscientific survey, four names stood out the most. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter dominated all other popular forms as the most popular social media platforms among Tech students — with Facebook being the most used.
William “Lin” Humphrey, a fourth-year digital marketing doctoral candidate at Tech, said Facebook may hold the title as the No. 1 social media platform, but college-aged students consider social media differently.
“My research shows they have shorter user sessions on Facebook on mobile, but very frequently. When they talk about social media, I hear more about Instagram and Snapchat,” Humphrey said. “I think you almost have to classify social media as short- or long-term. With Facebook, you expect that your conversations will linger and be retrievable.”
On the other hand, Humphrey said the content-destructive social networks like Snapchat or emerging location-based apps like Tinder or Grindr allow conversations to disappear after they are consumed. A flick or block hides unattractive people on Grindr or Tinder, but with the exception of the “My Story” function, Snapchat media is apparently designed to expire within seconds.
All Responses from Tech Students
While a majority of responders said the title “Facebook Official” does not carry importance anymore, most respondents in a relationship said they were FBO with their significant other.
Almost half of those surveyed said they have Facebook messaged with someone they were attracted to in order to get to know the person better, but only around one-third said they have added someone for that same purpose. A little less than one-third also said they have initiated a date through messaging and that messaging someone led to a romantic relationship.
However, most students agreed there are no set dating rules when it comes to Facebook. More than 20 percent of the students said they have sent a sexual message to somebody on Facebook.
Most students answered they have communicated with strangers on Twitter, and they follow someone they are attracted to. However, a great majority said Twitter is not the place for romantic or sexual ventures.
Similar to Twitter, most respondents said they follow someone they are attracted to on Instagram, but that’s about it. A few said they have direct messaged someone on Instagram. One person said they actually met their significant other on Instagram. Another person met a partner via Tumblr. A majority of respondents said they do not participate in #MCM (Man Crush Monday) or #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday), but those who do participate said they usually choose a friend or whomever they are in a serious relationship with. However, 11 percent admitted to tagging their crush, while 18 percent said they have used a picture of their pet. Twenty percent choose celebrities.
Unlike Twitter and Instagram, respondents’ answers showed that a good margin of students use Snapchat for relationship purposes. Most students said they Snapchat with someone they are attracted to, and almost half said they are interested in pursuing a relationship with someone they Snapchat with. A little less than 30 percent said they have used it to pursue a relationship with somebody, but only nine have been successful in finding romance . Almost 40 percent said they have communicated sexually with someone via Snapchat — most of which were a serious relationship or someone they were “talking” to, but only around 20 percent gained a sexual relationship out of it. 58 percent said there are not dating rules for Snapchat, but 32 percent were not sure.
Tinder messages courtesy of an anonymous source
Of the respondents that use Tinder, half of them said they have used the app to find a sexual or romantic partner. Only one person said Tinder led them to a romantic relationship, but almost half said they have communicated sexually with someone or found a sexual partner. Most of the responders said they like to rank people they see for fun.
The responses regarding Grindr indicated users do not use the app to pursue serious relationships, but find it to be a helpful source for finding sexual relations.
When it came to Vine, the answers yielded different responses than the rest. Less than half of the respondents who use Vine said they follow someone they are attracted to. However, more than half said they follow people they do not personally know, and the great majority said they mostly follow people they are not friends with. Not one person has used it for any sort of relationship purpose.
Out of the few who admitted to using Whisper, only one-fourth said they have used the app to pursue a partner or communicate with somebody sexually.
Most of the Yik Yak users were in agreement as to why they use the app; they think the anonymous, random posts and pointless drama are funny. One person claimed to use it just to report inappropriate comments about her friends — which effectively tells Yik Yak to delete the alleged incriminating post.
In Conclusion
While a number of students who responded to The Hub’s survey answered they have engaged in sexual activity on a social networking platform, the majority said they have not. Instead, the results showed the majority use the popular social media products to engage with either a serious significant other or their friends.
A study published by The University of Chicago Press concluded social media use momentarily enhanced self-esteem in subjects who focused their social networking on people they have strong ties with — such as close friends. Additionally, the subjects displayed less self-control after browsing a social network and having their self-esteem heightened. The researchers said self-control plays an important role in maintaining social order and well-being.
Humphrey, the social media researcher at Tech, said these insights are just hypotheses — not facts, but finding a potential tie between social media, self-esteem and self-control may present a research opporuntity concerning the association between social media sites and casual encounters.
“Testing this would provide incredible insight on social media, self-views, and promiscuity, but it’s hard to generalize without the research on it,” Humphrey said.
It is important, Humphrey noted, to understand relationships are not like a computer’s binary code; people have a wide spectrum of different relationship types.
“We have strangers, acquaintances, colleagues, friends, frenemies, BFFs, etc. We may have relationships with all these people across social networks,” he said via email. “Linkedin would likely be for professional acquaintances versus offline friends, whereas Tinder is probably more strangers.”
Secondly, he said, it is equally important to consider whether a network is open or closed in this discussion because the network type likely affects how close people’s ties are within a certain network.
“Linkedin and Facebook I would consider closed — you have to add people to your network, although with “Public” privacy settings anyone can see your content,” he said. “With Instagram, Twitter, and other similar sites, the network is open; unless an account is private, anyone can follow and interact.”
Humphrey said research at Tech showed everyone makes judgements based on perceived benefits and potential consequences — ‘What would it do for me, and what could happen if I get caught?’
“Strength of relationships and negative perceived consequences likely guides some behavior,” he said.
Blake Silverthorn, Ben Jarvis, Evan Dixon and Lauren Estlinbaum contributed to the multimedia aspects of this story.
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