The rapid spread of Social Networking Sites on the internet and the growth of user-generated content are seminal evolutions of the social web.
Currently, 67, 1% of the German population is using the internet. This number will rise because of the adolescence of the so called ‘Digital Natives’.
The high penetration of the internet and the ascending number of internet-users make it possible for market researchers to get through to a growing number of households by using this media.
The high popularity of social networking sites, the increased willingness of the users to provide information and the high involvement of these are aspects that could oblige providers and be used to increase the attractiveness of Online-Panels.
The aim of the survey is to fathom possible integrations of functionalities of Social Networking Sites and to contemplate co-operations with adequate ones. In the study, the motives for use and the attachment of users are analysed. Further, the personalities of both online-panels and social networking sites are compared and the exposure to personal data as well as the candidness in the internet is explored.
The two-tiered experiment design consists of a qualitative and a quantitative part. The qualitative preparatory study took place in November 2009 as an online focus group with nine participants who are users of different Social Networking Sites.
Based on this preparatory study a quantitative online-survey was conducted. In December, 2500 members of the German YouGov-Panel were interviewed representatively for the internet users.