Facebook Fever High among Indian Students


Bangalore: Facebook has become a part of youngsters’ life now. The numbers of Facebook users are rising day by day in India. The increasing Facebook obsession is creating tension among parents since the children show more interest in using Facebook than any other form of entertainment.

The recent TCS GenY survey uncovers this increasing trend among the urban high school students across India. Survey points out that only 0.71 percent of urban students use television for entertainment while the number of school students who use Facebook increased from 17 percent in 2009 to 85 percent now.

The survey says that Facebook is the favorite among students to connect with their peer group. Other social sites like Orkut and India-based networks like Apnacircle, iBibo and Hi5 have more popularity only in mini-metros compared to metros. As per the survey reports Twitter has not yet achieved much popularity among children in India.

The survey finds out that 84.3 percent of urban children in India use internet from their homes. The students who use internet at cyber cafes have decreased from 46 percent in 2009 to 20 percent now. “Research for School” is the main access for students to use computers at school and most of the time it is followed by the social reasons like chatting/connecting with friends and listening to music. 74 percent children use internet for school-related research. The number of Indian students who access internet through PC is 68 percent.

Other findings of survey say that among gadgets children prefer mobile phone for communication. Survey figures 79 percent children who own mobile phones. 59 percent of students make voice calls to communicate and the 45 percent use email as a mode of communication. Interestingly 33 percent of students spent more than one hour on internet every day and 34 percent prefer IT as the first option for a career.