College Students: Connecting With the Connected Crowd

College students remain the single most connected demographic group in the US. In 2009, 95.7% of them will go online at least once a month.

Students have multiple electronic devices and have many ways to get information and to interact with friends. They may be the first truly platform-agnostic demographic group. Students believe it is less important how they get information than how easy it is to manipulate and interact with it across a range of devices.

This means that students are heavy consumers of online video-but also regular TV. They use social networking Websites to stay in touch with their friends-but rely on text messaging as well. And smartphones, which are becoming more and more common on campus, give students the ability to do many activities without ever touching a computer.

Companies marketing to college students need to create fluid interactions with them, in multiple venues. Marketers must be flexible, open and honest across all of their communications. But at the same time, students are extremely savvy and will not respond well to being bombarded with the same ad message on their phone, in their social network Website and during their favorite online video.

Key questions this report answers:

• What kinds of online video do college students watch?
• Do students still use social networks with the same intensity?
• How are smartphones changing the way students interact with friends and get information?
• Where do students get information for making purchases?