Wong+P+Focus+Group+Report

Wong P

Below you will find a focus group session I ran on five Generation Y individuals, both male and female. The topic of discussion was the major uses of their mobile device. Our group came up with five questions pertaining to mobile device useage. I was able to answer all five of the questions.

Here is my report on a focus group I ran over the spring break week with five people who are between the ages of 18-25 years old and both male and female. In this focus group I was gathering their thoughts on the new hype of mobile Smartphone’s and their usage on them. I was able to cover 5 out of the 5 questions developed by our team. The majority of the group is in the hype of the new Smartphone boom and their use of applications on the phone. Mobile advertising is expanding because companies can easily target mobile device and gain brand identity by providing free applications. Our focus groups will determine exactly how Gen-Y uses mobile devices and to what extent they can be reached via mobile ads and applications. This information will allow us to advise Proximity clients on how to develop a mobile strategy to target Gen-Y. The 60 minute session was held in my dining room on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. The participants were: · Alyssa, 20 a professional hair stylist; · Brooke, 20 at University of Baltimore, Junior nursing major; · Natalie, 18 at CCBC-Essex, Freshman undeclared major; · Nicholas, 19 at CCBC-Essex, Freshman Engineer major; · Bob, 25 at BMW Financial. We covered the following five topics during the session: __Primary Communication with Mobile device __ Just about all the participants in this focus group session indicated that their primary communication on a mobile device was through text messaging. 4 out of the 5 participants say that 70% of the communication through their device is through texting. Bob, however, found that just about only 30% of the communication is through text messaging. He explained, “voice contact is much more effective than just a bunch of texts, they receiving party can actually hear the tone of my voice.” Alyssa with the rebuttal, “That’s when you can use: LOL, BRB, SMH, ect.” __Internet usage on mobile device __ It looked like there was a general theme when talking with the group about their internet usage on their mobile devices. All participants but 2 (Natalie, and Bob) use the internet service on their phone at least once a day. Bob, the oldest one of the group, never uses his internet on his i-Phone. This surprised me because I thought the high end smart phones users would use the internet services. Natalie has a Samsung Glide which “isn’t very internet user friendly.” __Application usage __ The application usage question was very simply answered. Those of the ones who have a Blackberry, or i-Phone all used their applications all the time. Even Bob said, “The applications on the i-Phone are easy to use, access and not to mention fun!” However, the Samsung Glide comes with no applications. The primary use of their applications is for Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking. __Advertising Purchases __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No one in the focus group purchased anything on the application advertisements! “I wouldn’t trust buying directly through my phone” said Brooke. However, they do vote through text messaging for American Idol votes, if that counts. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Computer usage __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The majority of their time spent on the computer stayed at a constant for the most part. Alyssa on the other hand, treats her phone as her own “little computer.” The rest find their time on the computer just about the same because of school work that has to be done, or even work. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The session revealed that the participants: · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">mostly use text messaging as their primary source of communication · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">who have the higher end smart phones use their internet daily · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">who have application capabilities use them often · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">do not purchase any kind of advertisement through applications · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">usage of their computers have not changed for the most part <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">These findings should be compared with the results from our other sessions with mixed sexual orientation participants. Even though the participants in this session do not purchase anything through advertisements, they may find it convenient and an effective way to purchase things.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Focus Group Rationale **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Setting and Participants **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Session Topics **
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Findings __**