Social Networking Sites' Usage in a Period of Crisis. A Segmentation Analysis of Greek College Students

Social Networking Sites possess a dominant position in the agenda of marketers and academics around the world. Despite the penetration, social media and SNSs have in all demographic categories, young persons and students still remain the main users. This paper examines the usage patterns of social media and social networking sites by college students. 512 students of TEI of Western Macedonia have participated in our research, answering questions regarding 18 different usages of SNSs. Four main categories of SNSs usage patterns were identified, that were used along with six more variables to identify segments of SNS users, following the typology proposed by Brandtzaeg and Heim (2011). Our findings indicate the existence of four segments of SNSs users. Results are discussed under the prism of the Greek economic crisis, and the implications they have for marketers in planning and implementing social media marketing strategies.