Social Networks like Facebook is the clear favorite among students to connect with their peers with 88 percent cent of respondents from the six metros having a presence on this social platform. One-third of all respondents said FB was their preferred site, according to a survey by TCS.

The findings of India’s largest survey of over 12,300 high school students across 12 Indian cities reveals that smart devices and online access are making GenY “instant connectors”. This is transforming the way tomorrow’s professionals are conducting their academic and social lives.

According to the study, India’s “Generation Y” is fast changing the communication paradigm by quickly adopting new modes of networking using social platforms like Facebook, Twitter as well as tools like instant messaging and chat, according to the findings of The TCS GenY survey 2011-12 which was released today.

Commenting on the TCS Survey, N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD said, “Combination of more bandwidth, availability of smart devices and the surging popularity of social networks is changing the way India’s high school students conduct their academic and social lives. As significant employers of India’s talented youth, we need to understand how to leverage these social trends to create engaging careers for tomorrow’s professionals.”

Releasing the survey, Ajoy Mukherjee, Executive Vice President and Global Head HR said, “The survey highlights the increasing relevance of concepts like social networks and gaming can be used to drive collaboration, creativity and productivity among young employees inside the enterprise. This can help keep GenY professionals engaged and energized through their careers.”

Three out of four students cited “Research for School” as the main reason to access the internet followed by social reasons like chatting/connecting to friends (68 per cent) and listening to music (50 percent). Over 84 per cent of students go online from home compared to just 58 per cent (in 2009)

 Use of Cybercafes as an online access point has dropped dramatically fallen from 46 percent in 2009 to 20 percent cent today.

 Social Networks like Facebook is the clear favorite among students to connect with their peers with 88 percent cent of respondents from the six metros having a presence on this social platform. One-third of all respondents said FB was their preferred site.

Other platforms like Orkut and India-based networks like Apnacircle, iBibo and Hi5 are more popular in mini-metros compared to metros.

 Tweeting as a medium of communication is now being used by one in three students in the TCS survey though only one percent cent listed it as their preferred site.

Eight out of every 10 high school students own mobile phones and more than 40% use mobile phones to access the internet (compared to just 12 percent in 2009). While PCs continue to dominate internet access for students (68 percent) at home, one in two said they used laptops as well.

 The TCS Survey makes it clear that increasingly India’s urban GenNet is turning to text and chat as alternatives to voice. Fifty per cent of those surveyed in metros said they used SMS the most to communicate while 45 percent used Instant Messaging and 38 percent used FB or Twitter all significantly higher than the number of students in metros who said they used email (34 per cent) for the same purpose.

Reflecting poorer connectivity levels, use of email (55 per cent) in Mini-metros continues to higher than metros (34 per cent).

 Lower access to bandwidth also means that In Mini metros e-mail continues to be more popular for communication among high school students than SMS (23 per cent), IM (22 percent) and social networks (17 per cent).

 Indian youth’s like their entertainment on the move. Their least favourite gadget is the Television with less than one percent voting for it. Their favorite gadget with 28 percent votes is the Mobile Phone. Gaming consoles are also increasingly becoming popular even in mini-metros with a little over 16% of students owning at least one gaming console as compared to nearly 45% in metros. Music players are also very popular with 60 per cent of respondents owning them.