Factors Affecting the Usage of Social Media of the University Students in Bangladesh
Chanchal Molla
Lecturer
Department of Management
Faculty of Business Studies
Jashore University of Science and Technology(JUST),
Jashore-7408, Bangladesh.
This research paper aims at identifying different factors that influence university students to use social media in Bangladesh. It also identifies the degree of associations among these factors leading to the usage pattern of social media of the university students. Social media has reached to all people who are using internet and has become the most remarkable communication tool. To know the factors affecting the usage of social media by the students and different aspect of usage pattern, a survey has been conducted among the 500 students of the different universities of Bangladesh. Both qualitative and quantitative research method have been applied to analyze the surveyed data. Based on the conceptual framework developed having 3 constructs (educational purpose, social needs fulfillment and availability of resources) the study revealed a significant relationship between the construct variables and actual usage of social media.
Keywords: Social media, Educational purpose, Social needs fulfillment, Availability of resources.
Social media refers to networking tools and technologies that enhances social aspects of the web like medium of communication, collaboration, and intense expression. Facebook, YouTube, twitter, blogs, wiki, whats app, Instagram etc. are the best examples of social media. Social media has gained popularity among all groups of people including students all over the world. Pemperk et al. (2008) mentioned that in this information age, social media sites seem to be growing in popularity rapidly among young adults. Not only in academic arena, but also among researchers, policy makers, and academicians, usage of social media has gained popularity. Social media helps students to fulfill different purposes. The usage of social networking tools for education and teaching is abandon at both basic and higher education levels (Veletsianos & Kimmons, 2012). Students are using social media for fulfilling their educational purposes like content sharing, enhancement of learning, availability of educational materials, job information etc. Social media also helps to fulfill their social needs like family and friend’s identification, entertainment, communication, self- representation. Usage of social media requires ensuring availability of time, availability of money and internet facility. Usage of social media is identified by hours spend on social media, internet usage, investment in digital devices. Day by day students are becoming social media intensive. University students are often found to be obsessed with their Facebook profile or Twitter page (Williams & Merten, 2008). Most of the leisure period and even in their academic time schedule they are found to be engaged in social media. Students spend an average of 47 minutes a day on Facebook where more than 50% of college students (sample 250) go on a social networking site several times a day (Sheldon, 2008). Further research need to be conducted to determine the role of social media in the academic life of students (Junco, 2012). That is why it is a great concern for students, academicians, and parents to understand the usage pattern of social media by students. Like how much time they spend on social media, how much money they spend in using social media, which sites are mostly visited, which factors influence them to use social media, what is the interrelationship structure among the variables factors. This research paper will provide the answer of these questions.
This literature review covers social media, usage of social media, factors influencing usage of social media, methodological issues, research gap, identification of research objective and hypothesis. Social media includes different SNS like Facebook, YouTube, twitter,and blogs that enables content sharing, communication, collaboration, self- representation, community building, entertainment, participation, social interaction etc. Social media are networking tools and technologies that fulfill educational purpose and social needs with availability of resources. Social media is a group of Internet-based applications that is built on the ideological foundations of Web 2.0 and allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content (Kaplan and Haenlin, 2010) and comprised of mobile and web based technologies that provide interactive platforms for the public to share, create, discuss, and modify content (Kietsmann et al., 2011). Social network sites (SNS) are public web-based services that allow users to develop a personal profile, identify other users (friends) with whom they have a connection, read, and react to postings made by other users on the site, send and receive messages either privately or publicly (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).Social media applications include social networking sites, video sharing sites, blogs, message boards, virtual communities, massively-multiplayer online games, and instant messaging (Bulik (2008).These are networked tools or technologies that stress the social facets of the web like a medium of communication, collaboration, and inventive expression (Dabbagh & Reo, 2011) and these are a collection of internet websites, services and practices that support collaboration, participation, community building and sharing (Junco & Mastrodicasa, 2007). The usage of social media increased from 2004- 2009 and allow students to collaborate easily on academic project and to connect with their peers of professionals more readily (Rideout et al., 2010). Smartphone, Skype, face to face communication devices and easier access to internet sites allow information to be shared more easily than eight years ago, (Henry, 2012). Social media are technologies that facilitate social interaction, make possible collaboration, and enable deliberation across stakeholders (Bryer and Zavattaro, 2011). 16 different types of social media tools that included Facebook, Wiki, YouTube, Bulleting Board, LinkedIn, Blogs, Twitter, Podcasts, Virtual Worlds, RSS, StumbleUpon, Netlog, Delicious, Digg, Plurk, and Jaiku (Lieu, 2010). About 57% of social network users (sample 200) are 18-29 years old and have a personal profile on multiple social media websites (lenhart et al., 2010). It empowers users to take an active role in their own socialization process and in constructing their self-identity (Urista et al., 2009) and increase students' perceptions having a diverse social support network during their first semester at college even when controlling for other potent predictors (David et al., 2012). Usage of Facebook has a strong association with maintaining or solidifying existing offline relationships as opposed to meeting new people (Ellison et al., 2007). Students are much more likely than faculty to use Facebook and are significantly more opened in using Facebook and similar technologies to support classroom work (Roblyer et al., 2010).Students use electronic media to multitask and a regression results indicate a negative relationship between the usage of various types of electronic media and first-semester grades (Wade et al., 2010). Interaction with peers and teachers, engagement, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness explain the positive effects and benefits of using social media to enhance collaborative learning and improves student academic performance (AL-Rahmi & Othman, 2013). The time is spent on social media, the frequency of visiting and the total numbers of online friends have a significant relationship with a student’s academic performance (Iorliam & Ode, 2014). Social media applications are frequently used by the students for communication, class activities, online learning and connecting with instructors (Shao & Seif, 2014).Background and reputation of system, basic idea and target, usage needs, functionality, content, usability, layout, technical sustainability and flexibility, moderation are the issues that can increase or decrease motivation towards usage of social media (Silius et al., 2009). Both genders are found wasting time and editing photos before posting to social media. (Tajuddin et al., 2015) and all the sampled college students (sample 96) were using at least one form of social networking website (Sponcil & Gitimu, 2010). There was a .586 Pearson correlation between usage of social media and communication with family and friends. Usage of social media can be classified in the issues including communication, sharing, publicity, recognition, education, and enlightenment (Atali et al., 2014).Facebook usage can reinforce existing ties and community by keeping users constantly updated (Hargittai, 2007) and there are positive relationships between intensity of Facebook usage and students’ life satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement, and political participation (Valenzuela et al., 2009). Usage of social media (SM) by students and a knowledge portal (KP) for assessments by lecturers can improve academic efficiency (Dzvapatsva et al., 2014). Young people are motivated to join social media sites to keep ties with friends and to strengthen ties with new acquaintances but not so much to meet new people online (Ellison et al., 2007). Empirical studies revealed that We-Intention to use online social networks is strongly determined by social presence (Chung et al. (2011), usage of Facebook and the three types of social capital which include psychological well-being, self-esteem and life satisfaction are strongly (Ellison et al., 2007) even though the number of strong ties a person may have is not increased (Donath and Boyd, 2004). Social media intervention is intended to increase connections among incoming college students with the goal of augmenting their feelings of connectedness to the university, increasing perceptions of preparedness and efficacy, providing a peer-driven forum for students to ask and answer questions (Deandrea et al., 2011).According tothe most obvious motive to join a SNS is the need for integration and social interaction, identifying others and gaining a sense of belonging, finding a basis for conversation (McQuail, 2005) and supporting professional careers (Mike et al., 2011).
There are several researches on usage of social media among students, but most of them are from western countries perspective. Only a few researches are from Bangladesh students’ perspective which are descriptive in nature. Other gaps among previous researches are lack of proper justification, limited objective, weak research method etc. So, these research papers cannot truly reveal the actual scenario of social media usage pattern. Because we need to know whether they are using social media for academic purpose, what is their social needs for using social media, which social media sites are mostly visited, how much money they spend for purchasing digital device and their internet expense for using social media for a specific period, which factors influence them for using social media and what is the interrelationship structure among these factors. We need to know the answer of these questions separately. So, this research paper will find out the true usage pattern of social media among students by providing answer of these questions.
The study framework has been developed based on the variables identified through literature review as noted in observed variable. The framework shows the independent variables and constructs influencing the use of social media for outcomes.
Source: Literature Review
Description of the study framework
The theoretical framework consists of 2 types of variables which include independent variable and dependent variable. Three (3) constructs related to independent variable are educational purpose, social needs fulfillment, availability of resources and 1 construct related to dependent variable is the actual usage of social media. There are 11 observed variables for measuring 3 constructs. These factors will determine the actual usage of social media by students.
Educational purpose of using social media (Independent variable)
Educational purpose of using social media is identified by some variables discussed here under. i.Content sharing: Social media is widely used for sharing educational content by students around the word (Bosch, 2009) and revealed a high degree of readiness to embrace social media portals is to deliver course content (Browning et al., 2011), which has been further supplemented by the study of Cassidy et al. (2011) where he found that daily, students use digital devices to actively engage in social networking, content sharing, online learning and much more.
iii. Availability of educational materials: Some social media sites are enriched with educational materials. Users can search for content, download and use the content available on social networking sites without cost (Baruah , 2012) and it has many ways of usage related to learning (Tarantino et al., 2013). Students use YouTube videos to help them understand materials outside of the boundaries of a traditional class room setting, to find answer and to supplement traditional learning technique. Creoghton et al. (2013)
Social needs fulfillment (independent variable)
Social needs fulfillment is identified by family and friends’ identification, entertainment, communication, self- representation.
iii. Communication: The usage of social networking sites increase levels of communication and collaboration (Bradly et al., 2010), helps to communicate with friends and find former friends (Triyakioglu & Erzurum, 2011). About 56% (Sample 221) use social media for communication (Guy, 2012) and for communication and information dissemination (Gruzd et al., 2012).
Availability of resources (Independent variable):
Availability of resources is identified by availability of time, availability of money, internet facility.
iii. Internet facility: As internet access from home increases, school children increases opportunity to use the internet in a variety of settings (Fishman & Kupperman, 2002). Students were not using the internet due to the inadequacy of computer with internet access, lack of skills to use internet and slow computersspeed (Luambano& Name, 2004). Internet facility encourage to use e-journals, e-libraries, e-books, and online databases as academic resources for courses(Shahinet al., 2010).
Actual Usage of social media (Dependent Variable)
Actual usage of social media is identified by hours spent on social media, internet usage, and investment in digital device.
iii. Investment in digital devices: Students invest money in internet usage and purchasing digital devices (smartphone, Laptop, Tablet etc.) to get themselves connected with social media and academic issues. Eleven out of the twelve students use smartphones and Facebook as the most prominent social media site that increased their motivation (Backer, 2010) where another study indicates 91.92% of students (sample size 324) purchase smartphones for social networking communication (Jusoh & Alfawareh, 2014). Students use desktop computers, laptops, E-readers, tablets, and cell phones to actively engage in social networking, text messaging, blogging, content sharing, online learning, and much more (Cassidy ,2011)
Broad Objective: The main objective of this research is to address the actual usage pattern of social media by students.
Specific Objectives: This study focused on some specific objective. These are to:
Study Hypotheses
Based on the study framework in section 2.1, the following null hypotheses were developed.
Ho 1. There is no relationship between availability of time and hours spend on social media.
Ho 2. There is no relationship between availability of money and investment on internet usage.
Ho 3. There is no relationship between Internet facility and internet usage.
Ho 4. There is no relationship between Educational purpose and actual usage of social media.
Ho 5. There is no relationship between Social needs and actual usage of social media.
Ho 6: There is no relationship between availability of resources and actual usage of social media.
This study has two phases from the methodological point of view. One is qualitative analysis phase and another is quantitative analysis phase. Methodological triangulation is suggested when both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and analysis are used in studying the same phenomenon (Thurmond, 2001). At the first stage, the identification of common factors along with associated observed variables is done based on adopting certain qualitative research methods such as secondary data analysis, literature review and exploratory research. An exploratory design is conducted about a research problem when there are few or no earlier studies, gaining insights and familiarity for later investigation or undertaken when problems are in a preliminary stage of investigation (Eugene & M Christine E. Lynn, 2015). Exploratory research aims to uncover the boundaries of the environment in which the problems, opportunities or situation of interest are likely to reside and to uncover the salient variables in qualitative manners (Webb, 1992). Later the study is carried out to know the pattern of interrelationship structure among the factors, the degree of dependency of actual usage on the independent usage factors, mostly visited sites, time and money spend on using social media by students, hypothesis test using quantitative research approach. It is conducted by descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Quantitative research approach is used to explore the level of association as this method entails the use of systematic and sophisticated procedures to test, prove, and verify hypothesis (Glaser & Strauses, 1967). Generally quantitative research is conclusive in its purpose as it tries to quantify the problem and understand how prevalent it is by looking for projectable results. Here data are collected through a structured survey questionnaire. Survey can note conditions of the respondent, probe with additional questions and gather supplemental information through open ended questions (Wheatley, 1973). Data has been collected from both primary and secondary sources. Stratified sampling (probabilistic sampling) technique is used to collect samples of 150 students. A survey questionnaire was designed to know the answer of questions made in the objective. In terms of measures, in this research paper, 5 points Likert scale has been used for dealing with ordinal level data. A summary of the study objectives and methodologies is shown in the following table-1.
Table I: Research objectives and methodological issues
|
|
Objective |
Methodology |
|
1 |
To know the time and money students spend for using social media. |
Descriptive Statistics |
|
2 |
To know the mostly visited sites. |
Descriptive Statistics |
|
3 |
To identify the factors influencing social media usage and their patterns of relationship. |
Field Survey, Literature Review, exploratorystudy, and Correlation Analysis |
|
4 |
To identify the degree to which factors are influencing the actual usage. |
Regression Analysis |
|
5 |
To validate Research hypotheses |
Correlation Analysis |
After collection, data were processed using software SPSS version 20. For analyzing data and testing hypothesis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted to report the following study result.
Time spent in social media
The study revealed that a significant number of students (46%) spent below 1 hour a day on social media with mean 1.71 and std. deviation of .805 hours as shown in table 2.
Table 2: Time spent on social media per day
|
|
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent (%) |
Mean |
Std. Deviation |
|
|
|
Below 1 hour |
230 |
46.0 |
|
|
|
1-2 hours |
207 |
41.3 |
|
|
|
|
3-4 hours |
040 |
8.0 |
1.71 |
.805 |
|
|
Above 4 hours |
023 |
4.7 |
|
|
|
|
Total |
500 |
100.0 |
|
|
|
Source: Field Survey
Money spent to purchase digital device and monthly internet for using social media
|
|
|||||
|
Table 3: Investment for digital device |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent (%) |
Mean |
Ϭ |
|
|
|
Below TK.10000 |
208 |
41.3 |
|
1,579 |
|
TK.10000-20000 |
087 |
17.3 |
TK. 24,900 |
||
|
TK. 21000-30000 |
068 |
13.3 |
|||
|
TK.31000-40000 |
040 |
8.0 |
|||
|
Above TK. 40000 |
097 |
19.3 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Total |
500 |
100.0 |
|
||
Source: Field survey
Table 3 shows that a large number of students (41.3 %) investedbelow TK. 10,000 and 19.3% above TK. 40,000 for purchasing digital device to use social media and others purposes with mean 24,900 and standard deviation Tk.1,579. Table 4 shows that nine-twentieth the of students (44%) spend below TK. 200 per month for using social media and 38% between TK.200-500 with mean 177 and standard deviation TK.82.9.
|
Table 4: Monthly internet expense
|
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent (%) |
Mean |
Ϭ |
|
|
|
Below TK. 200 |
220 |
44.0 |
|
|
|
TK. 200-500 |
190 |
38.0 |
|
|
|
|
TK. 501-1000 |
076 |
15.3 |
177 |
82.9 |
|
|
TK. 1001-1500 |
010 |
2.0 |
|
|
|
|
Above TK. 1500 |
004 |
.7 |
|
|
|
|
Total |
500 |
100.0 |
|
|
|
5.1.3 Most visited sites
Table 5: Mostly used social media sites
|
|
Frequency |
Percent (%) |
|
|
|
|
366 |
73.3 |
|
YouTube |
037 |
7.3 |
|
|
|
015 |
3.3 |
|
|
Blogs |
004 |
.7 |
|
|
Facebook and YouTube |
070 |
14.0 |
|
|
Facebook and Twitter |
004 |
.7 |
|
|
Facebook, YouTube and twitter |
004 |
.7 |
|
|
Total |
500 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey
It is seen that an overwhelming majority of the students (73.3%) used Facebook as the most popular social networking site and 14% used both Facebook and YouTube.
5.1.4 Relationship among the factors.
Table 6: Correlation matrix among factors
|
|
EP |
SN |
AR |
AU |
|
EP |
1 |
|||
|
SN |
0.781836487 |
1 |
||
|
AR |
0.250989459 |
0.246145949 |
1 |
|
|
AU |
0.790290568 |
0.690702614 |
0.826605824 |
1 |
Source: Field Survey
The relationship of actual usage of social media with educational purpose, social needs and availability of resources was found significant. Here all the values for actual usage of social media are above .50. There are positive relationships between actual usage of social media with educational purpose, social needs, and availability of resources. That means high educational purpose, social needs and availability of resources increases actual usage of social mediai.e. has positive influence on actual usage of social media.
H01. Relationship between availability of time and time spent on social media has been proved through co-efficient of relationship. Even though students have on average 1.9 hours of leisure time with standard deviation of 1.08 hours but they spent on an average 1.71 hours of time in social media with a standard deviation of .81 hours. Since the observed significance level is smaller than .05 (sig. value .012< .05), we can reject the null hypothesis (Ho) and accept the alternative hypothesis i.e. availability of time and hours spend on social media is highly correlated.
Table 7: Descriptive statistics and Correlation matrix between leisure time and hours spent on social media
|
Descriptive Statistics |
Correlation Matrix |
||||||
|
|
Mean |
Ϭ |
N |
|
Leisure time (per day) |
Hours spent(per day) |
|
|
Leisure time (per day) |
1.9 |
1.08 |
500 |
Leisure time(per day) |
Pearson Correlation |
1 |
.78** |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
|
.012 |
|||||
|
N |
500 |
500 |
|||||
|
Hours spent (per day) |
1.71 |
.81 |
500 |
Hours spent (per day) |
Pearson Correlation |
.78** |
1 |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.012 |
|
|||||
|
N |
500 |
500 |
|||||
|
|
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Source: Field Survey |
||||||
H02. Relationship between availability of money and investment on internet usage. The null hypothesis that there is no relationship between monthly income of the students and the monthly expenses for internet is rejected. The average monthly income of the students Tk. 2,007 with a standard deviation of Tk. 1,674. They spent on an average Tk. 177 per month for internet with a standard deviation of Tk. 82.9. Since the observed significance level is smaller than .05 (sig. value.017< .05), we can reject the null hypothesis (Ho) and accept the alternative hypothesis to conclude that student’s monthly income is correlated to their monthly internet expenses for using social media.
Table 8: Descriptive Statistics and Correlation between monthly income and internet expense
|
Descriptive Statistics |
Correlation Matrix |
||||||
|
|
Mean |
Ϭ |
N |
|
Monthly income |
Monthly internet expense |
|
|
Monthly income |
2007 |
1674 |
500 |
Monthly income |
Pearson Correlation |
1 |
.195* |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
|
.017 |
|||||
|
N |
500 |
500 |
|||||
|
Monthly internet expense |
177 |
82.9 |
500 |
Monthly internet expense |
Pearson Correlation |
.195* |
1 |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.017 |
|
|||||
|
N |
500 |
500 |
|||||
|
|
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Source: Field Survey |
||||||
H0 3. Relationship between Internet facility and internet usage.To assess the relationship between the types of internet service and hours spend on social media both the descriptive and inferential statistics has been used. The mean average of the types of internet used 2.69 implies that most of them used service provider’s internet in their smart phones on an average 1.71 hours per day. The relationship between these two variables also has been calculated to be .67 and the observed significance level is smaller than .05 (sig. value.023<.05), we can reject the null hypothesis (Ho) and accept the alternative hypothesis to conclude that the relationship between availability of internet service and hours spend on social media are related.
Table 9: Descriptive Statistics and Correlation between Types of internet and time spent on social media.
|
Descriptive Statistics |
Correlation Matrix |
||||||
|
|
Mean |
Ϭ |
N |
|
Types of internet service used |
Hours spend (per day) |
|
|
Types of internet service used |
2.69
|
1.718
|
500 |
Types of internet service used |
Pearson Correlation |
1 |
.67 |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
|
.023 |
|||||
|
N |
500 |
500 |
|||||
|
Hours spend (per day) |
1.71 |
.805 |
500 |
Hours spend (per day) |
Pearson Correlation |
.67 |
1 |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.023 |
|
|||||
|
N |
500 |
500 |
|||||
|
|
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Source: Field Survey |
||||||
Level of influences of the factors on the actual usage of social media by students.
Table X: Regression Result
|
Regression Statistics |
||||||||
|
Multiple R |
0.95 |
|||||||
|
R Square |
0.84 |
|||||||
|
Adjusted R Square |
0.72 |
|||||||
|
Standard Error |
0.17 |
|||||||
|
Observations |
500 |
|||||||
|
ANOVA |
||||||||
|
Do |
SS |
MS |
F |
Significance F |
||||
|
Regression |
3 |
3.837 |
1.279 |
2.002 |
0.116 |
|||
|
Residual |
495 |
93.263 |
0.639 |
|||||
|
Total |
498 |
97.099 |
||||||
|
Coefficients |
Standard Error |
t Stat |
P-value |
Lower 95% |
Upper 95% |
Lower 95.0% |
Upper 95.0% |
|
|
Intercept |
2.433 |
0.405 |
4.459 |
0.000 |
1.007 |
2.609 |
1.007 |
2.609 |
|
Educational purpose |
0.762 |
0.134 |
0.461 |
0.003 |
-0.203 |
0.326 |
-0.203 |
0.326 |
|
Social needs |
0.891 |
0.136 |
-1.407 |
0.002 |
-0.459 |
0.077 |
-0.459 |
0.077 |
|
Availability of resources |
0.779
|
0.087 |
2.055 |
0.017 |
0.007 |
0.351 |
0.007 |
0.351 |
Source: Field Survey
In this model, actual usage is the dependent variable which depends on the independent variables educational purpose, social needs fulfillments and availability of resources. Here the p value indicates high degree of significance of each independent variable with dependent variable (actual usage of social media). Here p value is less than .05 means that there is at least 95% chance that there is a true relationship between these variables in the population.The value of R^2 =.84 means that 84% changes in the action of actual usage of social media are explained by the factors or the model.
On the other hand, based on the model output, the following estimated regression equation can be derived:
Ŷ = 𝜷𝟎+ 𝜷𝟏𝑿𝟏+ 𝜷𝟐𝑿𝟐+ 𝜷𝟑𝑿𝟑
Whereas Xi = Independent variables, βi =Regression coefficient, βo =Intercept (constant), Y= dependent variable. The estimated regression line for the study is
AU = 2.433+.762EP +.891SN + .779AR
The beta coefficient for the factor EPis .762 means that change in AUfor each unit change in EP is statistically significant(P= .003 < α =.05), that means there are strong positive relationship between educational purpose and actual usage of social media.So, the null hypothesis 4 is rejected.
The beta coefficient for the SNis .891 means that change in AUfor each unit change in SN which is also statistically significant (P= .002 < α =.05), that means there are strong positive relationship between social needs andactual usage of social media. Thus, null hypothesis 5 is rejected. The beta coefficient for the factor ARis .779 means that change in AUfor each unit change in AR which is also statistically significant (P= .017 < α =.05), that means there are strong positive relationship between availability of resources and actual usage of social media. So, null hypothesis 6 is rejected.
The relationship of actual usage of social media with educational purpose, social needs fulfillment and availability of resources is significant. Content sharing, enhancement of learning, availability of educational materials, searching job information are the major indicators of educational purpose that influence actual usage of social media. Family and friends’ identification, entertainment, communication, self- representation are common social needs fulfillment reasons for using social media among students that influence actual usage. Availability of time, availability of money and internet facility are the indicators of availability of resources that influence actual usage of social media. Hours spend on social media, internet usage, investment in digital device are the indicators of actual usage of social media. Most of the respondents have positive attitude towards usage of social media in respect of educational purpose, social needs fulfillment and availability of resources. There is positive relationship between availability of time and hours spend on social media. Availability of money (income) and investment in social media (internet expense) is positively related. Types of internet service and hours spend on social media are positively related. There is positive relationship between internet facility and internet usage. Monthly income and internet expense are inter-related. Facebook and then YouTube are the mostly used social media sites. Most of the students spend below 1 hour or 1 to 2 hours per day on social media. Most of the respondents spend below TK.10000 for digital device and below TK.200 or TK.200 to 500 as monthly internet expense for using social media.
This research paper will be very helpful for the University authority, parents, and students and for the government to trace implications of social media usage by students and develop policy framework regarding social media. Firstly, University authority will be able to take the decision regarding social media based services for students. Parents will be aware about their children’s activities on the web and their academic performance. Students will be conscious about the positive usage and aspects of social media. Government will be able to develop social media policy to improve socio-economic, educational, cultural development of the country.
The primary objective of this research is to know the usage pattern of social media by students. It relates to several factors, such as Educational purpose, social needs fulfillment and availability of resources that influence the actual usage of social media. The results of analysis provide strong support for the proposed conceptual framework and reveal that a high degree of educational purpose, social needs fulfillment, availability of resources enhance actual usage of social media. According to the result of the study, those who say that they use social media for educational purpose are found in sharing their educational content, learning enhancement, availability of educational resources, quickly recognizing job information. Those who say that they use social media for social needs fulfillments are found in easily identification of friends and family members, using social media as a tool of entertainment, easy device of communication and self -representation. Those who say that they use social media for availability of resources are found in availability of leisure time, availability of money and internet facility. The findings of the study show that all the three factors along with their associated variables influence the actual usage of social media. Finally, it can be concluded that by implementing the above recommendations those are major outcomes of the study, users and concerned authorities can expect the best payoff from the usage of social media.
Students should consider all the influential factors to ensure the appropriate usage of social media. They must use social media not only for any specific reason, but to fulfill their multiple purposes. Students can use social media to find job information that will mitigate their job risk.
Authority should ensure available internet facility and other resources for utmost usage of social media considering ethical, security and privacy issues. Price of digital device should be reasonable and non-academic usage of social media should be limited within idle time. Students should enhance their academic knowledge through available academic contents on different social Media. They are getting addicted and wasting time on social media that hampers their academic results and other normal tasks. So, they should restrict over usage. Social media should be used to get updated information and for academic, social and communication purpose. Students can use social media for entertainment purpose to remove loneliness but in limited extent. They should develop their communication skills and social ties through social media. Students should find out innovative ways of using social media (e.g. doing research) to satisfy their academic purpose as much as possible. There should be proper law and regulatory environment for using social media.
Due to the fund and time constraints this research project has been conducted in University of Dhaka area of Bangladesh. A further research may be conducted to include variables like doing research, publishing class or academic notice, using modern technologies, reading daily news, network building, passing leisure time, doing social responsibility, sharing own ideology, sharing photos, improving reading, and writing skills etc. Further research can be conducted in following areas like usage of social media by teachers, social media for removing communication gap between teachers and students, social media as a tool of publication, relationship between social media usage and students’ academic performance, physical and psychological implications of using social media, safety and security issues in social media, regulatory environment of using social media etc. In case of further research, researchers may conduct research by covering more geographical areas and sample in other educational level like usage in secondary and higher secondary level in both rural and urban areas. Besides, further study must measure the influence of some mediating variables as well as some control variables on actual usage of social media. Moreover, researcher should conduct the cross-sectional study (i.e. assimilation of data from a similar kind of developing countries) to improve generalization of outcomes and to understand usage pattern in different countries Furthermore, potential study should appraise additional crucial issues regarding safety and security for using social media.
[1].AL-Rahmi, W.M. & Othman M.S., 2013, ‘Evaluating student’s satisfaction of using social media through collaborative learning in higher education’, International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 6, Issue 4, pp. 1541-1551.
[2].Atali, L., Sertbas, K. & Akkus, Z., 2014, ‘Social networking sites usage of students studying in the school of physical education and sports (S.P.E.S.)’, International journal of sports management, SMIJ-VOL. 10. D.O.I: http:dx.doi.org/10.4127/ch.2014.0086
[3]. Backer, E. 2010, ‘Using smartphone and facebook in a major assessment: The student experience,’ E- Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of teaching, V.4, Issue 1, pp. 19-31
[4]. Baruah, T.D., 2012, ‘Effectiveness of social media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology enabled connections: A micro level study’, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 5, May, 2250-3153.
[5]. Buzzetto-More, N.A., 2012, ‘Social networking in undergraduate education’, Interdisciplinary journal of Information, knowledge and management, Volume 7, 2012
[6]. Baker, L.R. & Oswald, D.L., 2010, ‘Shyness and online social networking services,’ Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 27(7), pp.873-889.
[7]. Boyd, D., 2007, ‘Why youth (Heart) social network sites: The role of networked publics in teenage social life’, MacArther foundation series on digital learning-youth, identity and digital media volume, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
[8]. Bradly, K.P., Holcomd, L.B. & Smith, B.V. 2010, ‘The Use of Alternative Social Networking Sites in Higher Educational Settings: A Case Study of the E-Learning Benefits of Ning in Education,’ Journal of Interactive Online Learning, Volume 9, Number2, summer.
[9]. Bryer, T. & Zavattaro, S., 2011, ‘Social media and public administration: Theoretical dimensions and introduction to symposium’, Administrative Theory & Praxis, vol.33 (3), pp.325-
340.
[10]. Boyd, D. M. & Ellison, N. B., 2007, ‘Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 13, Issue 1, P. 210-230
[11]. Bulik, Beth S. (2008). Is your consumer using social media? Advertising Age, 79(18), 12-13.
[12]. Browning, L., Gerlich, R., & Westerman, L. 2011.’The new HD classroom: A Hyper Diverse approach to engaging with students’. Journal of instructional pedagogies, 1-10.
[13]. Bosch, T., 2009, ‘Using online social networking for teaching and learning: Facebook use at the University of Cape Town’, Communication, 35(2), 185-200.
[14]. Cheung, M. K.C., Chiu, P. & Lee, M. K., O., 2011, Online social networks: Why do students use Facebook?Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 27, Issue 4, Pages 1337-1343.
[15]. Cassidy, E., Britsch, J., Griffin, G., Manolovitz, T., Shen, L., & Turney, L., 2011. ‘Higher
education and emerging technologies: Student usage, preferences, and lessons for library
services’, Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(4), 380-391.
[16]. Creoghton, J.L., Foster, J.W., Klingsmith, L. & Withey, D.K., 2013, ‘I just look it up: Undergraduate student perception of social media use in their academic success,’ The Journal of Social Media in Society 2(2), Fall 2013
[17]. Clark, L.A. & Roberts, S.J., 2010, ‘Employer’s use of social networking sites: A Socially irresponsible practice,’ Journal of Business Ethics 95 (4), pp. 507-525.
[18]. Chretien, K. C., Greysen, S. R., Chretien, J., & Kind, T. 2009 ‘Online posting of unprofessional conduct by medical students”, Journal of the American Medical Association, 302(12), 1309–1315.
[19]. Chu, S. & Choi, S. M. 2011, ‘Electronic Word-of-Mouth in Social Networking Sites: A Cross Cultural Study of the United States and China’, Journal of Global Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 263-281.
[20]. Chou, C. & Hsiao, M.C., 2000, ‘Internet addiction, usage, gratification and pleasure experience: The Taiwan college students’ case,’ Journal of Computers and Education, 35(1), pp. 65-80.
[21]. Dabbagh, N., & Reo, R., 2011 ‘Back to the future: Tracing the roots and learning affordances of social software’, (pp. 1–20), Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
[22]. Dreher, S., 2014, ‘Social media and the world of work: A strategic Approach to employee’s participation in social media,’ Corporate Communication: An International Journal 19(4), pp. 344-356
[ 23]. Dzvapatsva, G.P., Mitrovic, Z. & Dietrich, A.D., 2014, ‘Use of social media platforms for improving academic performance at Further Education and Training colleges’, South African Journal of Information Management, Volume 16(1), No.1, 7 pages.
[24]. Donath, J. & Boyd, D., 2004. ‘Public displays of connection’ BT Technology Journal, V. 22(4), P 71.
[25]. Deandrea, D.C., Elision, N., B., LaRose, R., Steinfield, C. & Fiore, A. (2011). Serious social media: On the use of social media for improving students' adjustment to college. The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 15, Issue 1, Pages 15-23.
[26]. David, C., DeAndrea, Nicole, B., Ellison, Robert, LaRose, Charles, Steinfield & Fiore, A., 2012, ‘Serious social media: On the use of social media for improving students' adjustment to college’, The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 15, Issue 1, Pages 15-23.
[27]. Ellison, N.B., Steinfield, C. & Lampe, C., 2007 ‘The Benefits of Facebook Friends: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites,’ Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, page 1143–1168.
[28]. Ezumah, B.A., 2013, ‘College students’ use of social media: Sites preferences, uses and gratification theory revisited,’ International Journal of Business and Social science, Vol.4, N.5, May 2013.
[29]. Eugene. M. & Christine E. Lynn, 2015,Lynn University. Retrieved from www.Library at Lynn University.htm: http//www. http://lynn library.libguides.com/researchmethods/researchmethodsd8.
[30]. Fishman, B.J. & Kupperman, J., 2002, ‘Academic, Social and personal uses of the internet: Cases of students from an urban Latino classroom, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Volume 34, Number 2.
[31]. Glaser, B., & Strauss, A., 1967, The discovery of grounded theory, Chicago: Aldine
[32].Gruzd, A., Staves, K. &Wilk, A., 2012 ‘Connected scholars: Examining the role of social media in research practices of faculty using the UTAUT model’, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 28, Issue 6, Pages 2340-2350
[33]. Guy, R., 2012, ‘The use of social media for academic practice: A review of literature’, Kentucky journal of higher education policy and practice. Vol.1: Iss. 2, Article 7. Available at: http://uknowledge.uky.edu/kjhepp/vol1/iss2/7
[34]. Henry, S., 2012, ‘On social connection in university life’ About Campus, 16(6), 18-24.
[35].Hargittai, E. 2007, ‘Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social network sites’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), P. 276-297
[36]. Helou, A., & Rahim, N., 2014,’The influence of social networking sites on students’ academic performance in Malaysia,’ International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, Vol.5, No.2, pp.247-254.
[37]. Iorliam, A. & Ode, E., 2014, ‘The Impact of Social Network Usage on University Students Academic Performance: A Case Study of Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria,’ International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering (IJCSE), Vol. 6 No.07
[38]. Jusoh, S. & Alfawareh, H.M., 2014, ‘Smartphone usage among university students: Najran University case, International journal of academic research, Vol.6, No. 2, pp. 321-326.
[39]. Junco, R.& Mastrodicasa, J. ,2007, ‘Connecting to the Net Generation: What higher education professionals need to know about today’s students’, Washington, DC, NASPA.
[40]. Junco, R., 2012, ‘, Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 28(1), pp.187-198.
[41]. Kaplan, A. & Haenlin, M., 2010, ‘Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media’, Business Horizons, 53(1), pp. 59-68.
[42].Kietzmann, J.H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I.P. & Silvestre, B.S., 2011, ‘Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media’, Business Horizons, Vol. 54, pp. 241-251.
[43]. Kavi, K.K., Ally, S.M.R., Asslinah, M. & Rajen, S., 2012, ‘Online social networking as a tool to enhance learning in the Mauritian education system, ’Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and information sciences, Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 907–912.
[44]. Khang, H., E. & Ye, L., 2012, ‘Social media research in advertising, communication, marketing, and public relation,’ Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 89(2), pp-279-298.
[45]. Kaveri, M. R., Stephanie, S., Natalia, E. & Guadalupe, W., 2008, ‘Online and offline social networks: Use of social networking sites by emerging adults,’ Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 420–433.
[46]. Khouli, M.E., 2013, ‘The most important negative aspects of using social networking affecting the family stability in Abu Dhabi: A Pilot study,’ IACSIT international Journal of Engineering and technology, Vol. 5, No. 1.
[47]. Kumar, R. & Kaur, A., 2006, ‘Internet use by the teachers and students in engineering colleges of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh states of India: An analysis,’ Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship, 7(1), pp.13-17
[48]. Liu, Y., 2010, ‘Social media tools as a learning resource’, Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, vol. 3(1), pp.101-114.
[49]. Lampe, c., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C., 2006, A facebook in the crowd: Social searching vs. Social browsing, Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 167–170, New York: ACM Press.
[50]. Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C., 2007, ‘A familiar Facebook: Profile elements as signals in an online social network’. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 435–444, New York: ACM Press.
[51]. Lenhart, A., Purcell, L., Smith, A., & Zickuhr, K., 2010, ‘Social media and young adults’, Pew Internet and American Life Project’, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.aspx
[52]. Luambano, I., & Name, J., 2004, ‘Internet use by students of the University of Dare es Salaam,’ Library Hi tech News, 21(5), pp. 13-17
[53]. McQuail, D., 2005, Mass communication theory. London: Sage.
[54]. Mike, M., Jeff, S. & Hester, T. 2011, ‘Teaching, Learning, and Sharing: How Today’s Higher Education Faculty Use Social Media’, Pearson Learning Solutions and Babson Survey Research Group.
[55]. Manago, A.M., Graham, M.B., Greenfield, P.M., & Salimkhan, G., 2008, ‘Self presentation and gender on my space’, Journal of Applied Development Psychology, 29, pp-446-458.
[56]. Pempek, T. A., Yermolayeva, Y. A., & Calvert, S. L., 2008, ‘College students' social networking experiences on facebook’, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(3), 227-238. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010
[57]. Park, J. & Gursoy, D. (2012), ‘Generation effects on work engagement among U.S. hotel employees’, International journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 1195- 1202.
[58]. Quan-Haase, A., & Young, A.L., 2010, ‘Uses and gratifications of social media: A comparison of facebook and instant messaging,’ Bulletin of Science, Technology and society, 30(5), pp.350-361.
[59]. Rideout, V. Foehr, J., & Roberts, D., 2010, ‘Generation M: Media in the lives of 8-18-year-olds’ Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved from: http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/8010.pdf.
[60]. Roblyer, M. D., McDaniel, M., Webb, M., Herman, J. & Witty, J.V., 2010 ‘Findings on Facebook in higher education: A comparison of college faculty and student uses and perceptions of social networking sites’ The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 13, Issue 3, Pages 134-140.
[61]. Rothschild, P.C., 2011, ’Social media use in sports and entertainment venue, ’International Journal of Event and festival management, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp.139-150
[62]. Raihan, M., Hasan, M. & Shamin, R.H., 2013, ’Facebook: The new edutainment avenue in TVET for affective learning, ’IOSR Journal of Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 12, PP.16-28.
[63]. Sheldon, P., 2008, ‘Student favorite: Facebook and motives for its use,’ Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 23(2), 39-53.
[64]. Shao, D. & Seif H., 2014, ‘Exploitation of Online Social Networks (OSNs) among University Students: A Case Study of the University of Dodoma’,International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume 94 – No 12.
[65].Silius, K., Miilumaki, T., Huhtamaki, J., Tebest, T., Merilainen, J., & Pohjolainen, S., (2009). Students’ Motivations for Social Media Enhanced Studying and Learning. Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, Vol.2, No.1.
[66].Sponcil, M. & Gitimu, P., 2010, ‘Use of social media by college students: Relationship to communication and self-concept’, Journal of Technology Research.12(6), 615-627.
[67]. Shahin, Y. G., Balta, S., & Ercan, T., 2010, ‘The use of internet resources by university students during their course projects elicitation: A case study,’ The Turkish Online Journal of educational technology, 9(2), pp. 234-244
[68]. Subrahmanyam, K., Reich, S.M., Waechter, N. & Espinoza, G., 2008, ‘Online and offline social networks: Use of social networking sites by emerging adults,’ Journal of Applied Development Psychology 29 (2008), pp. 420-433
[69].Tajuddin, J.B.M., Hassan, N.A.B., & Ahmad, R.B., 2015, ‘Social Media Usage among University Students: A Study on Selfie and Its Impacts’,Global Journal of Business and SocialScience Review,GJBSSR, Vol. 1 (1), January-March 2015: 126-134.
[70]. Thurmond, A.V. 2001, ‘The point of triangulation’, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33(3).
[71]. Tham, J. & Ahmed, D.N., 2011, ‘The usage and implications of social networking sites: A Survey of college Students,’ Journal of International, Intercultural and mass Communication, V. 2, Issue 1
[72]. Triyakioglu, F. & Erzurum, F., 2011, ‘Use of social networking as an educational tool’, Contemporary Educational Technology, 2(2), 135-150
[73]. Tarantino, K., McDonough, J., & Hua, M., 2013, ‘Effects of students engagement with social media on students learning: A review of literature’, The Journal of technology in students Affairs, Summer, 2013.
[74]. Urista, M.A., Dong, Q. & Day, K.D., 2009, ‘Explaining why young adults use myspace and facebook through uses and gratification theory,’ Human communication 12(2), pp.215-229
[75]. Veletsianos, G., and Kimmons, R., 2012, ‘Networked participatory scholarship: Emergent techno-cultural pressures toward open and digital scholarship in online networks’, Computers & Education, Vol.58 No.2, pp. 766-774.
[76]. Valenzuela, S., Park, N. & Kee, K.F., 2009, ‘Is there social capital in a social network site? Facebook use and college student’s life satisfaction, trust and participation’, Journal of computer mediated technology, P. 875-901
[77].Williams, A.L., & Merter, M.J., 2008, ‘A review of online social networking profiles by adolescents: Implications for future research and intervention, Adolescence, vol. 43(170), pp. 253-247.
[78]. Wade, C., Jacobsen, B.S. & Renata, F., 2011, ‘The Wired Generation: Academic and Social Outcomes of Electronic Media Use Among University Students’, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Published in Volume: 14 Issue 5.
[79]. Webb, J. 1992, Understanding and designing marketing research. London: The Dryden Press.
[80]. Wheatley, J. J., 1973, ‘Self-administered written questionnaire or telephone interview’, Journal of marketing research, pp.94-95
