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Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 9(17), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i17/88730, May 2016
ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846
ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645
* Author for correspondence
1. Introduction
e growth and popularity of online social media have
created a new world of communication. More than a
billion individuals around the world are connected and
networked together to create, collaborate, and contribute
their knowledge and wisdom. Based on the statistics,
it shows that Malaysia was in the 9th ranking of online
social media in Asia region in 20141. In the organization,
social media give huge implications for their internal use
such as knowledge management. Despite the importance
of online social media, there is relatively little theory-
driven empirical research which available to address this
new type of communication and interaction phenomena
among college students2.
Social media has emerged as one of the basic practice
in students’ life. It has revolutionized the way students
think and interact. Students use social media as a platform
for doing many activities such as bonding relations,
nding lost contacts, for discussing common interests,
etc. rough the existence of smartphones, students
have become more attracted to use social media in their
daily routines. A survey revealed that the use of social
media platform as increased, particularly among college
students3. is number is expected to keep on growing in
the coming years.
However, the use of social media is far reaching
consequence in the academic as well as the social life of
college students. Some of these eects are positive such as
shaped their personality, inuenced their character and
improve their communication skills4. Nevertheless, social
media have been found to have negative eects such as
waste of time and lowering of students’ grades5.
Recent research has been carried out to study the
impact of social media among college students. Although
the literature covers a wide variety of such studies, this
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The use of social media has exploded along with the rapid growth of internet and smart gadget.
It makes the communication and interaction between people are becoming easier and faster. This study was carried out to
examine how the TATI University College (TATIUC) students use the social media and the relations to their communications
and self concepts. Methods/Statistical Analysis: A quantitative approach was used in the survey and the data collected
from TATIUC undergraduate students. An assessment is conducted to test the reliability and validity of the measures
used. Descriptive statistic, frequencies and correlations are used in analyzing the data. Findings: The results indicated
that 90.5% of the respondents commonly access and use at least one of social networking sitesin the mostly used are
Whatsapp and Facebook. The results also revealed that the social media has dominated their communications with friends
that this study has given new insights to understand the potential value of social media on college students. Applications/
Improvements: Further studies should be conducted with a focus on the use of this media for academic purposes, realizing
Keywords: Communication and Self Concept, College Students, Social Media
The uses of Social Media on Student’s
Communication and Self Concepts
among TATIUC Students
Wan Roslina Wan Othman*, Ziti Fariha Mohd Apandi and Nurul Haslinda Ngah
Faculty of Computer, Media and Technology Management, TATI University College, Kijal, Kemaman, Terengganu,
Malaysia; lina@tatiuc.edu.my, ziti@tatiuc.edu.my, haslinda@tatiuc.edu.my
Vol 9 (17) | May 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
2
The uses of Social Media on Student’s Communication and Self Concepts among TATIUC Students
study will focus on the purpose of use social media and
their relationship between student’s communication and
self concept among TATIUC students.
TATIUC is formally known as the Terengganu
Advanced Technical Institute (TATIUC) wholly owned
by the Terengganu State Government of Malaysia. Given
the rising popularity of social media, the perception of
students and impact the use of social media among
students at the institution such as TATIUC has become
a priority. It is to ensure that with a proper use, the social
media has its own potential educational value.
In this study, we are interested in identifying uses of
social media in TATIUC student’s communications and
self concept.We address the following research questions:
• What is the extent of usage of social media among
TATIUC students?
• Is there a relationship between extent of usage of
social media and communication with family and
friends?
• Is there a relationship between self-concept of
TATIUC students and their use of social media?
is paper is organized as follows. e review of
the relevant literatures in social media, communication
and self concept which presented in Section 2, research
methodology is in Section 3, result and discussion will be
carried out in Section 4 and nally conclusion and future
works will be discussed in Section 5.
2. Literature Review
is section presents the review of the relevant literatures
in social media, communication and self concept in order
to gain a better understanding in the research domain.
2.1 Social Media
e social media have become a phenomenon since the
boom of the internet and smart gadget. It is a need today.
Social media can be dened as the medium or channel
that isbeing used for online communication, interaction,
content sharing and collaboration. Among the prominent
social media are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and
LinkedIn. It was used by entire of community from the
primary school up to the golden age. e teenagers and
college students (age 18-29) were among the highest
users of the online social media5. Instead of using the
social media for interaction and entertainment, they also
use it for information seeking in the academic context6.
e numbers of social media users are increasing year by
year7, which consistent with the rapid growth of smart
gadget.
e use of social media certainly will give some
impacts to students’ life either in the academic or in social
life. A previous study has revealed that the usage of social
media on a weekly basis displayed a positive skew, where
most students do not use social media excessively8. us,
with a proper use, the social media has its own potential
educational value9. Denitely, the social media will give
some impact in students’ life especially in communication,
behavior and academic.
2.2 Social Media Communication and Self
Concept
Communication can be described as the interaction
between people. Conventional communication is
involving a face to face interaction. In social media,
communication occurred when someone is responding
or commenting on others status or initiating conversation
with someone else. Since the boom of social media, the
online communication has taken over some of people’s
communication.
e main reason of students engaging with social
media is to maintain the relationship with their friends
and families10. It provides a convenient, easier and faster
way for students to communicate with their family
and friends. Social media help improved the quality of
relationship between users11. Somehow, students tend to
use one way interaction instead of two way interaction.
Most of their time of surng social media simply to read
others newsfeed and prole12.
Despite the benets, there are some impacts due
to social media addiction such as insomnia, physical
changes, inferiority, loss of concentration and less
productivity13. ere are also certain cases involving a
personality conict. Out there, a person whois actually is
a quiet personcan be aggressively communicated in the
cyberspace which also known as a keyboard warrior14.
e rise of this phenomenon shows the personality
disorder in their communication.
e development of self concept is essential in
someone’s life. It could be diers with or without the
involvement of online social media. Having as many
friends in social media becoming a way on how they
feel popular. But, some students do not like to have a
Wan Roslina Wan Othman, Ziti Fariha Mohd Apandi and Nurul Haslinda Ngah
Vol 9 (17) | May 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 3
connection with their parents in online social media. A
study revealed that the student life could become public
with the social media when the connection with parents
could threaten their self concept15.
Posting pictures and updating status or prole is one
of the main approaches the person to obtain any attention
and became popular in online social media. is ‘show-
o’ trend is a way to reveal their identities, and they want
others to perceive them. It is a way to enhance their self-
concept by producing an attractive prole or updating a
sensational status. A positive responds or comments from
their social media friends can give the satisfaction of
personal and interpersonal desire16. us, it can improve
their self concept as well.
3. Methodology
A quantitative approach has been used in this study
by using questionnaire distribution. e sample of
this study is 200 TATIUC active students (out of
2000). e respondents were randomly selected from
dierentfaculties and program, which according to
their years of studies. equestionnairewas distributed
randomly to male and femalefrom foundation, diploma
and bachelor students in the rangeof 18 to 30 years old.
e questionnaire was divided into two sections.
Section A gathers respondent’s background information
such as gender, age, program study, year of study and
faculty. Section B consists of questions which regarding
the use of social media network. e questions were
designed to satisfy the research questions as set forth in
the introduction of this study.
e results of the survey are loaded into the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for
statistical analysis. An assessment is conducted to test
the reliability and validity of the measurement used.
Descriptive statistic, frequencies and correlations are
used in analyzing the data.
4. Results and Discussion
In this section, the data collected is presented and
analyzed, while the ndings are discussed accordingly. e
reliability of questionnaire was tested using Cronbach’s
Alpha coecient shown in Table 1. e Cronbach’s Alpha
of 0.8 is considered as highly reliable17. Based on the result,
it can be concluded that the questionnaire designed is a
reliable measurement instrument.
Table 1. Reliability statistics
Cronbach’s Alpha Cronbach’s Alpha based on
Standardized Items
No. of
Items
0.981 0.989 20
e respondents of the questionnaire are 200
undergraduate students, which consists of 37% male and
63% female. 68% of the respondents are between 20-24
years old and 73% from the bachelor programs.
4.1 RQ1: What is the Extent of usage of
Social Media among TATIUC Students?
In measuring the usage of social media, four questions
were used. e questions are as follows:
• Are you member of social media network?
• Please select all social media networks that you use?
• How do you access your social media network
account?
• Why you use online social network?
e result shows that 90.5% of respondents indicated
that they use some form of social media. e respondents
reported the most popular social media network used
is WhatsApp (88%) and Facebook (85%). e result is
consistent with previous studies18-19. However, the result
is variance withotherstudies which Facebook and Twitter
were the most popular forms of the social media. It was
followed by WeChat (64%), Instagram (59%), Twitter
(25%), Telegram (24%), Line (22%), Tango (1.0%), Beetalk
(3.0%), Zello (0.5%), Blog (0.5%) and Viber (0.5%) as
indicated in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Online social media network use.
Vol 9 (17) | May 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
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The uses of Social Media on Student’s Communication and Self Concepts among TATIUC Students
ere are many platforms or methods used by
respondents to access the social media, as indicated in
Figure 2. e highest values could acquire for the variable
of smart phonemethod which is 96.5%. is is followedby
the 61.5% use of laptop and only 17.5% make use personal
computer to access social media. e results showed that
the most preferred method for accessing the social media
with smart phone, where its convenience and its exibility.
e reason for using the social media among college
students is varied. e most common reason of using
social media is communication, with female students
communicate more compared to male students through
online social media networking. Based on Table 2 and
Figure 3, the reason use of online social media network
is recorded high in items Q1and Q3 with a mean of 4.39
and 4.17 respectively. ey make online social media for
use to nd information, to keep in touch with family and
friends.
Table 2 and Figure 3 illustrate the percentage
and means responses to questions in section B of the
questionnaire. e mean scores are classied into ve
categories namely strongly disagree (0.00-1.00), disagree
(1.01-2.00), neutral (2.01-3.00), agree (3.01-4.00) and
strongly agree (4.01-5.00).
Figure 2. Platform to access social media.
Table 2. Use of online social media network
Responses
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
Mean
Q1 0.5 0.5 9.5 38.5 51.0 4.39
Q2 6.5 10.5 25.5 30.5 27.0 3.61
Q3 1.0 2.5 16.5 38.5 41.5 4.17
Q4 3.5 12.5 26.5 36.0 21.5 3.59
Q5 1.0 9.5 24.5 41.0 24.0 3.77
2.5 7.1 20.5 36.9 33
Communication with family and friends was the
one of the reason students used social media, with most
respondents agree this was the reason. e result showed
the social media provide the opportunity to respondent to
interact with their family and friends. Additional reasons
reported including to nd information, to share pictures,
video or music, to play games and to make new friends.
Figure 3. Use of online social media network.
Based on the results, this study shows that most of
TATIUC students were using several social networking
platforms. is is signicant since 71% of young adults
have a Facebook account. e current study indicated that
Whatsapp and Facebook were the social network websites
of choice, with 96.5% of students using smart phones to
access their social networking. ese ndings concurred
with other research which found that Facebook is the one
of the popular form of social media.
e most popular reasons in using the social media
are to nd the information and to communicate with
family and friends. Entertainment also is one of the main
reasonsof using social networking sites. ese results are
supported by the previous study that found the students
use Facebook and other websites to spend their leisure
time, be entertained and maintain existing relationships
with others.
4.2 RQ2: Is there a Relationship Between
Extent of usage of Social Media and
Communication with Family and
Friends?
Five questions were used to measure the extent of students’
perceive in communication skills as follows:
• Do you use social media networking to communicate
with friends?
• Do you use social media networking to communicate
with family?
Wan Roslina Wan Othman, Ziti Fariha Mohd Apandi and Nurul Haslinda Ngah
Vol 9 (17) | May 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 5
• Do you use social media networking to communicate
with people that stay away?
• Do you use social media networking to communicate
with strangers/people you do not already know?
• How does media networking aect your social life?
Table 3 and Figure 4 list the percentage and mean
responses of respondents who communicate the most
when they are using online social media network.
e mean scores are classied into four categories
namelynever, rarely, fairly oen and nearly always.
Table 3. Communicate using social media
Responses
Never Rarely Fairly
Oen
Nearly
Always
Mean
Q1 1.0 9.5 47.2 42.2 3.31
Q2 0.0 7.0 48.5 44.5 3.38
Q3 3.0 19.5 51.0 26.5 3.01
Q4 34.5 31.5 25.2 8.5 2.08
9.62 16.87 43.05 30.43 3
Figure 4. Communication using social media.
e result for the variable of perceived communication
skills shows that students perceived the social media as
a main communication medium. It is recorded high in
items Q1 and Q2 with a means 3.31 and 3.38 respectively,
which the communications are the most strong with their
friends and family. is is supported where it was found
that students used the social media to communicate more
with friends and family19. Only a few of the students use
the social media for academic or research purpose, but
communication was generally the most common reason
for using it.
From the data, about 43.05% of the respondents
claim fairly oen and 30.43% of the respondents claim to
nearly always communicate with others using the social
media. Almost 16.87% of the total respondents claim
to communicate by using the social media rarely, while
9.62% claim never to use social media as a communication
method. is nding shows that TATIUC students use
the social media as a communication method extensively.
However, given the social media as a popular
communication method, the eect on face to face
communication has found. According to Figure 5, about
39.5% reported the use of online social media somewhat
has an eect on face to face communication. is shows
that student always used social media for communication
compared to communicate face to face with their friends
and family. ese ndings are supported with the previous
nding, which agree that college students communicate
over the internet with friends and family that live far
away20.
To evaluate the relationship between social media
usage and communication with family and friends,
the Pearson correlation was conducted. e results of
correlation test showed there were signicant relationships
between these two variables. It shows that 0.191 Pearson
correlation between the usage of social media network
and communication with family and friends, as indicated
in Table 4.
Figure 5. Social media aect the social life.
Vol 9 (17) | May 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
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The uses of Social Media on Student’s Communication and Self Concepts among TATIUC Students
Table 4. Correlations of social media usage and
communication
Social
Media
Usage
Communi-
cation
Social media usage Pearson Cor-
relation
1 -0.191**
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.007
N 200 200
Communication Pearson Cor-
relation
-0.191** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.007
N 200 200
**Correlation is signicant at 0.01 level (2-tailed).
4.3 RQ3: Is there a Relationship between
Self-Concept of TATIUC Students and
their use of Social Media?
Five questions were used to measure self-concept of
TATIUC students and their use of social media as follows:
• How long have you been using a social media
network?
• How oen do you post status update?
• How oen do you update your online prole?
• Do you feel that if you are not to participate in social
media network you would be missing out?
e number of duration of students using social media
was found from 4 years ago, with 41% of respondent
reporting they have been used social media network.
Additionally, about 32% of students reported used
between 2-4 years ago, almost 16% used 1-2 years ago,
about 13% used 6-12 months, almost 2% used 1-6 month
and 2% used less than a month.
e average they spent daily on online with social
media network was also quite high up to 42.5% or 8 hours
per day. About 23.5% respondent spent 7-8 hours, almost
12.5% spent 5-6 hours, about 19% spent 2-4 hours and 3%
spent less than 1 hour per day.
e duration and average of students spent daily using
social media were quite high. Many reasons why college
students were using social media network. e results
show the respondent used several ways to communicate
with their friends and family on social media network.
Post status updates and update prole were the most
common ways to communicate.
Referring to the Figure 6, almost 33% of the respondent
post their status updates online once every few weeks
which followed by 25% post status updates once a month.
e results also revealed that 14% respondents did not
post their status updates.
However, they did not update prole frequently.
Figure 7 shows about how oen the respondents update
their prole. About 7% update more than once a day,
almost 5.5% once a day, about 29% once every few weeks,
almost 57% once a month and 1.5% never updates.
Figure 6. Post status updates online.
Figure 7. Update prole.
e majority of the TATIUC students has visited
their social media networking sites more oen, and this
indicates that the extent to which they frequently use
the sites. As found in previous research shows that the
extent of usage of social media sites is frequent. Since
several times a day college students visited their social
networking sites.
Students used a variety of ways to communicate
with friends and family on social media. e common
ways they communicate using status update and update
prole, but they also sent private messages and posted
photographs as well. Probably, status updates and
updating the prole was easier and faster to communicate
than sending private messages or posting photographs.
Wan Roslina Wan Othman, Ziti Fariha Mohd Apandi and Nurul Haslinda Ngah
Vol 9 (17) | May 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 7
e relationship between social media usage on self-
concept was also an interesting nding. About 81% of the
respondent indicates that they feel missing out if they not
participate in social media network. It showed negative
eects on self-esteem. e current study found that
college students either believe that social media websites
aect their self-esteem positively or neither positively or
negatively21.
Pearson correlation also conducted to see whether
there was a relationship between social media network
usage and self-concept. e results of correlation test
showed there were signicant relationships between the
social media usage and self concept variables. ere are
0.088 Pearson correlations between self-concept and
social media network usage as indicated in Table 5.
Table 5. Correlations of social media usage and self-
concept
Usage of Social
Media
Self Concept
Usage
of social
media
Pearson Cor-
relation
1 -0.088
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.217
N 200 200
Self con-
cept
Pearson Cor-
relation
-0.088 1
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.217
N 200 200
** Correlation is signicant at 0.01 level (2-tailed).
5. Conclusion and Future Works
e main purpose of this study was to analyze the
uses of social media and their relationship between
communication and self concept among college students.
e results revealed that online social media had given
huge impact to the student’s life. Based on the information
acquired, it is fair to say that a college student was exposed
to the various types of social media that exist. Whatsapp
and Facebook appear to be the most popular social media
used by college students. e results also show that social
media create several new communication types with
friends and family. It is also inuencing individual’s self-
concept.
However, considering the wide usage of the social
media by college students, further studies should be
conducted with a focus on ascertaining of why college
students do not make use of the social media for academic
purposes which realizing the implications of social media
on student’s performance.
Future research work in this area includes the
understanding students’ behavior in the use of online
social networking, impact of social media usage on
students academic performance, social network sites
usage habits of undergraduate students in case study of
Facebook and the usage of WhatsApp mobile instant
messaging in higher education.
6. Acknowledgment
is work is funded by the TATIUC under the Short Term
Grant (STG).
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