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Social Media Use and Information Sharing Behavior of
University Students
Journal:
IFLA Journal
Manuscript ID
IFL-20-0109
Manuscript Type:
Original Articles
Keywords:
Use of social media, Social networking sites, University students,
Pakistan, Information sharing on SM
Abstract:
The present study investigates the university students’ use of social
media (SM) in terms of commonly used SM platforms, the frequency of
use and the types of information shared. It also intends to see the
difference of opinions based on their gender, academic disciplines and
programs of study. The study is based on cross-sectional survey; a
structured questionnaire was developed by consulting relevant literature.
Quota sampling technique was used to select required, exact numbers or
quotas of individuals from four universities of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Four
hundred students selected randomly from each university. The findings
indicate that majority of the students were the frequent user of SM and
visited them daily or do so several times a day. WhatsApp, Facebook and
YouTube were the most widely used SM platforms. They frequently
shared contents related to fun and entertainment along with religious
and academic information on SM networks.
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IFLA Journal
For Peer Review
Social Media Use and Information Sharing Behavior of University Students
Abstract
The present study investigates the university students’ use of social media (SM) in terms of
commonly used SM platforms, the frequency of use and the types of information shared. It also
intends to see the difference of opinions based on their gender, academic disciplines and
programs of study. The study is based on cross-sectional survey; a structured questionnaire was
developed by consulting relevant literature. Quota sampling technique was used to select
required, exact numbers or quotas of individuals from four universities of Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Four hundred students selected randomly from each university. The findings indicate that
majority of the students were the frequent user of SM and visited them daily or do so several
times a day. WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube were the most widely used SM platforms. They
frequently shared contents related to fun and entertainment along with religious and academic
information on SM networks. Differences in the use and type of information shared were also
found based on personal and academic variables. Male students tend to use SM more frequently
than female counterpart. They also tended to share personal, academic and political information
more frequently than female. It was found that under- graduate students made more use of SM as
compare to post-graduate students. A significant difference among academic disciplines was also
found regarding the uses of SM and certain type of information shared on them. To our
knowledge, no such study has been conducted in Pakistan so far. It will serve as a guideline for
further research, as it has addressed an untouched area in local perspective and reports original
research.
Keywords
Keywords: Use of social media, Social networking sites, University students, Pakistan,
Information sharing on SM
Introduction
The social media (SM) is commonly defined as a group of online media that facilitates social
interaction and diffusion of information in the form of user generated contents (UGC).
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Conceptually and technologically built upon the Web 2.0, SM is lovechild of World Wide Web.
Different forms of SM are all pervasive such as micro blogging, wikis, chat apps, social
networking, social gaming, social bookmarking etc. Facebook, You Tube, WhatsApp, Facebook
Messenger, WeChat, Instagram are some of the most popular social networking sites (SNSs)
worldwide (Statista, 24/11/2019). Free web space, building profiles, uploading contents, chatting
and creating pages are the prominent features of SM which allow users to publish contents
directly. The contents include texts, images, pictures, audio, videos and others. It blurs the
traditional line between media and audience by providing platforms for common interaction and
participation and thus upgrading user status from receiver to creator. It also stands distinguished
from traditional media by facilitating real time two-way communication from many to many
without any external control. It provides world-wide connectivity open to social interaction,
contribution and participation through post, comments, reviews and feedback. Forty five percent
of the world’s population is now SM users. Despite controversy around privacy, hacking, fake
news and other things, the world continues to embrace it. Global digital growth shows no sign of
slowing, with a million new people coming online every day. This growth is clearly fuelling the
SM use.
SM landscape is also expanding in Pakistan with a growth rate of 5.7% till January 2019.
Almost, 44.61 million people are Internet users in the country and 58% access Internet every
day. Thirty seven million are active users of SM and interestingly, majority of them (72%) are
aged between 18 to 34 years. Facebook, Facebook Messanger, Instagram, Twitter are the most
popular social networking sites (SNSs) used by people of Pakistan (Global Digital Report, 2019).
The popularity and growth of SM have significantly transformed the way people access
information and interact with the world. It has become a new way of life. Easiness of use,
reduced cost, less technical skills involved and no physical boundaries of time and space have
made it a huge popular among young adults aged from 18 to 34 years.
A majority of the university students use SM to connect with others and share their lives,
feelings and experiences. They credit SM as a key tool for connecting and maintaining
relationships, being creative and learning more about the world. It helps them to interact with the
people from diverse background (i.e religious groups, cultural, political, racial and ethnical
affiliations): to access and share information about social, economic and political happenings,
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events and developments. Such expanded exposure makes them feel a part of global community
(Akakandelwa and Walubita, 2017; Pew Research Centre, 2019; Koranteng and Wiafe, 2018).
The use of SM by university students for information sharing is an interesting topic of
research for academic community. Globally, studies have been carried out to gain understanding
regarding the extent of SM use and information sharing practices of students. However, less
empirical literature is found in the local perspective. The present study is intended to explore the
university students’ pattern of using SM and type of information they shared on such platforms.
University students are chosen as study participants because they belong to the age group which
is the major chunk of SM user in the country.
Literature Review
A substantial body of literature has examined the university students’ use of SMs by
exploring the ways they are involved in. Some studies are general in nature covering multiple
SM platforms and activities; some are focused on specific service (e.g. Facebook, Twitter etc.)
and /or uses (e.g. information sharing, academic learning etc.). It has been established that use of
SM promotes active learning (Seifert 2016), more engagement in academic work (Junco et al.,
2011), collaboration and sharing of knowledge (Seifert 2016) and also effective and frequent
communicate with the pear (Burke and Kraut 2014). However, these findings are not coherent in
literature.
A study in United States reported that students from higher education institutions were
active users of SNS and on average they used seven different SM platforms simultaneously (Pew
Research Center, 2019). It implies that SM platforms serve different purposes and students use
them for their various interests. These interests ranged from networking to entertainment and
from professional assignments to academic stuff.
The topic of information and knowledge sharing in SM environment has attracted a great
attention. A number of studies have explored the role of SM in promoting information sharing
among university students. However, literature is divided; some studies argue for a relationship
between use of SNS, engagement and information/knowledge sharing, while some recent studies
disagree. A study by Meishar-Tal and Pieterse (2017) indicated that academic SNS users
predominantly engaged in consumption and sharing relevant information on their networks. Self-
promotion and ego-bolstering, acquisition of professional knowledge, belonging to a peer
community, and interaction with peers were the major motives to visit SNS. These findings,
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however contradict the findings of the study by Parsons, et al. (2011). They argued that the
quality of information shared on SNS is often limited and as a result the amount of time spent on
these sites are wasted which discourages engagement and knowledge sharing.
A study by Junco (2012) with 2368 college students examined the relationship between
frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Results
indicate that sstudents who spent more time on Facebook scored lower on an engagement scale.
Students who spent more time on Facebook also spent more time in campus activities. In
general, Facebook activities were more strongly predictive of engagement. The findings of the
study imply that Facebook use is not detrimental to academic outcomes; however, it can lead to
the ways that are advantageous to students. Another experimental study measuring the effect of
Twitter on college students’ engagement and grades found it beneficial for the test group
students with greater increase in engage scores, positive effects on grades and interpersonal
connections (Junco, et al., 2011). An exploratory survey by Osatuyi (2013) investigated the use
of SM technologies for sharing information and found that users shared sensitive, sensational,
political and casual information through such platforms and used different cues to indicate
credibility of the shared information. Akbari, et al. (2012) investigated students’ attitudes
towards the use of social networks for learning the English language. The majority of
participants considered Facebook useful for communication and sharing knowledge. Eid and Al-
Jabri (2016) examined the impact of using SNS on knowledge sharing and learning among
university students in Saudi Arabia. Use of SNS included (i) chatting and online discussion, (ii)
content creation, (iii) file sharing, (iv) enjoyment and entertainment. The findings revealed a
positive relationship between SNS use and both knowledge sharing and students learning.
Another study by Al-Sharqi and Hashim (2016) supported the benefits of social media in
learning by exploring university students’ perceptions. The results indicated that a moderate
majority of students were using social media tools in their learning. On the contrary, a recent
study by Koranteng, et al., (2018) came up with different findings. They investigated the impact
of SNS use on students’ engagement and found that SNS did not significantly impact knowledge
sharing in academia and therefore had less significant impact on students’ engagement.
Majority of university students from developing countries used SM, only a minority used
them for academic purposes. They were much involved in socialization, fun and entertainment
over such platforms (Akakandelwa and Walubita, 2017; Bakare, et al., 2015; Koranteng and
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Wiafe, 2019; Sharma, et al., 2015). A study conducted by Hussain (2012) examined the trend of
using SM among university students in Pakistan. The students were found involved in SM and
Facebook was the most popular service. They used SM for socialization, exchanging academic
activities and sharing their experiences. Another study of university students in Nigeria found
that SM was used less for educational pursuits and more for fun and entertainment. They were
found engaged in cyber-crimes and exposed to pornography (Ezeah, Asogwa and Obiorah.
2013). A survey carried out in Bhopal (India) by Sharma, et al. (2015) revealed that students
used SM for various purposes such as blogging, chatting, job searching, expending social circle
and gaming. Majority of people were using SM for gaming and chatting.
Bakare, et al. (2015) conducted an empirical study on the use of social media tools as
medium for information sharing among students and academic staff of the Federal University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. Data were collected from 250 academic staff and 1200 students
through questionnaire. The findings revealed that SM was more used by the students as
compared to academic staff. Academic staff mainly used SM for research purpose while students
use it mainly to keep in touch with friends and download applications. An exploratory study with
245 students from University of Zambia found that they were actively engaged in SM more for
social information than for academic purposes (Akakandelwa and Walubita, 2017). Although,
studies have investigated the possibilities of using SNS for information sharing, the findings are
not coherent. This study is also an attempt to add a developing country’s perspective in this
regard.
Research Questions
This study tried to answer these research questions:
1. To what extent SM is used for information sharing by university students?
2. Which SM services are used by students for information sharing?
3. What types of information do students share through SM?
4. What are the differences in SM use and type of information shared among students
based on their gender, academic disciplines and programs of study?
Delimitations of the Study
Following are the delimitations of the study:
Study covers only those students who were users of SM.
This study was limited to the Universities of Faisalabad, Pakistan.
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Research Design
The study is based on cross-sectional survey; a structured questionnaire was developed
by consulting relevant literature. Particular help was taken from the studies conducted by
Akakandelwa, and Walubita (2017), Alhazmi and Rahman (2013), Eke, et al. (2014), Osatuyi,
B. (2013). The questionnaire was divided into four parts. The first part covers the extent of the
use of SM, by enquiring the length of experience, frequency of use. Second part enlists the SM
services currently used by the students. A list of the popular SM services such as Facebook,
Twitter, Whatsapp, YouTube etc. was provided with an option “other please specify” with the
liberty to tick all that apply. The third section identifies the type of information shared through
these services by the students on a five point scale from least frequently =1 to most frequently=5
Samples items include “Personal information like your photos, relationships, hometown,
university”, “Information related to academic activities like assignments, group projects, and
date sheets and class schedules, group discussion with classmates” and “Fun and entertainment
information”. The final section was about the demographic information of the respondents
covering gender, program and discipline of study.
A draft of questionnaire with a covering letter was sent to six experts for content validity
and necessary amendments were made in the light of their feedback. For checking the reliability
of data collection instrument, pilot testing was conducted. Questionnaire was piloted upon 45
students who were not part of actual population. The value of Cronbach’s alpha was .772 which
indicates an acceptable level of reliability.
Target population of the study was the students from the following four universities of
Faisalabad:
Name of University
Total Number of Students
1.
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
20000
2.
National Textile University, Faisalabad
2500
3.
Govt. College University Faisalabad
30000
4.
University of Faisalabad
2949
Total
55449
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These universities offered programs at BS, Master, MPhil, and PhD level and 100
students were selected from all programs of each university. Quota sampling technique was used
to select required, exact numbers or quotas of individuals from each university.
The principal author, in person distributed and collected the questionnaires to ensure
maximum response rate and to guide the participants in the case of any ambiguity while filling
the questionnaires. Initially, there were 262 questionnaires returned, after reminders, the
remaining questionnaires were received back with 100% response rate. Data was analyzed
through SPSS. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to answer research questions.
Findings
Demographic Information of Students
The respondents’ demographic information regarding gender, level of program and
discipline of study was enquired. The data revealed that the ratio of female and male respondents
were 66% and 34% respectively; a majority of respondents (289, 72.3%) were enrolled in BS
and master programs whereas less 111(27.8%) were from research programs (i.e. MPhil and
PhD). In Pakistan, the number of post-graduate students in universities is comparatively low due
to the limited seats allotted to these programs by higher authorities. Finally, demographic
information about discipline of study indicates that 188 (47%) students were from applied
sciences/engineering, 91(23%) from natural sciences, whereas 64 (16%) were studying in the
discipline of arts and humanities and 57 (14.3%) from social sciences (Table 1). The
demographic profile shows diversity of the respondent associated with different disciplines and
programs of study.
Table 1
Use of SM
The respondents were asked to mention how frequently they used of and how long had
they been associated with SM. The results show that a majority of the respondents (276, 69%)
were the frequent user and visited SM daily or do so several times a day. Some respondents
remained constantly online while a few rarely used such services.
Table 2
Mostly respondents used SM on daily basis while a good number of student visit SM
several times a day. Furthermore, 36 users reported that they remained online constantly.
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Overall, 78% students visited SM platforms daily or did so several times a day. This finding
strengthens the more regular and frequent use of SM. Low number of students reported their
weekly and monthly usage of SM. The analysis of how long students have been using SM is
presented in Table 2. Mean score of 3.56 is close to 4-5 years’ association of students with SM.
It represents though SM emerged one and half decade ago, the platform got popularity among
university students in Pakistan during recent times.
Table 3
SM Services in Use
The purpose of this section was to identify the most preferred and popular SM services
among students. A number of SM services were enlisted, and respondents were asked to select
their preferred ones. The opinion of respondents about the preferred SM networks is presented in
Table 3. According to the findings, WhatsApp is most widely used SM application with 90.5%
usage followed by Facebook with 85%. YouTube (76.8%) hold third position among the
provided options. Both Instagram and Googl+ were equally popular platforms as same number of
students (54%) reported the use of each one. Though many students mentioned the use of Twitter
and Snapchat with an approximate percentage of 32 and 27 respectively, found less popular if
compared with the above mentioned other services. LinkedIn, Blogs and Myspace were even
more low ranked tools for social networking among respondents.
In the category of ‘other’, the respondents were asked to mention the use of any other SM
services not provided in the list. From the total population, forty six respondents selected this
category and mentioned eight other platforms including IMO, Skype, Musical.ly, Messanger,
Research Gate, Pinterest, LINE,Viber, BIGO LIVE, VK and WordPress. IMO was the most
mentioned one as sixteen respondents reported its use.
Table 4
Types of Information Shared on SM
The students were asked to specify the type of information they usually shared through
SM sites. The possible options were provided on a 5- point Likert-type scale from least frequent
to most frequent. Table 4 presents the analysis of each statement.
Table 5
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Analysis of the data shows that none of the provided statements got mean score above
than 3.00. However, fun and entertainment (mean= 2.97) along with religious information (2.96)
got mean score close to 3 which indicate that students frequently shared these type of
information on SM networks. Academic information held third position with mean score 2.88. It
is noteworthy that students were seemed less interested in sharing political information. Personal
information was found the least shared category with 2.08 mean score. Overall, they shared
information mostly about fun and entertainment followed by religious and academic information
with a slight difference.
They were asked to specify the type of information they share other than the provided
list. Forty five students mentioned other types of information including poetry, information
related to artificial intelligence, space news, quotations, art work, personal activities and photos.
Differences in the Use of SM Based on Personal and Academic Variables
Inferential statistics were used to explore the difference in the usage pattern of SM with
selected personal and academic variables of students. The results are given below:
Gender. Independent Samples t-Test was applied to examine the gender differences in the
usage pattern of SM. Analysis reveals a significant difference in this regard (.026) which
indicates that male and female students’ use of SM is different. The high mean score of male
students (4.33) denotes that they use SM more frequently than female counterpart.
Programs of study. Result of Independent Samples t-Test again shows a significant
difference in the use of SM among students based on their program of study at 0.05 level of
significance. The mean value of post- graduate students (MS/ MPhil/Ph.D.; mean=3.82) is quite
low if compared with that of under- graduate students (BS/ M.A/ MSc.; mean=4.27). It indicates
that under- graduate students made more use of SM as compare to post-graduate students.
Table 6
Academic disciplines. One-Way ANOVA was applied to see the difference in the use of
SM based on the disciplines of study. The analysis of variance (Table 7) shows that there is a
significant difference in the use of SM based on the categories of disciplines. Students from the
disciplines of applied sciences/engineering and natural sciences were the more frequent users of
SM.
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Once the result of ANOVA was significant, A post hoc multiple comparisons (LSD) was
applied to see the difference among all possible groups.
The significant difference was found between the disciplines of ‘applied sciences/
engineering’ and ‘arts and humanities’ with sig. value (.009). The mean value of applied
sciences/ engineering group (4.29) is quite high from that of arts and humanities (3.84). Based on
this calculation, it can be safely claimed that the students from these two groups have
significantly different behavior in use of SM. Students from applied sciences/engineering are
more frequent users of SM services than that of arts and humanities. Less significant difference
was observed among the other disciplines. Overall, the findings of the current study suggest that
students from ‘applied sciences/engineering’ were more frequent users of SM as compared to the
students from other disciplines.
Personal and Academic Differences in the Type of Information Shared on SM
Inferential statistics were used to explore the differences in the type of information shared
on SM with selected personal and academic variables of students. The results of the are given
below:
Gender. Independent Samples t-Test was applied to examine the gender differences.
Analysis reveals a significant difference in certain types of information shared including personal
(.000), academic (.004), political information (.000) along with general (.046), sports and games
news (.003). It indicates a difference of behavior between male and female students while
sharing such type of information. Male students tended to share personal, academic and political
information more frequently than female. They also frequently shared general and specific news
including sports and games. There is no difference of means on other categories of information
such as fun and entertainment, religious, health and personal opinions.
Table 7
Programs of study. Independent Samples t- Test was applied to see the difference in the
type of information shared based on programs of study. Analysis does not reveal any significant
difference on this basis.
Academic disciplines. Analysis of variance on the basis of academic disciplines (Table
8) also shows a significant difference in the certain type of information shared. A significant
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difference among academic disciplines was found regarding general news (.018) personal
thoughts and opinions (.004) and health information (.008). However, in other type of
information, less difference was found.
Table 8
A post hoc multiple comparisons show that ‘social sciences’ group is different at .05 level of
significance from other three groups in terms of sharing ‘general news. The high mean (3.18)
shows that they share general news more frequently than the students from other disciplines.
Students from natural sciences group were different in their behavior while sharing ‘personal
thoughts and opinions’. The low mean value (2.32) indicates that they were less inclined to share
their personal thoughts and opinions on SM as compared to others.
Furthermore, students from ‘social sciences’ group differ significantly with regard to
sharing ‘health related information’ from ‘natural sciences’ and ‘arts and humanities’ groups but
not from ‘applied sciences’. The high mean value (3.09) shows that they shared health
information more frequently than the students from two other groups. The mean difference
between ‘social sciences’ and ‘applied sciences’ group was not statistically significant thus
suggests no difference. However, a significant difference was noted between ‘applied sciences’
and ‘arts and humanities’ groups. The mean indicates that students from ‘applied sciences’ (2.86)
shared health related information more frequently than those from ‘arts and humanities’ (2.34).
Discussion
The study has come up with some interesting findings: some are similar to international trends
while others are deviating. Results indicate that students are using various SM platforms;
Whatsapp is the most commonly and frequently used one, followed by Facebook and YouTube.
Twitter and Snapchat are found less preferred among students in Pakistan. As far as popularity of
a particular single platform is concerned, literature is divided. A number of studies declared
Facebook as the most popular and widely used social networking sites (Alhazmi and
Rahman,2013) while some proclaim this title for Whatsapp (Akakandelwa and Walubita, 2017;
Husasain, 2012). Recently, Smith and Anderson (2018) found that YouTube is the most widely
used SM site followed by Facebook. In USA Facebook and YouTube continued to be the most
widely used SM sites among adults from two consecutive years (2018- 2019). However,
Facebook use among teens (18-24) had dropped in recent years while most notably, Instagram
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and Snapchat, are gaining strong following (Pew Research, 2019). A recent study by Alfaris, et
al (2018) declared Whatsapp, followed by YouTube and Twitter as the most popular SM services
among students. Overall, Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube and Twitter are the top rated sites in
the literature. It is worth mentioning that Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram are owned by the
same one company (i.e. Facebook.Inc). Majority of the students visit SM platforms on daily
basis or do so several times per day. Previous studies also established the frequent use of SM
among students (Baker, Cinemenem, Bamigboye, Okonedo and Abeokuta, 2015; Husasain,
2012). Akakandelwa and Walubita, (2017) found that most of the students in Zambia checked
their SM before doing something else and spent 30 to 60 minutes daily. In the United State of
America (USA) majority of the adults are the active users of various SM and visit these sites
daily or do so several times a day. The findings imply that students are actively engaged in
certain SM platforms. SM has very much become an integral part of their lives. It is high time for
academia to view the SM as more than a mere distraction. SM can be used in academic settings
to promote student engagement and to facilitate better student learning. A study by Sutherland,
Davis, Terton and Visser (2018) revealed that university SM profiles helped students to feel part
of their academic community.
The study findings reveal that students mainly use SM to share information related to fun
and entertainment. They are also engaged in sharing other types of information ranging from
religious to academic. The previous studies reported similar trends where SM was largely used
for leisure; entertainment, socialization, fun and gaming (Ezeah, et al., 2013; Sharma, Jain and
Tiwari, 2015). “Viewing photos, commenting on content and checking into see what others
doing” were the three most popular activities of students on Facebook mentioned by Junco
(2012). There is a trend of sharing, watching or commenting religious beliefs on SM, as religion
is also a part of people’s personal lives. In USA, many people reportedly shared something about
their religious faith on SNS or saw someone else doing so (Pew Research Centre, 2019). A study
by McClure (2016) claimed that SM wass changing how adults think about their faith; they
seemed less committed to one religion. He concluded that broader exposure through SM led to
increased acceptance of syncretistic beliefs and practices. Sharing academic information on SM
though not detrimental to academic outcomes, it can create a culture of engagement among
students, teachers and peers. The impact of SM on politics is all obvious. I t has played a
predominant role in shaping the course of major political events across the globe such as United
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States presidential election of 2016, Arab Spring etc. It has enabled the greater interaction of the
public with the political landscape. It is quite surprising that students had low tendency of
sharing political information. It may imply that they were less aware of, concerned with or
interested in the political affairs of their country. As far as personal information is concerned,
students perhaps don’t feel secure as Sharma, et al. (2015) found that students considered SM
less secured for sharing personal information. Similar type of findings was shared by the Rafiq
(2017) that students were reluctant while sharing personal information on SNSs due to privacy
and security risks.
Differences in the use and type of information shared were also found based on personal
and academic variables. Male students tend to use SM more frequently than female counterpart.
They also tended to share personal, academic and political information more frequently than
female. It was found that under- graduate students made more use of SM as compare to post-
graduate students. Other studies also found that men and women differed significantly in their
use of SM and sharing of information. Males were more addicted to SM, spent more time and
were more open to share their personal information than females (Alfaris, et al., 2018; Alnjadat,
Hmaidi, Samha, Kilani, and Hasswan, 2019; Lin and Wang, 2020; Mazman and Usluel, 2011).
It implies that the effect of privacy risks on information sharing attitude is stronger for women.
A study of SM use and cyber bulling in Belize identified that females were more likely to
prevent certain people from accessing their SM content (Kasahara, et al., 2017). In the previous
studies, it has been discovered that under-graduate students use more SM and spend more time
on such platforms (Eke, et al., 2014). Perhaps they can spare more time as compared to the
student from research programs that require intensive work.
A significant difference among academic disciplines was also found regarding the usage and
certain type of information shared on SM. Overall, the findings of current study suggest that
students from applied sciences use more SM as compared to students from other disciplines. The
reason may assign to their field of study that enabled greater interaction with such innovations
and trends. Findings of the previous studies also remind us that students from the fields of
science and technology are heavy users of SM (Okoh and Lucy, 2014). The students from social
sciences shared general news more frequently than those from other disciplines. Students from
natural sciences were less inclined to share their personal thoughts and opinions. Further studies
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may explore the reasons of such differences among students’ information sharing behaviors
across disciplines.
Conclusion
The use of SM is growing exponentially among students. The present study illuminates
how frequently students use which SM platforms and what type of information do they share
over there. Results show that university students are actively engaged in certain SM patterns and
share multiple types of information. They frequently share fun and entertainment related content
and less personal information. There are similarities and differences among students’ use of SM
and information sharing behaviors based on personal and academic factors. It would be helpful
to frame a qualitative study to further explore the reasons of such differences among students
from different disciplines.
References
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Table 1
Demographic information of the respondents N= 400
Gender
Frequency
Percentage
Male
135
33.8
Female
265
66.3
Program of study of students
BS/M.A/MSc.
289
72.3
MS/MPhil/Ph.D
111
27.7
Discipline of study of the students
Natural Sciences
91
22.8%
Applied Sciences/ Engineering
188
47.0%
Social Sciences
57
14.3%
Arts and Humanities
64
16.0%
Table 2
Frequency of use of SM
Frequency
Frequency
Percentage
Rarely
20
5.0%
Monthly
17
4.3%
Weekly
51
12.8%
Daily
144
36.0%
Several times a day
132
33.0%
Constantly online
36
9.0%
Total
400
100.0%
1= Rarely, 2= Monthly, 3= Weekly, 4= Daily, 5= Several times a day, 6= Constantly online
Table 3
Association of students with SM
Statement
N
Mean
SD
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Association with SM
398
3.56
1.225
Valid N (listwise)
398
1= Less than one year, 2= 1 year, 3= 2-3 years, 4= 4-5 years, 5= More than 5 years
Table 4
SM services in use
Rank
SM tools in use
Frequency
Percentage
1
2
3
WhatsApp
Facebook
YouTube
362
340
307
90.5%
85%
76.8%
4
Instagram
217
54.3%
4
Google +
217
54.3%
5
Twitter
126
31.5%
6
7
Snapchat
LinkedIn
106
73
26.5%
18.3%
8
Blogs
34
8.5%
9
Myspace
24
6%
Table 5
Types of information shared on SM
Rank
Type of information
Mean
SD
1.
Fun and entertainment information
2.97
1.198
2.
Religious information
2.96
1.226
3.
Academic information
2.88
1.112
4.
General news
2.76
1.249
4.
Health information
2.76
1.314
5.
Personal thoughts and opinions
2.69
1.233
6.
Sports and games news
2.65
1.331
7.
Political information
2.49
1.351
8.
Personal information
2.08
1.122
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1= Least Frequently, 2= Less Frequently, 3= Frequently, 4= More Frequently, 5= Most
Frequently
Table 6
Relationship of personal and academic variables with the use of SM
Variables
Mean
Statistics
Sig.
Gender
Male
4.33
t=2.24
.026
Female
4.05
Program of Study
BS/M.A/MSc.
4.27
t= 3.097
.002
MS/MPhil/Ph.D.
3.82
Disciplines of Study
Applied Sciences/ Engineering
4.29
F=2.722
.044
Natural Sciences
4.16
Social Sciences
3.98
Arts and Humanities
3.84
Table 7
Gender based Difference in the Type of Information Shared
Mean
Variables
Male
Female
Statistic
T
Sig.
Personal information
2.54
1.84
5.77
.000
Academic information
3.11
2.77
2.93
.004
Fun and entertainment information
3.03
2.94
.711
.477
General news
2.93
2.67
2.00
.046
Political information
2.84
2.32
3.64
.000
Sports and games news
2.93
2.52
2.94
.003
Religious information
2.92
2.98
-.514
.607
Personal thoughts and opinions
2.78
2.63
1.13
.257
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Health information
2.60
2.84
-1.70
.089
Table 8
Difference in the Type of Information Shared based on Academic Disciplines
Mean
Statistic
F
Sig.
Natural
Sciences
Applied
Sciences/
Engineering
Social
Sciences
Arts and
Humanities
Personal information
1.87
2.18
2.05
2.11
1.622
.184
Academic information
2.66
2.96
3.11
2.78
2.523
.057
Fun and entertainment
information
2.98
3.02
3.04
2.76
.781
.505
General news
2.59
2.79
3.18
2.54
3.389
.018
Political information
2.28
2.47
2.84
2.56
2.106
.099
Sports and games news
2.49
2.82
2.46
2.55
1.987
.115
Religious information
2.93
2.96
2.96
3.00
.036
.991
Personal thoughts and
opinions
2.32
2.72
3.04
2.79
4.537
.004
Health information
2.63
2.86
3.09
2.34
4.035
.008
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