World is a global village today. Everyone is connected to one another in this
vast network generated by internet. It illuminates the lives of thousands of
people by spreading knowledge internationally thereby making us global
citizens. The new world of social
networking allows free sharing of thoughts. On line social networks are created
by websites such as face book, whatsapp which have emerged as a grand in the
social world. So how do these networks
affect our education? How do they influence the lives of students? The answer
should be known. In order to find out
answers to these questions, the research had been undertaken.
SOCIAL
NETWORKING SITES:
Meaning
According
to Oxford English Dictionary, the meaning of Social Networking is referred as,
the development of social and professional contacts in order to sharing the
information and services among people with a common interest. But in the case of computers, the use of web
sites or other online technologies to communicate with people and share
information, resources, etc., is named as social networking sites.
History
The
first social networking site was launched in the name of classmate. com in 1995
focusing on ties with former school mates.
Later, Six Degrees. com came in 1997.
It allowed users to create profiles, list their friends and surf the
friends lists. From 1999 onwards, two different models of social networking that
came in 1999 were trust based developed by Epinions. com and Friendship based
developed by Jonathan Bishop and used on some regional United Kingdom sites
between 1999 and 2001.
Orkut
was quietly launched on January 22, 2004 by Google, the search engine company
which is now quite popular in Brazil, USA and India. By 2005, one social
networking service called My space was launched and was reportedly getting more
page views than Google. In 2007,
Facebook began allowing externally developed add-on applications and some
application enabled the graphing of a users own social network to others.
Various
social networking sites have sprung up, catering to different languages and
countries. It is estimated that there
are now over 200 social networking sites existing and emerging more social
networking models.
Types
1.
Friendship
Social Networking
Friends
or Friendship Social Networking is the most popular Social Networking.
People
love to make friends online from all around the globe and these sites
facilitate that. These networks use a
variety of methods to sustain the interest of the member by providing online
features like flirting, teasing, poking, photo sharing and most of the things
which make up a friendship in real life. Example: Friendster, Myspace, Friends
reunited, Hi5. com, Joomla social network, Facebook.
2.
Dating
Social Networking
Dating
Social Networking is the new mantra in the online world. This type of networking is one of the hottest
types of Networking based on attraction towards the opposite sex. These sites
facilitate dating especially for those who don’t have the skill to propose a
date in the real world. Example:
Date. com, Passions network, Date hookup, Chemistry. com.
3.
Business
Social Networking
Business
Social Networking is a tool for social network marketing. It is also referred as Corporate Social
Networking or Professional Social Networks.
These Networks help a person to advance within his or her career or
industry. Generally Business Companies
or Corporate have their own online community where in employees can interact
with each other. They can also answer
questions or queries posted by customers, which can give a person a chance to
impress his or her employer. Example:
Canon, Professional Photographer Community, LinkedIn, Business Network,
SixApart, LPN (Latino Professional Network), and Professional Blogging
Community.
4.
Hobbies
Social Networking
People
on the Internet are involved in various activities related to their favourite
hobby or pass time. Such people use the
internet to conduct research on their favourite projects or topics of interest
related to personal hobbies. Such
likeminded people either publish their own Website or join existing websites
related to their hobbies and interact with people from around the world who
share the same passion or interest. Example: Automotive Forums, Garden Web,
Music Social Network, Sports Pundit, Spout Film Lovers Community, YouTube Video
sharing, Flickr. com.
5.
Informational
Social Networking
Informational
Social Networking Sites are those website which provide answers to people on
various topics. For example, if someone
is looking for starting a business, one needs to have information which
involves a web search and it leads to the discovery of countless blogs,
websites, and forums filled with people who are looking for the same kind of
information. These websites offer
possible answers and also offer to post a question. Informational communities are often liked to,
from businesses like banks, retailers, and other companies that are using
social networks as a way to interact with customers. In these social networks there is a lot of
‘How-To’ style information and advice columns written by professionals.
Example:
Do-It-Yourself Community, EHow ” How-To” Information, HGTV Discussion Forums,
Investopedia.
6.
Educational
Social Networking
Educational
Social Networks are mostly meant for students, though anyone can use them. Students collaborate with other students on
academic projects, research or to interact with professors and teachers via
blogs and class room forums. Educational
social networks are becoming extremely popular within the educational system today.
Most of the colleges and universities have their personal websites wherein only
the students of respective institutes can join.
Some Alumni also have their own respective websites. Example: ePALS –
connects school students from around the world to promote world peace. GoIIT – Community for students preparing for
their school & Board Exams. IIT
Bombay Alumni – IIT Bombay Alumni can connect and network with each other
online.
7.
News
Social Networking
These
are large content websites where members publish news, stories,
commentary. These are involved in the
dissemination of community content which if left unmonitored turns into a
promotional gimmick filled with advertisements and self-promotion. Example:
Yahoo! Voices (earlier known as associated content), Helium, Now Public, Suite
101, and Triond.
Effects
Of Social Networking Sites Among College Students
” Every coin has two
sides and same is true of social networking as well”.
Negative
effects
The
negative effects of these social networking sites overweigh that positive
ones. These sites have caused some
potential harm to society. The students
become victims of social networks more often than anyone else. This is because of the reason that when they
are studying or searching their course material online, they get attracted to
these sites to kill the boredom in their study time, diverting their attention
from their work. Other negative side
effects of social networking websites include the following.
Ø Reduced Learning and
Research Capabilities:
Students
have started relying more on the information accessible easily on these social
networking sites and the web. This reduces their learning and research
capabilities.
Ø Multitasking:
Students
who get involved in activities on social media sites while studying result in
reduction in their focus of attention.
This causes reduction in their academic performance, and concentration
to study well.
Ø Reduction in Real Human
Contact:
The
more time students spend on these social media sites, the less time they will
spend socializing in person with others (face to face).
This
reduces their communication skills. They
will not be able to communicate and socialize effectively in person with
others.
Ø Reduces
command over Language usage and creative writing skills
Students
mostly use slang words or shortened forms of words on social networking
sites. They start relying on the
computer grammar and spelling check features.
This reduced their command over the language and their creative writing
skills.
Ø Time Wastage
Students,
while searching and studying online, get attracted to using social media sites
and sometimes they forget why they are using internet. This wastes their time and sometimes students
are not able to deliver their work in the specified time frame.
Ø Low Grades
Students
get low grades in school due to lack of the desired information and writing
skills. Thus results lower academic
performance of a student.
Ø Loss of Motivation in
Students
The
student’s motivational level reduces due to the use of these social networking
sites. They rely on the virtual
environment instead of gaining practical knowledge from the real world.
Ø Effect on Health
The
excessive use of these sites affects the mental as well as physical
health. Students do not take their meals
on time and take proper rest. They take
excessive amount of coffee or tea to remain active and focused which effects
negatively on their health.
Positive
Effects
Social
Networking gives youth the opportunity to express themselves freely and share
their identity with the world. Websites
like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter promotes this freedom of expression by
allowing its users to customize their personal pages, associate themselves with
what they are interested in, and post things such as messages or media that
they like. No longer do youth or people
in general have to hide themselves from the public, but instead, they can
finally express their true identity and be comfortable with it. Some of the common positive effects occur
through using SNS’s among college students as follows:
Ø Communication and
Creativity
If
affects youth simple because it gives them ability to communicate with friends
and family when they are not physically together. Thus the social Networking Sites are creating
very positive community for youth to express themselves. Moreover it develops the creativity in the
younger mind which is an extremely valuable skill to have.
Ø Sociability
Social
Networking Sites are make the youth to communicate others freely without any
kind of partiality. This seems to be a
one of the most essential social skill that requires in the society.
Ø Social Awareness
Using
the Social Networking Sites the youth can get the information regarding social
happenings around the world with the help of their contacts or through general
reference. Then it provides an awareness
to the youth about the society functioning.
Ø By
using the Social Networking Sites the students are proud of feeling or getting
recognized in the society as they can share their emotions to others. Using these sites the possibility of get in
to common activity in which they be recognized by the community.
REVIEW
OF LITERATURE
Anand
Nitika (2012, April) in her study on ” Impact of Social Networking Sites in the
Changing Mindset of Youth on Social Issues-A Study of Delhi-NCR Youth” pointed
out that majority of the youth that is 68 percent are actively participating in
social activities and social issues through social networking sites and posting
comments on the issues.
The
article entitled ” Use of Social Networking in a Linguistically and Culturally
rich India” by Mahajan Preeti (2012) tried to look at the impact of social
networking sites on Indian Society through linguistic and cultural
perspectives. Study says a social networking site enables us to stay connected
despite the hindrances of distance and time.
That is why their popularity and utilization has increased manifold and
will continue to increase in future.
Some people make good and worthy use of it while others misuse it.
Hence, its impact on the country’s social and cultural values is debatable as
some Indians feel it a threat while others feel it is not.
Manjunatha
(2013), the researcher attempted to understand the usage of social networking
sites among the Indian College Students with the help of empirical data. The
topic was entitled ” The Usage of Social Networking Sites among the College
Students in India”. The important findings of this project are 80 percent of
the Indian students spend significant amount of time on using Social Networking
Sties regularly, 8. 8 percent of the student using social networking sites for
the purpose of maintain existing friends/contacts, 19. 5 percent for find new
friends, 7. 4 percent for business networking, 4. 9 percent for to get active
partners and 3. 7 percent for dating.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Title
of the Study:
” INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON
COLLEGE STUDENTS”
Objectives
of the Study
·
To find out the
Personal Profile of the Respondents.
·
To know the purpose of
using social networking sites by the respondents
·
To study the impact of
social networking sites among college students
Research
Design
Research
design is a detailed outline of how an investigation will take place. In this study Descriptive Research Design was
used. Descriptive research design is concerned with describing the
characteristics of particular individual or group. The present study is also describing the
socio demographic details, purpose of using social networking sites and its
impact among the respondents.
SAMPLING
PROCEDURE
Universe
The
study was conducted in five Arts and Science College (Aided) at Chennai. The
researcher divided the Chennai into five major clusters based on geographical area
as 1) Central Chennai (18 Colleges), 2) North Chennai (10 Colleges), 3) South
Chennai (19 Colleges), 4) West Chennai (18 Colleges), and 5) Suburban Chennai
(13 Colleges). From the clusters the researcher had chosen five colleges one
from each cluster using simple random lottery method. Totally, 1997 male
students were studying in the final year comprise the universe.
Sample
size
Using
power analysis, the researcher defines the sample size as 150 in numbers. With
the help of determined sample size (150) the researcher has taken thirty (30)
respondents from each college adopting disproportionate sampling procedure
using simple random compute technique.
Tools
of Data Collection
The
researcher has constructed a Semi Structured Questionnaire for the purpose of
data collection.
Methods
of Data Collection
Primary
Data
Primary
Data’s were collected from the respondents through interview schedule.
Secondary
Data
Secondary
Data’s were collected from books, magazines. Journals and internet.
Analysis
of Data
The
researcher used Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) to compute the
collected data. Simple table, two way tables, Median, Quartiles, Chi-square,
T-Test, and ANOVAs were used to analyse the data.
FINDINGS
Personal
Profile of the Respondents
·
Half of the respondents
(51. 3%) were in the age group of 19-20 years
·
Nearly half of the
respondents (42. 0%) were studying in science courses.
·
More than half of the
respondents (53. 3%) family monthly income was between Rs. 6876 – 25000.
Social
Networking Sites Usage among the Respondents
·
Majority of the
respondents (75. 3%) were started to use the social networking sites in the age
of above 15 years.
·
More than one fourth of
the respondents (36. 0%) were using the social networking sites for the purpose
of being touch with their old friends.
·
Nearly sixty percent of
the respondents (58%) were having only one social networking profile.
·
More than half of the
respondents (54. 7%) were stated that facebook as their favourite social
networking site among other sites.
·
Just more than one
fourth of the respondents (28. 7%) were replied the reason for favourite social
networking site is that it helps to maintain existing contacts among family
members and friends.
·
Nearly half of the
respondents (41. 3%) were spending between 30 minutes to 1 hour on social networking sites.
·
More than one fourth of
the respondents (37. 3%) were making relationship in social networking sites
based on their personal likeness.
Impact
of Social Networking Sites among the respondents
·
Nearly half of the
respondents (44. 0%) were having medium level of physical impact on social
networking sites.
·
42. 7 percent were
having medium level of psychological impact on social networking sites.
·
Just more than half of
the respondents (52. 7%) were having medium level of social impact on social
networking sites.
·
About sixty percent of
the respondents (59. 3%) were having medium level of general impact on social
networking sites.
·
Nearly half of the
respondents (46. 7%) were having medium level of overall impact on social
networking sites (physical, psychological, social and general).
Influence
of Social Networking Sites
·
There is no association
between age and purpose, impact of physical, psychological, general and overall
of social networking sites.
·
There is an association
between age and social impact of social networking sites.
·
There is no association
between course of studying and impact of social networking sites.
·
There is no association
between impact of social networking sites and purpose of using social
networking sites, age of joining in the social networking sites and number of
social networking sites used.
SUGGESTION
·
The study reveals that
around 20 percentages of the respondents were had a high physical impact.
Physical exercise to improve their physical health must be essential.
·
Counseling should be
provided to recover from the psychological problems due to using of social
networking sites.
·
Some of the ethical responsibility
must be followed by the youth who are using social networking sites. They are:
Ø Person
using the social networking sites should be aware about their rights and moral
responsibilities.
Ø Respect
the authentication and privacy of those members that are using social
networking sites.
Ø One
should follow the ethics of online identity.
Ø Create
culture of disclosure.
CONCLUSION
The
social networking sites and social media has revolutionized the world by
bringing us closer than ever before and making the life easier than it ever
was. We can exploit this and use it for
a better life, a better tomorrow. It
should be used to connect, stay in touch easily, share views and not to waste
time on it. The growth of social
networking sites shows a significant change in the social and personal behavior
of internet users and also become an essential medium of communication and
entertainment tool among the young adults.
Though it has started to affect the daily activities of normal human
beings, the popularity of social networking sites is not going to reduce in
near future.
