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THE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES (SNS)

BY THE POST-GRADUATE STUDENTS

Dr Manzoor Hussain
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
University of Kashmir, Srinagar
E-mail: [email protected]

Dr Fayaz Ahmad Loan

Documentation Officer
Centre of Central Asian Studies
University of Kashmir, Srinagar
E-mail: [email protected]

Gousia Yaseen
Research Scholar
Department of Sociology
University of Kashmir, Srinagar

Abstract
Purpose of the study – The study aims to understand the use of social
networking sites by the post-graduate students, Departments of Sociology and
Social Work, University of Kashmir.
Research Design – The Department of Sociology and Department of Social
Work, University of Kashmir were selected as a universe of the study. Later,
the survey method of research was applied to conduct the study and
questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. In order o obtain the accurate
results, 50 percent of the post-graduate students were selected through the
systematic random sampling method.
Findings – The students at large have started to widely make use of social
networking sites; however, few students have shown reservations due to lack
of interest, lack of time, lack of facility and privacy concerns. Students who
use SNSs spend 1.43 hours as an average on social networking sites per day
and mostly use social networking sites to gain knowledge, to be in touch with
family and friends; to share information and promote social, religious,
political and environmental awareness; and few for passing time. The social
networking sites used by the students are Facebook, Google+, YouTube and
Twitter respectively.
Research limitations/implications – This study was conducted in a single
academic institution; therefore, findings may not be applicable and reasonable
to be generalized on all academic institutions.
Implications – This paper provides valuable insight into the usage of SNSs by
a very important client group and disciplines i.e. Post-graduate students of
sociology and social work.
Originality/value – The study is original in nature as the data was collected
directly from the Post-graduate Students of Sociology, University of Kashmir,
Jammu and Kashmir to examine and investigate their usage of SNSs.

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Keywords Social Media, Social Networking Sites, Sociology, Social work

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and
MySpace, have become essential and popular communication and information sharing
tools for internet users all over the world. These web sites have attracted a large number
of users worldwide than ever before, resulting in the social media revolution. The wave of
this revolution has created a trend to have a user profile on these sites. A social network
site is a web-based service that allows individuals to present a profile within an organized
framework, create a list of other users with whom they share a connection, navigate their
own list of connections, and view those made by others within the system. Social
networking sites are profile based websites that allow users to maintain social
relationships by viewing, visiting, and sharing their lists of social connections with other
members1. Singh and Gill2 define a social networking site (SNS) ―as a web-based service
that allows individuals to become part of a specific group and establish profiles within a
closed system, manage connections with other users and share activities, ideas, interests
and events‖. In a similar way, Kaplan and Haenlein3 state that social networking sites
―enable users to connect by creating personal information profiles, inviting friends and
colleagues to have access to those profiles, and sending e-mails and instant messages
between each other.‖ These sites allow people with common interests to create their
communities online for exchanging and sharing ideas, data, information, knowledge and
even wisdom through voice, text, images, videos and what not. These sites are used to
build personal blogs, personal websites, discussions forums, chat rooms and other social
spaces in virtual environment accessible to users for communication and exchange of
information. These sites indeed have changed the nature of interaction and collaboration
among individuals and organizations4.

The journey of social networking started with Six.Degrees.com in 1997, followed by

others such as LiveJournal, Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, and
Facebook5. Now, there are special categories of SNSs dealing with different fields of life
like business (LinkedIn), education (Classmates), research (ResearchGate), writers
(MyCreativeCommunity), books (Shelfari), travel (TravBuddy), religious (MyChurch)
and many more. Even there are content specific SNS also like Flickr (photo sharing),
Twitter (text sharing), Last.FM (music listening habits) and YouTube (video sharing).
People, now use social networking sites to connect with others in many ways, including
dating, meeting others with common interests and sharing information.

Literature Review
Social media, including social networking sites, has been a field of study among social
scientists especially media professionals, sociologists and information scientist since its
inception. Numerous studies have been conducted on social networking sites all over the
world due to the exponential use of social networking sites globally in recent years.
According to Alexa, Alexa and Stoica6, social networking sites have become the most

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heavily used websites, and they are ranked as one of the top sites visited globally. These
sites have become an integral part of the daily personal, social and business lives of many
people. Social networking has made it simple to develop relationships that transcend age,
race, culture and geographical differences7. According to Boyd and Ellison8, the primary
purpose of these sites was to connect people based on common language or shared racial,
sexual, religious or nationality-based identities, shared interests, political views and
activities. The sites assist in the development of relationships that transcend racial,
cultural, social, political and geographical barriers. As of July 2011, Facebook surpassed
750 million users, LinkedIn had over 100 million members, Twitter provided over 177
million tweets per day and YouTube reached three billion views per day9. Tortorella10
also reports that there are nearly 700 million active Facebook users, over 100 million
LinkedIn members, 5 billion+ images on Flickr, 24 million pages on Wikipedia, 300
million Twitter users posting over 7,000 tweets per second, over 2.9 billion hours on
YouTube watching per month. According to Statista11, Facebook was the first social
network to surpass 1 billion registered accounts and currently sits at 1.59 billion monthly
active users. Eighth-ranked photo-sharing app Instagram had over 400 million monthly
active accounts. Meanwhile, blogging service Tumblr had more than 555 million active
blog users on their site. Social networking has become a part and parcel of netizens all
over the world. The growth rate of users and active users of these sites accelerates at a
very fast pace across geographical, political, racial and religious boundaries.

Perryman12 states ―Social networking is everywhere today and is being used by people of
all ages and for the widest variety of purposes‖. Social networking tools are commonly
used by individuals of all ages, but are used especially by young people and college
students13. Na´ndez and Borrego14 also reveal that the demographic profile of social
networking sites users varies, with junior and younger researchers more likely to be
frequent users of social networking sites. Subrahmanyam15 conducted a study to assess
the use of online social networking sites among the college students of a large urban
university in Los Angeles. The study reveals that the students often used social
networking sites to connect and reconnect with their friends and family members.
Hargittai16 also conducted a study on usage habits of social networking sites by college
students. The findings of the study reveal that a majority of the college students are active
users of the social networking sites accessing these sites seven times or more in a week,
followed by semi-active users accessing them less than seven times a week. Bicen &
Cavus17 study the social networking sites usage habits of undergraduate students. The
study reflects that most under-graduate students use Facebook for more than four hours a
day. Chatting, sending messages and sharing links are common activities on Facebook.
The researchers proposed that by integrating Facebook into teaching and education, a
significant impact on students‘ lives in the university could be made. Haneefa and
Sumitha18 conducted a study with the purpose to investigate the perception and use of
social networking sites by the students of Calicut University, Kerala. The study shows
that a majority of the students were aware and make use of social networking sites. The
results reveal that 75.4 percent of the students used social networking sites for friendly
communication, 36.6 percent for academic communication, 29.1 percent for discussing
social issues, (11.2 percent) for promoting their work and 8.9 percent to publish their
writings. Bhardwaj19 conducted a study on the use of social networking sites by library
and information science professionals in higher education institutions in India. The results
reveal that 71.9% respondents are members of more than 10 groups; whereas 17.7% are
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members of 11 to 50 groups; 15 (7.8%) more than 50 groups and 5 (2.6%) are not
members of any group on SNS. Further, the study shows that the majority of respondents
(94%) preferred Facebook followed by 115 (60%) LinkedIn, 84 (44%) Orkut, 78 (40%)
Twitter, 72 (37%) YouTube and 27 (14%) Flickr whereas Xing (1%) and Myspace (4%)
are the least preferred SNS. Above studies reveal that social networking sites are heavily
used by a large population of the globe. Youngsters, especially students, are the avid
users of the social networking sites and use these sites for a variety of purposes. However,
no study has been conducted on the students of a particular branch of knowledge.
Therefore, it becomes inevitable to assess the use of social networking sites by the
scholars of a particular field. The present study is a step forward in this direction. The
current study focuses on the use of social networking sites of post-graduate students of
the Departments of Sociology and Social Work, University of Kashmir.

Research Design

Scope and purpose of the Study

The scope of the present study is limited to the post-graduate students of the Departments
of Sociology and Social Work, University of Kashmir. The University of Kashmir is the
oldest higher educational institution in Jammu and Kashmir, India established with the
objective of imparting higher education and conducting research in all areas of
knowledge, including arts and humanities, business and commerce, education and legal
studies, general sciences and social sciences, applied sciences and technology. The study
aims to understand the use of social networking sites by the post-graduate students of the
Departments of Sociology and Social Work, University of Kashmir.

Research Methodology

The intake capacity for the two year post-graduate programme in the Department of
Sociology is 66 and in the Department of Social Work is 40 students per year. The total
students studying in these departments were 212 (i.e. first year 66 + final year 66=112 in
Sociology; first year 40 + final year 40= 80). In order to obtain the most accurate results,
50% (112) of the students have been selected through systematic random sampling
method. Later, the survey method of research was applied to conduct the study and
questionnaire was used as a data collection tool.

Department No. of Students Sample Size Response Rate

(50%)
Sociology 132 66 62 (93.94%)
Social Work 80 40 38 (95.00%)
Total 212 106 100 (94.47%)

Table 1: Population and selection of sample

Among the selected sample, 41% were male students and 59% female whereas 64% were
rural and 36% urban students.

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Sex Percentage Residence Percentage

Male 41 Rural 64
Female 59 Urban 36
Total 100 Total 100

Table 2: Stratification of the selected sample

Research limitations/implications – This study was conducted in a single academic

institution, namely University of Kashmir, Srinagar. Therefore, findings, conclusions and
recommendations may not be applicable and reasonable to be generalized on all academic
institutions.

Data Analysis

Social Networking Sites

As reflected in the figure (1), 85 percent of students use the social networking sites
whereas only 15 percent do not use them at all. The students (15%) who don‘t use SNSs
mention many reasons for the same; 40 percent of them aren‘t interested in joining social
networking sites, (33.33%) don‘t have time to use them, (26.67%) have privacy concerns
(26.67%) don‘t have facilities and 20% thinks that it is a useless exercise (Table 3).

S. No. Reasons Number Percentage

1. I am not interested in joining social
06 40.00
networking
2.
I don‘t have time to use SNSs 05 33.33

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3.
It exposes the privacy 04 26.67
I don‘t have facilities (Internet,
4.
Computer, Laptop and Smartphone) to 04 26.67
use them
5.
It is a useless exercise 03 20.00
6.
I Joined once, but I didn‘t enjoy it 01 06.67
7.
It is expensive 01 06.67
8.
Any other reason 02 13.33

Table 3: Reasons for not Using Social Networking Sites (n=15)

Device used

Smartphones are used by the majority of the students (88.24%) to access social
networking sites followed by laptops (35.29 percent) (figure 2).

Accuracy of Profile Information

More than 90% of the students provide accurate information for religion, qualification,
marital status and designation whereas more than 70% provide accurate information for
the name and date of birth on social networking sites. Besides 67% of the students
provide the right information about their address, whereas 63.53% don‘t have their real
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image as their profile picture, 32.95% provide an inaccurate residential address, 23. 53%
conceal their original date of birth and 22.35% don‘t disclose their original name. The
mean of the data shows that as an average 79.41% of the users provide accurate
information on social networking sites as compared to 20.59% of the users who don‘t
right information (Table 4).

Category Yes Percentage No Percentage

Real Name 66 77.65 19 22.35
Real Picture 31 36.47 54 63.53
Real D.O.B 65 76.47 20 23.53
Right Address 57 67.05 28 32.95
Right Qualification 83 97.65 02 02.35
Right Designation 77 90.59 08 9.41
True Religion 83 97.65 02 02.35
True Marital Status 78 91.76 7 8.24
Mean 67.50 79.41 17.50 20.59

Table 4: Accuracy of Profile Information (n=85)

Number of friends

On social networking sites, 60% of the students have less than 1-100 friends, 18.82%
have 101-200 friends and 8.24% have 201-300 friends. In total, 87.6% have up to 300
friends, whereas only 12.94% have more than 300 friends in whom 9.41% have 500 plus
friends (Table 5).

S. No. Number of Friends Number Percentage

1. 1-100 51 60

2. 101-200 16 18.82

3. 201-300 7 8.24

4. 301-400 1 1.18
5. 401-500 2 2.35
6. More than 500 8 9.41

Table 5: Total No. of friends on the Social Networking Sites (n=85)

Friends personally known

On an average almost 52.74% of the friends on social networking sites are personally
known to the students whereas 47.36% of the friends aren‘t personally known to them.
These may be friends of friends or even strangers with some common interests. (Table 6)

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Number Mid-points
Friends personally
S. No. (x.f)
known
(f) (x)
1.
Up to 15% 12 7.5 90
2.
15-30% 10 22.5 225
3.
30-45% 10 37.5 375
4.
45-60% 15 52.5 787.5
5.
60-75% 16 67.5 1080
6.
Above 75% 22 87.5 1925

Mean ∑(x.f)/n 4482.5/85 52.74

Table 6: Percentage of friends on SNS personally known (n=85)

Time Spend

About half (48.23 percent) of the students spend 1-2 hours per day on social networking
sites whereas 24.70 percent spend less than 1 hour and 15.29 percent spend 2-3 hours on
social networking sites per day. A few students (11.74 percent) spend above 3 hours on
social networking sites in a day. However, students spend 1.43 hours as an average on
social networking sites per day, which is equivalent to 21.74 days in a year (Table 7).

Time spend Mid-points

S. No. Number (f) (x.f)
daily (x)
21
1. Less than 1 hour 0.5 10.5
(24.70%)
41
2. 1-2 hrs 1.5 61.5
(48.23%)
13
3. 2-3 hrs 2.5 32.5
(15.29%)
06
4. 3-4 hrs 3.5 21
(7.05%)
01
5. 4-5 hrs 4.5 4.5
(1.17%)
03
6. More than 5 hrs 5.5 16.5
(3.52%)
Mean ∑(x.f)/n 146.5/85 1.43 hours

Table 7: Time spend (n=85)

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Purpose of use

The majority of the students (82.35 percent) use social networking sites to gain
knowledge, 60 percent to be in touch with family and friends, 58.82 percent to share
information. A good number of students (31.76 percent) use social networking sites to
promote social, religious, political and environmental awareness and for passing the time
(28.24 percent) (Table 8).

.S. No. Purpose Number Percentage

1.
To gain knowledge 70 82.35
2. To be in touch with
51 60
family and friends
3.
To share information 50 58.82
To promote social,
4. religious, political and
27 31.76
environmental
awareness
5.
To pass time 24 28.24
6. To share videos/
16 18.82
pictures/ music
7.
To make new friends 14 16.47
8. To make professional
7 8.24
and business contacts
9.
Any other reason/s 5 5.88

Table 8: Purpose of use (n=85)

Services used

Facebook (77.65%) is used by the majority of the students followed by Google+

(69.41%), YouTube (51.76%), Twitter (32.94%), The other SNSs used by the less than
10% of the students are LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, Orkut, Friendster, Bebo, Hi-5 and
Instegram (Table 9).

Social Networking
S. No. Number Percentage
Sites
1.
Facebook 66 77.65
2.
Google+ 59 69.41

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3.
YouTube 44 51.76
4.
Twitter 28 32.94
5.
LinkedIn 6 07.05
6.
Any other/s 30 35.29

Table 9: Mostly Used Social Networking Sites (n=85)

Membership in Groups

The majority of the students (61.17%) are members of 1-5 groups followed by 17.64
percent of students who are members of 6-10 groups. A good number of students (14.11
percent) aren‘t members of any group (Table 10).

S. No. Membership in groups Number Percentage

1.
None 12 14.11
2.
1-5 52 61.17
3.
6-10 15 17.64
4.
11-15 3 3.52
5.
15-20 1 1.17
6.
More than 20 2 2.35

Table 10: Membership in social networking sites communities/ groups (n=85)

Discussion

The students at large have started to widely make use of social networking sites; however,
few students have shown reservations. Few don‘t show interest, few others don‘t have
time, few have privacy concerns while few don‘t have the facility and others think that it
isn‘t beneficial to use social networking sites. The privacy is one of the obstacles in social
networking highlighted by many scholars all over the world. Every social network
provides its users with a profile page that can include a photo, name, basic information,
interests and many other things including user's connections and social networks. Internet
users retrieve this information from social networking sites while searching through
search engines like Google or even social networking sites like Facebook. Social
networking sites have become people‘s search engine. However, most social networks
have technological facilities to restrict users in sharing their personal information with the

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public. Facebook and MySpace let users hide their pages from the public so that only
their selected friends can view their information. It has overcome the problem of privacy
to great extend. The hindrances like lack of interest in joining SNS and lack of their
usability can be successfully tackled through user awareness programmes, workshops,
short term training courses, manuals, etc. The need is to aware students about the social,
academic and other benefits of social networking thoroughly. This study also confirmed
that lack of time is one of the biggest barriers faced by the non-users faced. The students
need to use their time judiciously as per the timetable and spend some time on social
networking to reap its benefits. Lack of facility like laptops, desktops etc. to access social
networking sites is another issue of students and smartphones have solved this problem to
a large extend as almost 90% of the students use smartphones to access social networking
sites.

The Facebook is really a Facebook or a ―Fakebook” is a major mystery because as 63.53

percent don‘t have their real image as their profile picture, 32.95% provide an inaccurate
residential address, 23. 53% conceal their original date of birth and 22.35% don‘t disclose
their original name. As an average almost 80% of the students provide accurate
information on social networking sites as compared to 20% of the users who don‘t right
information. The study depicts that even the educated conceal their real identity on
Facebook which is a matter of great concern. Haneefa and Sumitha20 reveal that almost
the same percentage of students used false names and fake photos due to fear of security,
privacy and misuse of personnel information. This issue can also be addressed through a
user identification mechanism applied by professional social networking sites like
LinkedIn and ResearchGate. A talk on social and moral ethics available on the homepage
of the social networking sites can also reduce their misuse and misinformation.

The friendship trends show that 87.06% of students have up to 300 friends, whereas only
12.94% have more than 300 friends. On an average almost 52.74% of the friends on
social networking sites are personally known to students, whereas 47.36% of the friends
aren‘t personally known to them. This ratio depicts that students are open for friendships
for all people including their physical friends, friends of friends or even strangers with
some common interests. The study proves that social networking sites are helpful for
connecting people with common interests across physical boundaries.

Time analysis reveals that students spend 1.43 hours as an average on social networking
sites per day, which is equivalent to 21.74 days in a year. However, few students (11.74
percent) spend above 3 hours on social networking sites in a day in which 3.52 percent
spend more than 5 hours. The findings show that students are the avid users of social
networking sites and spend time judiciously on the social networking sites to reap their
benefits. Social networking sites have a wide variety of uses and students use these sites
for various purposes. The majority of the students use social networking sites to gain
knowledge, to be in touch with family and friends; to share information and promote
social, religious, political and environmental awareness and few for passing the time. The
top most used social networking sites worldwide are commonly used by the student
community as well. Prominent social networking sites used by the students are Facebook,
Google Plus, YouTube and Twitter. Majority of the students are members of online social
groups as well. Findings are supported by Haneefa and Sumitha21 who pinpoint that social
networking sites enable students to get in touch with their friends, faculty members, and
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institutions and allow them to connect with more friends; create and share their identities
and profiles that may include personal information, pictures, blog entries, videos and
music clips; and join groups and communicate with other persons as well. It is a good
sign that students use social networking sites for constructive purposes. However,
students need to be made aware about the dark side of social networking like viewing
pornographic material and indulging in nuisance interactions. The social ethics need to be
followed in online environment as well.

Recommendations for further research

The results of this study examine many aspects related to the usage of SNSs by students;
however, there are several areas that need to be addressed in future research. Further
studies are needed to examine additional issues of SNSs such as legal, ethical and
intellectual aspects. Additionally, future studies can be conducted on academic use of
SNSs in educational institutions.

References

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19. Bhardwaj, R. K. op. cit 13
20. Haneefa, M. K. and Sumitha E., op. cit. 18
21. Ibid

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