Investigating the Usage Patterns and the Implications of Young Adults’ Social Media Usage in South Africa

2019 ◽  
pp. 45-57
Author(s):  
Shanay Paideya ◽  
Adheesh Budree ◽  
Shivani Arora
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Usage Patterns

scholarly journals Social Media and Loneliness - Forever connected?

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Yavich ◽  
Nitza Davidovitch ◽  
Zeev Frenkel
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Many

Young adults’ use of social media has soared in recent years, and the many hours that young adults now spend in front of screens replace time spent in face-to-face interactions. Previous studies indicate that the unique features of social media offer advantages to adolescents compared with other communications media. Today, the fact that young adults spend a significant part of their social lives spent on social media and forums triggers an important question that interests educators and therapists about whether presence in the digital world offers an adequate sense of social belonging and mitigates the feeling of loneliness that young adults occasionally experience. Using self-report questionnaires, this study examined associations between reported Facebook usage patterns and loneliness among Ariel University students. The hypotheses of this study, predicting an association between social media usage and loneliness, were not supported, in contrast to findings of previous studies.

The effects of social media usage on loneliness and well-being: analysing friendship connections of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoyu Ye ◽  
Kevin K.W. Ho ◽  
Andre Zerbe
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
University Students ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Access Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Purpose This study aims to clarify the effects of different patterns of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram usage on user loneliness and well-being in Japan. Design/methodology/approach Based on responses to a self-report questionnaire in Japan, 155 university students were separated into 4 groups: users of Twitter only, users of Twitter and Facebook, users of Twitter and Instagram and users of all three social media. The effects of social media usage on loneliness and well-being for each group were analysed. Findings No social media usage effects on loneliness or well-being were detected for those who used only Twitter or both Twitter and Instagram. For those using both Twitter and Facebook, loneliness was reduced when users accessed Twitter and Facebook more frequently but was increased when they posted more tweets. Users of all three social media were lonelier and had lower levels of well-being when they accessed Facebook via PC longer; whereas their their access time of Facebook via smartphones helped them decrease loneliness and improve their levels of well-being. Originality/value The findings reported here provide possible explanations for the conflicting results reported in previous research by exploring why users choose different social media platforms to communicate with different groups of friends or acquaintances and different usage patterns that affect their loneliness and well-being.

Deepening the Understanding of Students´ Study-Related Media Usage

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-59
Author(s):  
Joachim Stöter
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Short Questionnaire ◽  
Instructional Design Process ◽  
Usage Patterns

This article describes how numerous studies on student usage of various digital applications, social media and networks are available but studies on study-related media usage typologies are rare. Based on the instruments developed by Zawacki-Richter, Müskens, Krause, Alturki, and Aldraiweesh, as well as Zawacki-Richter, Kramer and Müskens, a short questionnaire was developed and tested with a cohort of 72 students. The results of the factor analysis suggest statistically relevant scales, which are suitable for classifying students along their media usage patterns through a subsequent cluster analysis. The three clusters that were determined can be compared with the usage types from Zawacki-Richter et al. During the instructional design process these heterogeneous groups and their media usage should be taken into consideration. The identified items can be applied in order to develop qualitative interviews for a deeper understanding of the usage types.

Social Media Use for Water Conservation Education in South Africa: Perceptions of Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality’s Residents

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charity Hove ◽  
Oluyinka O Osunkunle
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Conservation Education ◽  
Conservation Practices ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Persuasive Strategies ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Water scarcity is increasing in South Africa and communities need to be educated about water conservation practices. This article investigated the perceptions of Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality’s residents concerning the use of social media for water conservation education in their community. Through a quantitative methodology, a sample of 383 respondents answered a questionnaire and the main findings were that 75 per cent of respondents did not know about the municipality’s social media platforms. This article recommends that the municipality creates awareness about its social media platforms, increases social media usage and employs persuasive strategies for participation.

scholarly journals Social Media Usage Patterns: Research Note Regarding the Lack of Universal Validated Measures for Active and Passive Use

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511984874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briana M. Trifiro ◽  
Jennifer Gerson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Media Use ◽  
General Measure ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Experimental Laboratory ◽  
Current Article

The existing literature regarding social media use provides extant evidence supporting the claim that usage patterns ultimately have the capability of impacting users. However, the vast majority of the literature is based upon experimental laboratory settings where participants are observed by researchers. The current article asserts that there is a significant deficiency within the discipline regarding the validated measurement of usage patterns of social networking sites (SNSs) and offers guidance for those who may want to develop a general measure.

scholarly journals Social media usage patterns during natural hazards

PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. e0210484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith T. Niles ◽  
Benjamin F. Emery ◽  
Andrew J. Reagan ◽  
Peter Sheridan Dodds ◽  
Christopher M. Danforth
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Usage Patterns

scholarly journals Exploring social media usage as a communication channel among independent food retailer SMEs in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. e392
Author(s):  
José Dos Santos ◽  
Rodney Duffett
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Communication Channel ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Contact Points ◽  
Food Retailer

Social media has facilitated interaction between businesses and consumers, and consequently, has seen rapid growth as a communication channel by a number of smaller retailers in South Africa. Hence, the primary research objective of this study is to explore social media usage as a marketing communication strategy by independent food retailer small to medium enterprises (SMEs). The study used a qualitative data collection strategy and in-depth interviews were conducted among eleven independent food retailer SMEs in South Africa. The study revealed that the level of social media activity by the respondent retailers was influenced by enabling factors such as cost effectiveness, accessibility, reach and relationship building, whereas perceived risk and resources such as time, knowledge and human resources were inhibiting factors. The research contributes to the available literature exploring social media usage as customer contact points for promotional purposes, as well as provides insight for further studies on the use of social media conduits by independent food retailer SMEs or similar businesses in a developing country.

scholarly journals Mining for Social Media: Usage Patterns of Small Businesses

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shilpa Balan ◽  
Janhavi Rege
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Business Goals ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
The Impact

AbstractBackground: Information can now be rapidly exchanged due to social media. Due to its openness, Twitter has generated massive amounts of data. In this paper, we apply data mining and analytics to extract the usage patterns of social media by small businesses. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to describe with an example how data mining can be applied to social media. This paper further examines the impact of social media on small businesses. The Twitter posts related to small businesses are analyzed in detail. Methods/Approach: The patterns of social media usage by small businesses are observed using IBM Watson Analytics. In this paper, we particularly analyze tweets on Twitter for the hashtag #smallbusiness. Results: It is found that the number of females posting topics related to small business on Twitter is greater than the number of males. It is also found that the number of negative posts in Twitter is relatively low. Conclusions: Small firms are beginning to understand the importance of social media to realize their business goals. For future research, further analysis can be performed on the date and time the tweets were posted.

scholarly journals The Effects of Social Media on Reading Habits

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rafiq ◽  
Andleeb Asim ◽  
Muhammad Tufail Khan ◽  
Muhammad Arif
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Reading Habits ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Difference Of Opinion ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Data Collection Instrument ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

The study aimed to conduct a quantitative inquiry to understand the effects of social media on the reading habits of the students. The study explored the social media usage patterns and statistically analyzed the effects of social media on reading habits by applying descriptive and inferential statistics. A structured questionnaire was developed by analyzing the related literature and reliability test (Cronbach alpha) testifies that data collection instrument was stable enough to measure the phenomenon. Data collected from a sample of 430 students. The findings of the study revealed the positive effects of social media on reading habits. However, distraction during the time of the study noted as the adverse effect. There was a significant difference of opinion among males and females opinion in terms of certain effects. The study mentioned that Facebook, Whatsapp, Google+ and YouTube were used daily by students. Most of the students were using social media through cell phone. The study has theoretical implications for researchers and practical implications for academia, teachers, policy institutions, and higher education institutions.

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