Most versus least used social media: undergraduate students' preferences, participation, lurking, and motivational factors

Author(s):  
Enilda Romero Hall ◽  
Erika Petersen ◽  
Renata Sindicic ◽  
nlin Li
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Ntongha Eni Ikpi ◽  
Veronica Akwenabuaye Undelikwo

The use of social media platforms has over the years become a veritable tool for individuals, groups, institutions and corporate bodies for the promotion of health and wellness. In recent times, social media has become one of the most potent agents of the media through which health issues are addressed as well as generated and disseminated to different populations in society. The study was conducted to examine social media use and students’ health lifestyle modification in the University of Calabar, Nigeria. It sought to determine the extent to which students’ use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp) influences the modification of their health-related lifestyles such as eating habits, sexual behaviour, cigarette and alcohol consumption, drug use and the engagement in fitness activities. The study adopted a randomized descriptive survey design and used a sample of 300 undergraduate students. The questionnaire was the main instrument used for collection of data while simple percentages and means were used to determine the difference between the expected mean of 2.50 and the observed means across various items in the questionnaire. The results showed that apart from Twitter, social media use by University of Calabar students has significantly influenced the modification of their health lifestyles. Since social media has become a veritable tool for the promotion of positive health lifestyle, effort should be made by government through the health sector to create more awareness among students and the entire population of social media users, on the health benefits accruing from use of social media.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olubunmi Michael Odewumi ◽  
Foluke B. Bamigboye ◽  
Olushola F. Olawuyi ◽  
Oluwatosin O. Bamigboye

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayed Salahuddin Ahmed ◽  
Abdulkhaleq Q. A. Hassan

s not it deplorable that in a country that tops in the entire world in using several social media sites does not utilize the same media in acquiring knowledge and skills? In Saudi Arabia, undergraduate students spend a significant amount of time on social media every day, but they are reluctant (or not motivated enough) to use the same media for educational purposes. This study was carried out on the undergraduate English majors of King Khalid University in Muhayil Asir in Saudi Arabia. In the English department, every student carries at least one smart phone with Internet connection, and they are found occupied with their phones on the campus, sometimes even in classrooms, but they are weak both in subject knowledge and skills of English language. The teachers-cum-researchers were baffled with students’ competence because regular users of Internet and social media are supposed to be updated with the subject knowledge as well as confident in using English language. The researchers designed an empirical study to explore students’ rationale of using the social media and their language preference. The study concludes with gloomy findings that students use the media mainly for entertainment and ineffective communication in English language. The worst fact is: they are not motivated enough to use the social media for educational purposes.


Author(s):  
Chinomnso C. Nnebue ◽  
Chukwuma B. Duru ◽  
Kelechukwu C. Uzoh ◽  
Blessing E. Udozor ◽  
Sulyat T. Salaudeen ◽  
...  

Background: Social networking has become integral to the intellectual, emotional and social lives of the young. The often-unrestricted access to sexually explicit content on the social media and associated adverse sexual health among this group, constitute key outcomes in public health research. Aim: To determine social media use and the effect on sexual practices among undergraduate students in a private university in Southern Nigeria. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional survey among 300 undergraduate students of Madonna University Nigeria, Elele campus, was conducted between June and November, 2019. Respondents were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data were obtained using self-administered semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis employed statistical package for social sciences version 22.0. Chi-square test was used to determine statistically significant associations between variables at p values < 0.05. Results:  Out of a sample size of 300, all were returned and analysed, giving a response rate of 100%, and a mean age of 21.85+ 2.63years. The awareness of social media was 97.9%, with commonest 237 (79%) from friends/peers. The reasons cited for its use include: 208 (72.7%) access to news, 182(63.6%) academics, while 173 (60.5%) accessed social media for sexually explicit content. The mean age at sexual debut was 17.44 + 2.63 years. There were associations between use of social media for sexually explicit content and [the sexually active (p=0.000); type of sexual acts practised (p=0.003) and number of sexual partnerships (p=0.000)] respectively. Conclusion: This study found an association between use of social media for sexually explicit content and risky sexual practices. No association was found between ever had sexual act and gender. We recommend behaviour-change interventions that control social media use for sexually explicit content and not compromise access to sexual health education among them.


10.2196/13076 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. e13076
Author(s):  
Sara Melvin ◽  
Amanda Jamal ◽  
Kaitlyn Hill ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Sean D Young

Background Social media data can be explored as a tool to detect sleep deprivation. First-year undergraduate students in their first quarter were invited to wear sleep-tracking devices (Basis; Intel), allow us to follow them on Twitter, and complete weekly surveys regarding their sleep. Objective This study aimed to determine whether social media data can be used to monitor sleep deprivation. Methods The sleep data obtained from the device were utilized to create a tiredness model that aided in labeling the tweets as sleep deprived or not at the time of posting. Labeled data were used to train and test a gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural network as to whether or not study participants were sleep deprived at the time of posting. Results Results from the GRU neural network suggest that it is possible to classify the sleep-deprivation status of a tweet’s author with an average area under the curve of 0.68. Conclusions It is feasible to use social media to identify students’ sleep deprivation. The results add to the body of research suggesting that social media data should be further explored as a potential source for monitoring health.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Lai Cheung ◽  
Wilson K.S. Leung ◽  
Morgan X. Yang ◽  
Kian Yeik Koay ◽  
Man Kit Chang

PurposeGrounded in uses and gratification theory (UGT) and observational learning theory (OLT), this study aims to understand the impact of motivational factors on consumer-influencer engagement behaviors (CIEBs). Motivating factors, including entertainment, information seeking, reward and social interaction, are regarded as antecedents of consumers' OLT, as manifested by CIEB dimensions, including consumption, contribution and creation, and subsequently drive consumer engagement with the endorsed brands.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire was distributed to Malaysian social media users. A total of 263 responses were collected and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the impact of motivational factors on CIEBs.FindingsThe results show that the three dimensions of CIEBs can be predicted by different gratifications (information seeking, entertainment, reward and interaction). In addition, two of the CIEB dimensions, consumption and contribution, were found to have a significant positive influence on consumers' engagement with endorsed brands.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights into how social media influencers (SMIs) could lead to CIEBs by creating entertaining and rewarding content that facilitates social interaction between consumers. SMIs and marketers that encourage consumers to browse, comment and share SMI-created posts will enhance consumer engagement with the endorsed brands, as engagement is driven by the consumption and contribution to SMI-created content.Originality/valueSMI marketing is increasing, and many brands are beginning to rely more on SMIs to promote brands. Yet, there is a dearth of studies that have examined how SMIs play a role in affecting consumers' engagement with endorsed brands. This study contributes to the marketing literature by developing and empirically testing the research model. Results suggest that social interaction, reward and entertainment are key motivational factors that drive CIEBs, which, in turn, foster consumer engagement with endorsed brands.


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