Impact of social networking sites on student

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the Study When a web became popular in the mid-1990s, it enables people to share information in ways that was never possible before. But as limitless as the possibilities seemed, there was a personal aspect that was lacking. While users could create homepages and post their own content on the web, these individual sites lacked a sense of community.

In the early 2000s, the web became much more popular as social networking sites were introduced and embraced by the masses. Social networking sites are a platform that creates a social networking or social relation among the people. These sites allow a people or users to be part of virtual community. Facebook, my space and twitter are the some of the example of famous networking sites that are embraced by the masses among the available networking sites in the world that provides users with simple tools to create a costume profile with text and pictures.

These sites help users to share feelings, ideas, personal information, pictures and videos among the friends. Over the years, social networking sites among the college students have become more and more popular. It is a way to make connection not only on campus friends but also with friends outside of campus. Social networking sites is a way that helps many people feels as the belong to community. Due to the increased popularity of it, economist and professors are questioning whether grades of students are being affected by how much time is being spent on these sites (Choney, 2010). Nowadays many students spend their times in networking sites such as facebook, twitter, mig33, etc that has both positive and negative impact on them.

It seems like a waste of time but the positive impact is that it helps them to develop knowledge & skills and also helps them to acquire update news & information. In 1994 the first social networking sites was developed and AOL messenger service was among the first popular messaging service launched in 1997. These networking sites have developed and now have become extremely popular worldwide. Social networking sites became popular among the students in between 2004 and 2006 after the establishment of facebook by Mark Zuckerberg and my space by Tom Anderson. Facebook had more than 750 million active users globally in 2010 and it is still growing rapidly. Approximately 85% of undergraduate students are facebook usres (Schneider, 2009).

But these numbers is expected to grow as facebook users are growing rapidly. Social networking sites are not only popular for providing a platform for sharing ideas, personal information, feeling, etc. but also for discussing social issues. As social networking continues to grow in popularity it is our belief that technology is a vital part of today’s student success equation. Many researcher have been diving into a considerable amount of research on how social media influences student retention at colleges. Youth and adolescents are at some risk as they navigate and experiment with social media because of their limited capacity for self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure.

There are frequent online expressions of offline behavior, as clique forming, bullying and sexual experimentation according to a recent research (Lenheart A., 2009). Many parents are worried that their college students are spending too much time on facebook and other social media sites and not enough time on studying. Many college students spend their time utilizing social media in their various academic processes and also they are using social networking sites in classroom at study time through their cell phones. Therefore, our research ascertains the relationship between the social networking sites and students.1.

1.1 Statement of the ProblemsNowadays many college students spend their time using social networking sites which has both negative and positive impact on their study. Many questions may arise while studying about the relationship between the social networking sites and college students. Some of the major questions are mention below: Which one is the most popular social networking sites among the college students? For what purpose college students are using social networking sites? What is the positive impact of social networking sites among the college students? What is the affect of social networking sites on student’s grade? How much time does student spend their time on networking sites?1.1.

2 Significance of the StudyThere are many significance of the study. It helps find out the most popular networking sites among the college students and also helps to know about the purpose of using networking sites by the college students. Overall it helps to find out the impact of social networking sites among the college students.1.1.3 Limitation of the StudyThe study will be confined within a student of Nepal Tourism and Hotel Management College and will not be applicable outside the academy.

It is totally based on the opinion of the respondent and hence it may contain some biasness. There are around 150 students in the college thus I am selecting the sample size of 50 students from the college randomly.1.2 Objectives of the StudyThe general objective of the study is to ascertain the relationship between the social networking sites and the college students. There are some other specific objectives and they are mention below: To find out the most popular social networking sites among the college students and purpose of using these sites. To analyze the impact of social networking sites among the college students.

To know about the amount of time spent by college students for using these social networking sites.1.3. Limitation of the StudyLiterature Review Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roomates and fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.

Facebook is a social networking service launched in February 2004 and it was owned and operated by Facebook.Inc. The website’s membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students but now facebook allowsany users who declare themselves to be atleast 13 years old to become a registered users of the site. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, exchange messages and receive automatic notification when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college or other characteristics and categorize their friends into list such as “People From Work” or “Close Friends”.

As of september 2012, Facebook has over one billion active users of which 8.7% are fake. The number of facebook users is still growing. After the establishment of Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, the social networking sites became famous among the college students.

Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, MySpace, Mig33, etc. are the some of the example of famous networking sites among the college students that have both positivie and negative impact on them. Almost 25 percent of student’s time on the internet is now spent on social networking websites (Jacobsen & Forste, 2011). Facebook is the most used social network by college students followed by Youtube and Twitter. An online survey conducted by Youth-Trends in February of 2008 interviewed over 1000 U.S males and females between the age of 18 and 24 regarding their top three favorite websites.

Results showed that 74 percent of females and 60 percent of males listed facebook as one of their top three choices. This finding suggest a significant increase in the popularity of facebook among college students over the past year considering that 69 percent females and 56 percent of males between the age of 17 and 25 listed facebook as one of their top three favorite sites in Youth-Trends’ janaury 2007 reports (Laura, 2009). Moreover, Facebook alone reports that it now has 500 million active users, 50% of whom log on everyday. In addition, according to a study by Online Phd, Students spend roughly 100 minutes per day on Facebook.

In 2007, the number of students who used Facebook was already enormous: 92 percent of college students had an account. By 2008, 99 percent of students had an account on facebook. That is quite a large amount considering the service was only opened in 2006 to everyone. Nowadays lot of lilerature review is available on the impact of networking sites among the students.

The positive aspect of online communities is that youth can utilize them for academic assistance and support (Lusk, 2010). These sites also help people to develop knowledge & skills and also help them to acquire updated news & information. “Students who may be reluctant to speak up in class are participating in book discussion blogs and writing for real audiences. There are new web tools emerging all the time that are enhancing learning (Brydolf, 2007).” On the other hand, there are also some negative impacts of networking sites among the students. “Our finding indicates that electronic media use is negatively associated with grades.

We also find that about two-third of the students using electronic media while in class, studying or doing homework (Jacobsen & Forste, 2011).” Several studies have been done regarding social networking sites ang grades of the student. The University of New Hampshirte agrees, and believes that current college students grew up in the technology era and social networking is now just a part of a student’s daily routine. Their research show that 63 percent of heavy users received high grades compared to 65 percent of light users (University of New Hampshire, 2009). There are also some research conducted by universities where they concluded that there is no correlation between how much time is spent on a social networking sites by the students and their grades obtained in the universities. Northwestern researcher believes that social networking use did not affect the differences in GPAs between male and female or White and African American students.

However, social network use did eliminate the difference in GPAs between students whose parents had differing levels of higher education (Cheng, 2010). When a researcher controlled the demographic of parental education, there seemed to be positive relationship between internet use and GPA. There are also some research conducted by universities that concluded that there is a close relationship between the time spend by college students on networking sites and their grade obtain in the universities. Karpinski focused on the relationship between time spent on facebook and the academic performance of the students. The overall finding indicated “more time on facebook equals slightly lower grades” (San Miguel, 2009). In Karpinski’s study the average facebook user had a GPA of 3.

0 to 3.5, while the non-facebook user had a GPA of 3.5 to 4.0.

Also the average facebook user studied for 1 to 5 hours per week, while the non-facebook user would studied for 11-15 hours per week. According to a new study by doctoral candidate Aryn Karpinski og Ohio State University and her co-auther Adam Duberstein of Ohio Dominican University, college students who use the 500 million member social networking sites have significantly lower GPA than those who do not use. Thus if a people use these networking sites in a positive way, it will be benefit for them and if a people use these networking sites in a negative way, same sites will be harmful for them. So these social networking sites have both positive and negative impact among the college students.1.

3.1 Conceptual FrameworkFig 1.1 conceptual framework This study will explain the impact of social networking site among the students of Nepal Tourism and Hotel Management College. This study shows how facebook affects the student’s SGPA, their study time, their relationship with friends and their class concentration on study.1.

4 Research MethodlogyThis research is conducted to anlyse the relationship between social networking sites and college students. Both primary and secondary data, different sources through internet and books are use in this study. Descriptive research will be appropriate for this study. Hence descriptive research will be use in this research.1.

4.1 Site SelectionThis study will select the BBA and BBA-BI students of Nepal Tourism and Hotel Management College, Gairahapatan, Pokhara because almost all the students of this class use social networking sites and it will be easy to get relaible data from the students.1.4.2 Research DesignThe research is conducted to obtain the complete and accurate information from the respondents that describes the actual phenomena.

So descriptive research design will be use in this research.1.4.3 Population, Sample and SamplingBBA and BBA-BI students of Nepal Tourism and Hotel Management College are taken as population size of research. There are around 150 students studying in the college. It will be difficult to collect the accurate data from the students so 50 students are taken as sample from the college using simple random sampling technique selecting the 5 student from the roll sheet of each class.

1.4.4 Sources and Nature of Data CollectionBoth primary and secondary data will be used for the study purpose. Under primary data, the self administered questionaire method will be use as a method of obtaining data. Under secondary data, the information will be collected from internet and books.1.

4.5 Method of Data AnalysisData analysis refers to the ways of showing data which are collected in the field of operation of research program. In this research, appropriate statistical tools like table, bar diagram or pie chart will be used to analyze the collected data and information from BBA and BBA-BI students of Nepal Tourism and Hotel Management College.ReferenceCapano, Nicholas, Johanna Deris and Eric Desjardins (2010).

Social Networking Usage and Grades Among College Students. Whittemore School of Business and Economics.Walz, O. Laura (2009). The Relationship Between College Students’ Use of Social Networking Site and Their Sense of Belonging. University of Hartford.

Retrived on 21st september, 2013 from Website http://books.google.com.np/books?id=LxdkLA7ygUAC&pg=PA12& dq=social+networking+sites+among+college+students&hl=en&sa= X&ei=3qQ9Utslf8uJrAem54HABQ&ved=OCCgQ6AewAA#v=onepag e&q=social%0networking%20sites%20among%20college%20stude nts&f=falseCheng, Jacqui (2010).

Grades don’t Drop for College Facebook Friends. Lusk B., (2010). Digital Natives and Social media Behaviors: An Overview Prevention Researcher, pp. 173-189. San Miguel, Renay (2010).

Study on Facebook and Grades Becomes Learning Experience for Researcher.