A Look Out for Academic Impacts of Social Networking Sites (Snss): a Student Based Perspective

The social media are forms of communication but everything has a limit, so we must see the most negative aspects and the conditions of misuse of them. In the last years they have caused cultural, social and educational changes. A group of American experts have considered that spending hours on the Internet can be a psychiatric problem. Today social networks are like today's newspapers, you can find all the trends that turn to reality, and the reaction that users have to them, making them quickly become fashionable even if they are a waste of time. When a teenager or any person creates a social network account they have

Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe identify that social networking sites are among the main use of internet today. According to the authors, social networking sites are among the social media platforms that facilitate interaction in the computer environment. The writers identify the main motives for using social networking sites, for example, Facebook. One of the benefits is that Facebook improves the quality of life both social and at workplaces. According to the writers, social media has become common in the society that a majority cannot remember previous life without them. Social networking sites have become popular among college students who find it as a major platform for social interaction.

Are we becoming less human with the passing of each day? Have we become too dependent on technology, specifically social media? In this day and age, people have different views on social media. They question its true purpose and its effect on society as a whole. With that said, although there are many thoughts concerning the topic/trend of social media something that is undoubtedly true is that social media plays an active role in the lives of the majority of people. Whether in a positive or negative way, social media influences the lives of all people. However this paper focuses on the effect of social media on college students. It addresses both the positive and negative effects of social media on those in college; focusing on a student’s academic efficiency, social interactive skills, and overall productivity.

For children, these sites have become very addictive. The day starts off by checking their profile to check their messages, blogs, readings, horoscopes and to, keep up with events such as marriage’s and graduations. Social networking is an excellent way of teaching young children families’ cultures and traditions. These marriage and graduation events have prompted 29 million parents to join in as well. (O’Dell,2011) Alisa Almas, a University of Toronto graduate student and a Facebook user, says, “Kids who have had a great relationship with their parents in real life volunteer information about their private and social world, and would more likely be on Face book.” (Kobayashi ,2011) Social networking has allowed family members to reconnect with friends, nuclear and extended family. Social networking has increased communication, and strengthened relationships. Social networking sites allow for creative expression in a new medium. They provide free messaging, blogging, photo storage, games, event invitations, and many other services to Social networking sites bring people with common interests together, and keep in touch at all times with relatives and friends .(Andrew,2009,p.342)  Through social networking many teenagers have overcome with their social anxieties. 59% of students with access to the Internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics

Facebook is one of the most used Social Media used by college students, and high school students. As stated in the article “The Reasons for Non-Use of Social Net-working Websites by University Students” , “Facebook’s statistics report that there are 901 million monthly active users who create

In modern times, technology is the most important object in people’s daily life. Social networks is experiencing explosive development. No matter where we are, park, restaurant, classroom, or coffee house, almost everyone bows their head and plays cell phones, smart phones, or laptops. New technologies have been becoming more and more popular, at the same time, immeasurable people are using these new technologies. It is the most normal scene that people holds their devices and has no communication with others. Some people would say that these new technologies have positively transformed communication mode so that modern people prefer talking on the internet instead of face to face. That was a very popular statement at the beginning of 21st century. However, with time goes by, one of the new technologies—social networking— has begun to show a dark side. Although using different kinds of smart devices like iPhone, laptop, and tablet PC to log into social network is not inherently bad, some young people have been abusing this technology. It is so called troubling trend of social networks usage that needs to be focused on and solved. Indeed, parents can use some soft wares to control their child’s usage of social networking sites, another more powerful way is the law enforcement, the best solution to this troubling trend is let students take

Social media is discussed daily because it is growing at a rapid pace and continues to be an important part of people's lives, especially first year college students. People use social media in their first year of college in a beneficial way to create new opportunities/possibilities for themselves, create relationships that otherwise wouldn't have been discovered, and to provide an escape route for relief in their busy college life. All these factors created come in many forms. Social media is very complex and is constantly changing, which makes these components so much more valuable for first year college students.

4 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS Statement of Problem To address the issue of the effectiveness of using social networking, the first question raised in this study is: for what purpose is the student utilizing social networking? Research on this topic will start to reveal social networking sites are simply part of how students interact with each other with no apparent impact on grades. Thus, the objective of this research is to explore the advantages and disadvantages of students’ use of social networking for study. The main purpose of this research is to expand on previous research, explore the relationship between the effects of social networking and students’ study efficiency, and to determine if social media interfering with students’ academic lives. Research Questions: Which is the most popular social media site for students? What is the amount of time students spend utilizing social media in various academic processes? Review of the Literature College students have great interest in social media. For the purpose of this study, social media was defined as Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn (Martin, 2008). Although, providing a detailed perspective on social media use among university students and underscoring that such use can produce both

The social network has become a controversial topic as well as the special influence on teenagers in 21th century. Somehow, the social platform has become an integral part of modern life because of conveniency . A social network can be defined as a network of social connections and personal relationships. It also refers to dedicated websites or other applications that enable users to communicate with one another by posting images, information, messages, and comments. Examples of social networks include social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+ among others. Social networks have taken the internet world by storm. Now that, individuals in the contemporary world having the strong dependency on social networks for various purposes including education, socialization, communication, and entertainment among others. According to statistics that many youth people will frequently spend most of the time to interacting with their friends and families on social networks. On the other hands, others use the same to access new updates as well as entertainment materials. Indeed, social networks such a Facebook have changed the way young people interact with one another and the society at large. The increased popularity of social networks has raised concerns among scholars and individuals. Fundamentally, most of the majorities are more concerned with the effects social media have on the younger generation and the society. Some are of the view that social

1. Introduction 1.1 Background Ever since the so-called “eve” networks of Internet founded in 1969 (http://www.livinginternet.com accessed on 11.05.10), till now in the 21th century, the new era of Internet surfing, people‟s life has become not only material but cyber. The social networking sites, as a new online practice since late 1990s, has gained noticeable popularity among Netizens. The social networking sites have been penetrating into people‟s daily life. Create a profile on a social networking site, make friends, and tell the others what you are doing at the moment, all these have become a new lifestyle of people today, especially young people. Moreover, it has become a new multimedia platform for users sharing their own lives with

In recent years the social networking is has increased by the use of smart phones and laptops. Many school students are attracted to this and spend most of their time on this social networking sites. A study by researchers at University of Minnesota "found that, of the students observed, 94% used the internet, 82% go online at home and 77% had a profile on a social networking site."(University of Minnesota, 2008). According to a survey that was conducted by Whitmore School of Business and Economics and by the University of New Hampshire, they interviewed 1,127 college students. Among these students, “96%” of them use “Facebook”, 8.4 out of 10 use “YouTube”, “20 %” use “blog”, 1.4 out of 10 of them use “Twitter”, “12 %” use “MySpace”, and 1 out of 10 of them use “LinkedIn”. Also, “81%” of college students “use social sites”.(http://www.termpaperwarehouse.com/essay-on/Problem-Statement-In-Social-Networking/195290)

Nowadays, the Internet is considered as the most convenient, fastest and the cheapest means of communication between people around the world. Also, it can be an extremely easy way to access information. The number of the users of the Internet is increasing every day. Also, it might be considered as the most developed form of communication. Furthermore, the Internet provides a lot of websites online many of these websites associate in social interaction between users such as social networking sites. Social networking sites have been defined as “a web-based service” that permits users to create an account and put their personal information, pictures and videos and it allows users to make a list of friends, so people can communicate with other users (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). Also, other users on the same site can see and share their profiles (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). Social networking sites are the most popular between adults, children and teenagers (Papacharissi, 2011, p.39). The most prominent social networking sites around the world are Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, Hi5 and MySpace. Social networking sites are a new phenomenon and are highly controversial. Social networking sites are a phenomenon that interests many scientists and psychologists in the world, as it also concerns parents as well because of the impact on children and teenagers all over the world (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). These sites have

African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(13), pp. 5118-5126, 4 July, 2011 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBM DOI: 10.5897/AJBM10.870 ISSN 1993-8233 ©2011 Academic Journals

Vol. 2 No. 2 2015 Editorial Board Editor: Dr. (Mrs.) Edwinah Amah Co-Editor: Dr. Ukoha Ojiabo Dr. (Mrs.) Edwinah Amah: Department of Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Port Harcourt. Dr. Ukoha Ojiabo: Department of Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Port Harcourt.

A Research Proposal in Partial Fulfillment for the Bachelor of Business Administration of the Technical University of Mombasa