Perceptions And Uses Of Social Media Networking Systems By South African Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine South African students’ perceptions and uses of social media networking systems. The study further determined whether students are making use of social media networking systems, the purpose of making use of social media networking systems, and whether the students’ believe that it can be an effective and easy tool to use in order to study the course content. The reason for this study was the fact that students now a days are more familiar with social media networking systems, as more technology mediums are available today to communicate on a more flexible and timely manner. The study made use of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs in order to test the objectives. These constructs are; ‘Perceive ease of use’, ‘Perceived usefulness’, ‘Attitude towards using’, ‘Intention to use’, and ‘System accessibility’. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students, and it was found that social media is mostly being used by students for social purposes rather than for educational purposes, and that Facebook is the most popular social media networking system to use.