Social Media Usage Pattern among the Undergraduates

Abstract

Human beings have been living, as a group throughout the history to satisfy their various requirements. The traditional social network was limited to the people who meet day to day basis. In the last two decades Information Technology (IT) experienced a major breakthrough and led to the utilization of computers at nearly all parts of daily life including social networking. Social Networking Sites (SNS) provide the platform for online social networking. Available data suggest that the growing trend in SNS usage among Sri Lankans, giving a large portion to the youngers. This study is designed to gather preliminary evidence of the current adoption of Facebook among Sri Lankan undergraduates through answering to the following research questions. Is there any difference in social media usage patterns based on gender?, Is there any difference in social media usage patterns based on site experience? Is there any difference in social media usage patterns based on study discipline?. Data were collected from 262 undergraduates through self administrated questionnaire, the scale was directly adapted from Smock, Ellison, Lampe, & Wohn, (2011). Findings revealed that gender and site experience does not affect the Facebook usage. But study discipline does affect the social media usage patterns.