The role of social media in shaping first-generation high school students' college aspirations: A social capital lens

Using survey data collected from a sample of high school students in the United States (N = 504), this study examined how different types of social capital associated with parents, close friends, and Facebook Friends were related to students' confidence about their knowledge of the college application process and their expectations about succeeding in college. We found that social media use plays a significant role only for first-generation students – students whose parents did not graduate from college. For first-generation students, finding information about college through social media was associated with higher levels of efficacy about college application procedures. Having access via social media to a broader network of people who could actively answer questions and provide informational support was positively related with first-generation students' expectations about their ability to be successful in college, but was not the case for non first-generations.     

Facebook or Renren? A comparative study of social networking site use and social capital among Chinese international students in the United States

Social networking sites (SNSs) are important tools for college students to maintain and develop social capital. Yet, few studies on the social implications of using SNSs have focused on international students and their use of different social media platforms for social capital. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the implications of using host country and home country SNSs for social capital among Chinese international students in the United States. A survey of Chinese international students at a large public university (N = 210) reveals that both Facebook and Renren use are positively associated with bridging social capital but not with bonding social capital. Facebook use has a stronger relationship with bridging social capital than does Renren use. Yet, only Renren use has a significant and positive relationship with maintaining home country social capital. These results have practical implications for international students to develop different types of social capital through different social media platforms.     

Factors involved in associations between Facebook use and college adjustment: Social competence,perceived usefulness,and use patterns

Although previous research has investigated widespread use of social media, especially Facebook, by youth attending college, the conditions under which these media foster adjustment to college remain unclear. This study tested a model illuminating pathways linking social competence to college adjustment via students’ perceptions about the usefulness of Facebook and ways in which they used the medium. Self-report survey data from 321 college students (M age = 20.09; 58% female; 84% Caucasian) attending a major Midwestern university supported the proposed model, indicating that higher social competence could foster or impede college adjustment, depending upon how it was related to beliefs about the usefulness of different Facebook functions and how these perceptions, in turn, were associated with patterns of Facebook use. Findings underscore the importance of considering connections among personal attributes, perception of media effectiveness, and media behaviors in assessing the implications of social media for users’ psychosocial well-being.     

Social comparison on Facebook: Its antecedents and psychological outcomes

Previous studies have investigated the role of social comparison on Facebook. The social comparison process occurring on Facebook and its impacts, however, has not been fully captured. Thus, the present study examined the associations among Facebook use, social comparison orientation on Facebook (SCOF), and psychological outcomes represented by perceived social support and mental health. Also, the role of self-esteem and impression management was explored as antecedents of SCOF. Using a sample of college students (N = 313), the study found a positive association between Facebook use and SCOF. Facebook use was positively associated with perceived social support, yet it was not significantly associated with mental health. The study also found a negative association between SCOF and mental health. However, there was no significant association between SCOF and perceived social support. Finally, both self-esteem and impression management were positively associated with SCOF. Theoretical implications were discussed.     

Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students' Life Satisfaction,Trust, and Participation1

This study examines if Facebook, one of the most popular social network sites among college students in the U.S., is related to attitudes and behaviors that enhance individuals' social capital. Using data from a random web survey of college students across Texas (n = 2,603), we find positive relationships between intensity of Facebook use and students' life satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement, and political participation. While these findings should ease the concerns of those who fear that Facebook has mostly negative effects on young adults, the positive and significant associations between Facebook variables and social capital were small, suggesting that online social networks are not the most effective solution for youth disengagement from civic duty and democracy.     

The impact of self-regulatory states and traits on Facebook use: Priming materialism and social comparisons

Social Networking Sites like Facebook are an upcoming phenomenon of the modern age. The Social Online Self-regulation Theory (SOS-T) proposes that people use Facebook in order to self-regulate. Using Facebook they regulate their emotions and satisfy a variety of needs and motives. The study's aim was to provide first evidence for the theory by examining the influence of two self-regulatory variables (i.e. materialism and social comparison orientation). Using priming paradigms in two experiments (N₁ = 228; N₂ = 239), we could show that both variables increase Facebook consumption jointly and independently. Implications for theory building and applied settings are discussed and a forecast of future studies is given.     

The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement

Educators and others are interested in the effects of social media on college students, with a specific focus on the most popular social media website—Facebook. Two previous studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and student engagement, a construct related to positive college outcomes. However, these studies were limited by their evaluation of Facebook usage and how they measured engagement. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a large sample (N = 2368) of college students to examine the relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Student engagement was measured in three ways: a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement, time spent preparing for class, and time spent in co-curricular activities. Results indicate that Facebook use was significantly negatively predictive of engagement scale score and positively predictive of time spent in co-curricular activities. Additionally, some Facebook activities were positively predictive of the dependent variables, while others were negatively predictive.     

Attachment style,social skills,and Facebook use amongst adults

Research suggests that online communication may benefit those high in social anxiety. The current study examined Facebook use from the perspective of adult attachment theory, exploring relationships between attachment anxiety and avoidance and Facebook use. Social skills have been found to be related to attachment style and internet use thus we also examined the role of these skills. A diverse sample of adult participants (N = 617; 50.1% female) completed a self report questionnaire measuring attachment dimensions, social skills, and Facebook use and experience. In line with predictions grounded in attachment theory, we found that individuals with high attachment anxiety used Facebook more frequently, were more likely to use it when feeling negative emotions and were more concerned about how others perceived them on Facebook. High attachment avoidance was related to less Facebook use, less openness and less positive attitudes towards Facebook. These relationships remained when social skills were controlled. These results suggest that Facebook may serve attachment functions and provide a basis for understanding how online communication may be related to attachment styles.     

Making sense of multitasking: The role of Facebook

Media multitasking and Facebook use are commonplace among college and university-aged students. While the two are often linked and each has been independently associated with reductions in academic performance, their relationship to each other is not particularly well understood.This relationship was examined by analysing comprehensive time-based logs of students' computer-based tasks, including Facebook, during unsupervised, self-directed learning sessions. A total of 3372 sessions contributed by 1249 students were analysed. Multitasking was extremely common – around 99% of sessions involved some multitasking (at least three instances of a particular task within a 20 min period). Facebook was the second most common task overall (University was first), accounting for 9.2% of all task instances and being present in 44% of sessions. Sessions containing Facebook typically contained more, shorter duration tasks and were significantly more likely to include multitasking behaviour. The introduction of Facebook within a session was associated with an increase in multitasking and a reduction in focused (no more than two tasks in a 20 min period) behaviour. Facebook users (students who contributed at least five sessions and used Facebook in at least one of these sessions) were also more likely to multitask and less likely to engage in focused behaviour. These results confirm that Facebook use is a key contributor to students' task switching and multitasking behaviours.     

Notification pending: Online social support from close and nonclose relational ties via Facebook

Previous research has often assumed social support as a unique affordance of close relationships. Computer-mediated communication alters the availability of relationally nonclose others, and may to enable additional sources or social support through venues like social networking sites. Eighty-eight college students completed a questionnaire based on their most recent Facebook status updates and the comments those updates generated. Items queried participants’ perception of each response as well as the participants’ relationship closeness with the responder. Individuals perceived as relationally close provide significant social support via Facebook; however, individuals perceived to be relationally nonclose provided equal social support online. While SNSs has not eroded the importance of close relationships, results demonstrate the social media tools may allow for social support to be obtained from nonclose as well as close relationships, with access to a significant proportion of nonclose relationships.     

The impact of daily stress on adolescents’ depressed mood: The role of social support seeking through Facebook

This study examined relationships among daily stress (i.e., school- and family-related stress), social support seeking through Facebook, perceived social support through Facebook, and depressed mood among adolescents (N = 910). Structural equation modeling showed that daily stress positively predicted adolescents’ seeking of social support through Facebook. In addition, when social support was sought on Facebook and subsequently perceived, social support seeking through Facebook decreased adolescents’ depressed mood. However, when social support was sought on Facebook, but not perceived, social support seeking through Facebook increased adolescents’ depressed mood. When comparing these relationships with similar relationships in a traditional social support context, results showed that the exacerbating impact of social support seeking on depressed mood exclusively transpires in a social networking site context. The discussion focuses on the understanding and explanation of these findings, and directions for future research.     

The effects of social media on students’ behaviors; Facebook as a case study

Social networks are one of the most used communication methods of today's world. Their use in different fields has been examined in several research studies. This study aims to examine the effects of social media on student's behaviors which will mainly focus on Facebook. Whether there is a positive relationship between confidence, social media participation and social media related behaviors will also be assed with regard to using Facebook. In order to collect the primary data, a general scanning model was used to observe attitudes of high school students. The participants chosen were 362 high school students from level 9 to 12. The findings highlight that Facebook is used for communication entertainment and sharing news, pictures and songs. In addition, their Facebook profile picture is alone and students were aware that swearing is considered a form of misconduct, which is a good sign. The study also indicates that students were aware of protecting their social identity as their Facebook shares are not public. Furthermore, they respect privacy as they do not use their friend's Facebook account.     

Actual friends matter: An internet skills perspective on teens' informal academic collaboration on Facebook

Social media platforms such as Facebook enable adolescents to collaborate on academic activities, but this kind of participation may require a set of higher-order Internet skills. This study explores the factors that predict informal academic collaboration on Facebook, such as seeking help, discussing schoolwork, and finding class-related resources. Based on survey data collected from high school students (N = 690), we found that academic performance, perceived support from ‘actual’ Facebook friends, higher order Internet skills (especially information seeking skills), and instrumental support from Facebook friends predicted academic collaboration on Facebook. In light of these findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Social network site use,mobile personal talk and social capital among teenagers

Social network sites (SNSs) and mobile phones are becoming increasingly important in teenagers’ lives. Using data collected from a nationally representative survey (N = 800), this study explores the variation of social capital by SNS adoption, different SNS activities, and mobile personal talk among teenagers. The results indicate that SNS adoption and mobile personal talk can not only enhance teenagers’ close ties with friends, but also jointly promote teenagers’ civic engagement. Among SNS users, mobile personal talk also increase teens’ network capital. Different SNS activities such as commenting on friend’s Facebook pictures and joining Facebook groups have different relationships with social capital, and such relationships are moderated by mobile personal talk.     

Social comparison on Facebook: Motivation,affective consequences,self-esteem,and Facebook fatigue

A growing body of research examines social comparison on Facebook, a social media environment where users can present optimized versions of themselves. To grasp the complexity of social comparison on Facebook, the researchers followed Helgeson and Mickelson’s (1995) functional approach, focusing on motives (i.e., self-enhancement, self-improvement, self-evaluation, and self-destruction) rather than fixed targets (i.e., downward, upward, and unilateral comparison) of social comparison. Social comparison motivations were explored in relation to self-esteem and affective consequences of comparison. A college-student sample (N = 267) reported engaging in social comparison frequently on Facebook and low-self-esteem (LSE) individuals were more likely than those with higher self-esteem (HSE) to compare themselves to others on Facebook for self-evaluation, self-enhancement, self-improvement, and self-destruction motives. Moreover, LSEs perceived increased levels of social comparison on Facebook, although the relationship between self-esteem and actual social comparison behavior proved non-significant. Significant moderating effects of self-esteem were observed in the relationship between motivation and affect. A self-improvement motive produced greater positive affect among HSEs compared to LSEs, while self-enhancement motives engendered positive affect more prominently among LSEs compared to HSEs. The paper also begins to distill a popular phenomenon, Facebook fatigue, in social comparison empirical work.     

Examining the beneficial effects of individual's self-disclosure on the social network site

Today, individual's self-disclosure on the social network sites (SNS) have become a prevalent phenomenon. This study proposes a research model for investigating the beneficial effects of individual's self-disclosure on the social network sites (SNS). In this study, social support and online social well-being are seen as the beneficial effects of individual's self-disclosure on the SNS. Furthermore, this study examines whether self-disclosure increases social support and online social well-being. For developing a more parsimonious research model, this study chose self-disclosure and social support as second-order constructs. Self-disclosure is devised as a formative second-order construct that includes five components: amount, depth, honesty, intent, and valence. Social support is used as a reflective second-order construct comprising two factors: informational support and emotional support. In addition, this research also proposes that social support increase online social well-being. Further, online social well-being is hypothesized to positively affect the continuance intention in relation to the SNS. Data collected from 333 Facebook users provided support for all the hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research.     

Facebook use and academic performance among college students: A mixed-methods study with a multi-ethnic sample

This paper uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the relation between online academic disclosure and academic performance. A multi-ethnic sample of college students (N = 261; male = 66; female = 195; M age ≈ 22 years) responded to open-ended questions about their Facebook use. Thematic analysis revealed that over 14% of the Facebook wall posts/status updates (N = 714) contained academic themes; positive states were more frequent than negative and neutral states and students with lower GPAs expressed negative states more often. A path analysis suggested that academic performance may determine college students’ Facebook use, rather than the reverse. Implications for student support services are discussed.     

How do people compare themselves with others on social network sites?: The case of Facebook

The social comparison theory and its subsequent studies say that comparing with others can influence an individual in several ways (e.g., evaluation of oneself, influence on self-esteem/self-confidence, and efficient decision making) and people compare with others when they are confronted with information of others. With the popularity of social network sites, many people acquire or are exposed to information of others on social network sites, which implies that people are likely to frequently engage in social comparison behavior on social network sites. The present paper examines social comparison behavior on social network sites (especially on Facebook) using a college students sample. We find that an individual’s personality characteristics (i.e., social comparison orientation, self-esteem, self-uncertainty, and self-consciousness) influence the person’s social comparison frequency on Facebook. A positive relationship between Facebook use intensity and social comparison frequency on Facebook is found. In addition, we find a positive association between social comparison frequency on Facebook and the frequency of having a negative feeling from comparison. Other findings are also reported in the paper.     

The self on the Net: The joint effect of self-construal and public self-consciousness on positive self-presentation in online social networking among South Korean college students

In the present research, two studies examined how self-construal and public self-consciousness jointly influence positive self-presentation in online social networking. Participants’ independent and interdependent self-construals were either measured (Study 1, N = 137) or manipulated with priming (Study 2, N = 120). Public self-consciousness was measured with self-report ratings in both studies. Participants self-reported their tendency (Study 1) and behavioral intention (Study 2) to engage in positive self-presentation on Facebook. Both studies were conducted with college student Facebook users in South Korea. Results from both studies demonstrated no main effect of self-construal but a significant interaction between self-construal and public self-consciousness. Specifically, the negative association between interdependent self-construal and positive self-presentation on Facebook was significant among those low in public self-consciousness; the association became less prominent for those higher in public self-consciousness (Study 1). When self-construal was experimentally manipulated, interdependent self-construal priming, as compared with independent self-construal priming, resulted in lower intention to engage in positive self-presentation, particularly among those low in public self-consciousness (Study 2). The implications of the findings were discussed.     

Pre-service teachers' experiences of using social software applications for collaborative inquiry

This case study focuses on the use of social software applications for supporting pre-service teachers' collaborative inquiry. Second year pre-service teachers (N = 98) were instructed to carry out an inquiry using a selection of suitable applications to support their work in a forest ecology field course. Although they were not specifically instructed on the use of the software applications, the assumption was that being ‘digital natives’ they would be familiar with them or would readily adopt them. The study reports the students' experiences of the course. Results show variations in their experiences: differences in the way they saw the adequacy of their ICT skills, the suitability of the software, and in their opinions about familiarizing themselves with the software applications as part of the inquiry process. The results also indicate that in future it is important to: (i) concretize and explain the pedagogical aspects of using social software applications as part of the learning process; (ii) highlight the reasons why software applications are used for supporting learning, i.e., the added value; and (iii) encourage students to explore and make use of different software applications for different learning purposes.