Social Networking Sites Play In Youth Life Media Essay

There has been a rapid explosion of social networking sites since the past few years and this craze is especially centered towards youngsters. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the role that social networking sites play in youth life. Youngsters make great consumption of sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Friendster etc. In this research we shall evaluate each of them, the reasons they use these sites shall be considered as well as the benefits and drawbacks associated with these sites.

To collect data for this research, a survey research was carried out. Well constructed questionnaires were distributed among university students and the results were then analyzed.

This research shall be beneficial and can help us in dealing with the problems associated with these sites. We all know that social networking sites have a great impact on many individuals and the greatest victims are youngsters. People are facing problems like privacy erosion and youngsters are interacting more with the virtual world than the real one and we all know that the public response tends to be one of puzzled dismay regarding these sites. This research will allow us to analyze the problems in depth and also we shall have a much closer view of the ways youngsters respond to these social networking sites and hence we shall be in a better way to tackle such problems and appropriate solutions shall be implemented accordingly.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Problem statement 4

Aims and objectives 5

Methodology 6

Survey 6

Sampling method 6

Sample size 7

The questionnaire design: 7

Research benefits 8

Gantt chart 9

Budget analysis 9

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Introduction

Social networking sites are experiencing a tremendous growth over the past years, attracting millions of people each year. Social networking sites are virtual communities in which people hang out for acquaintances and these sites are attracting wide range of young and engaged audience.

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We all know that youngsters are always giving much consideration to themselves; their image and a good representation of themselves in society are regarded as something vital for them and social networking sites help in creating opportunities for self-expression, sociability, community engagement, creativity and new engagement. Friendship also is an important relationship for them; youngsters constantly make, display and break such relation. Social networking sites act as a major medium of communication for them. It helps them to develop and create relationship between members who are already connected to a particular social networking site and who common views and interests. They not only allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks

So far there have seen many social networking sites which have been implemented and this process shall continue during the forthcoming years with more additional features if possible. Examples of social networking sites are Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace and these sites acquiring the maximum number of users each year.

The most common one and the one with the maximum number of users is Facebook. Facebook has become more and more popular since the first time it was created. It was reported that there were over 500 million active users present on Facebook since it was created on February 2004.

Through these sites youngsters are able to create a world of them, a world of perfection, a world where they can represent themselves as they wanted to be in real life. Through these sites they create a profile of themselves as well as sharing details on them like their personal photographs as well as share information about them such as their tastes in music, hobbies, favourite movies etc. It also helps some to find some long lost friends, love and to connect with their family members from a long distance. They can upload photos, music and share any application that they want others to view. One of the main features is comments.

Comments can easily be posted and these comments are usually expressions of opinions. Gaming applications also form part of these sites and youngsters are the heavy users of such sites.

Social networking sites comprise many features which attract millions of people to them and the statistic will undergo an increase in the forthcoming years.

Problem statement

Social networking sites indeed have the greatest impact in today’s world and the biggest victims are youngsters. They are spending considerable amount time on social networking sites to stay alive with their friends. There is a component of addictiveness in these sites and youngsters are getting more and more addicted to them. Youngsters keep on concentrating only on the facilities that these sites are providing to them, they completely ignore the negative part of it. Many of them are aware of these negative consequences but still their degree of addictiveness and their level of usage of these sites tend to remain unchanged and among these youngsters there are some who are completely unaware of the negative effects that these sites comprise.

One of the main issues of social networking sites is privacy erosion. Youngsters unknowingly are revealing personal information about them in their profile and this information can be easily stolen and misused. One of the most common problems of social networking sites these days is that some people are stealing the photos of another person and misuse these photos. People are creating fake profiles on these sites trying to defame a person and using another person’s identity to perform illegal activities. Youngsters befriend everyone and reveal personal information on them to strangers without even knowing the consequences that such act can have.

Another main problem of social networking sites among youngsters is that they are totally engage in a virtual world that they are not paying attention to the real life around them. Many parents are concerned about this consequence; their children are spending bulk of time on these sites that they fear that these sites prevent their kids from learning relationship skills and they fear that their kids lack social skills and positive interactions in their real life.

Another problem that youngsters are encountering online is online bullying and sexual harassment. Unwanted sexual solicitation occurs online when predators asked youngsters to reveal sexual information about them or force them to get involved into sexual talk or sexual behavior. Many people try to trap children online by giving false information on them and youngsters naïve as they are, they easily believe such nonsense. The most common social networking sites that are used to sexually solicit underage youth are Facebook and MySpace. Youngsters are indeed vulnerable to sexual victimization.

Aims and objectives

To identify, describe and produce an analysis of the way youngsters respond to social networking sites in Mauritius

To identify all the negative and positive responses have to be identified as well as the factors which draw these youngsters to these sites.

To assess the extent to which youngsters are addicted to these sites

To identify and analyze the pattern of usage of each of these sites

To identify and explore the reasons why youngsters join such sites

To assess the expectations of youngsters from these sites

To show to youngsters the negatives of social networking sites so that they can be cautious

To offer comfort to parents who are concerned about social networking use and its effect on their children.

To find, develop and implement solutions to the problems that youngsters are facing.

Methodology

Survey

Research survey is one of the most used and systematic way for collecting data about individuals. Both qualitative and quantitative data shall be collected in this survey. The main purpose behind this survey is to gather as much information from the few members of the targeted population but with the intention of learning about the whole population.

Data was collected through the administration of well constructed questionnaires to a sample of students present on the university of Mauritius campus. The sample chosen is representative of the whole university population. The questionnaires were distributed to students in different faculties. During this survey only primary was being used since these data are not available from anywhere else and during this survey we made sure that our data is highly reliable.

We made use of primary data for the following reasons:

Information is collected according to what we want to know. It fits our needs. It generates current information.

Greater control. It enables us to have a higher level of control over how the information is collected.

Efficient Spending for Information. Primary data collections’ focus on issues specific to our research to improve the chances that research funds will be spent efficiently.

Proprietary Information. Information collected using primary research is for own and is generally not shared with others.

Sampling method

The main purpose of this sampling is to select representative units from a total population of interest so that by studying the sample we may fairly generalize our results back to the population from which they were chosen.

Sample can be chosen by two different methods: probability and non-probability sampling.

Probability Sampling was used for our survey where each and every element of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample. We made use of some form of random selection. In order to have a random selection method, we set up some process or procedure that assures that the different units in your population have equal probabilities of being chosen. In our case, 100 questionnaires were distributed to students on the campus.

There exist 3 main types of sampling: Simple random sample, stratified random sample, area or cluster sample.

We made use of Stratified Random Sample for our research. The objectives of this sample are to examine and evaluate the response of youngsters to social networking sites, to assess the positive and negative consequences.

Sample size

Our target population is the youth of different faculties studying on a full time basis at UOM. Our sample is restricted to youngsters who are more specifically students from 19 to 29 years old. The sample included students randomly selected from each faculty.

Our sample size is 100. 20 students were taken from each faculty.

The questionnaire design:

It was carefully addressed and implemented to ensure reliability and validity of the research process.

The questionnaire was designed in a very simple way directed towards meeting an objective. It was made short and simple so that to provide clear and concise instructions. It was clear, free of ambiguities, interesting and easy to understand and using terms that are current and common.

Our questionnaires contain mostly of multiple choice questions, dichotomous also known as close-ended questions and a few open-ended questions were framed where the respondents were free to voice out their opinions. Answers to these questions provided a more adequate picture of what the respondents hold in mind and they gave the respondents the opportunity of spontaneous, unanticipated responses, rather than confining the respondent to choose among alternatives imposed by the researchers.

The questionnaires were designed in this way so as to meet the statistical results required. Hence, it was easy for us to analyse the required outcome as each question measured one thing at a time, that is, each question contained a specific statistical data.

Research benefits

This research shall be beneficial and can help us in dealing with the problems associated with these sites. We all know that social networking sites have a great impact on many individuals and the greatest victims are youngsters. People are facing problems like privacy erosion and youngsters are interacting more with the virtual world than the real one and we all know that the public response tends to be one of puzzled dismay regarding these sites. This research will allow us to analyze the problems in depth and also we shall have a much closer view of the ways youngsters respond to these social networking sites and hence we shall be in a better way to tackle such problems and appropriate solutions shall be implemented accordingly.

Tasks description

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Title decision

Literature review

Summary

Metholology

Benefits of research

Budget analysis