A SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEY ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS ROLE FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN BALOCHISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF LASBELA UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to analysis the relationship between social media usage and its impact on university students, specifically the function of media in political socialization, civic consciousness, political participation, media consumption, and the type of applications = most commonly used by students. The researchers used a quantitative descriptive technique. To complete this study project, we used purposive sampling. N-112 sample sizes were collected from the Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences in Uthal, Baluchistan, using a google survey form and a closed-ended questionnaire with a Likert scale. The responders came from a several faculties and educational levels, including undergraduate and master's degrees. The findings revealed that there is a strong link between social media use and political activity. The majority of respondents in this study said they utilized social media to learn about politics, acquire political attitudes and ideas, and learn about the political system. As a result, they spend two to five hours per day on social media platforms. Furthermore, this paper revealed the relationship between social media use and political system understanding at various levels, including local, provincial, national, and international levels, and confirmed that there was a strong positive relationship between social media use and political system understanding among Lasbela university students. The H1 and H2 hypotheses on the use of social media sites and the association between online political engagement, political socialization, and political dynamics revealed a strong positive relationship at significant levels .006, .001, and.000