Awareness and Use of Academic Social Networking Sites by the Academic Staff at the South Valley University in Egypt

Abstract

Awareness and Use of Academic Social Networking Sites by the Academic Staff at the South Valley University in Egypt Doaa K. El-Berry Abstract Although there are a number of social networking sites that are widely used by academic and non-academic people mostly for entertainment, the academic social networking sites (ASNSs) specifically target scholars. The ASNSs are the virtual platform where researchers can create a profile and communicate with others sharing similar research interests. The current study attempts to explore the awareness and use of five famous ASNSs; namely ResearchGate, Acedemia.edu, LinkedIn, Mendeley and Scholastica by the South Valley University (SVU)’academic staff. A structured questionnaire was sent to different categories of the SVU academics via email and Facebook. Data analysis revealed that most of the respondents were aware of and using the ASNSs. ResearchGate demonstrated the highest level of awareness and usage followed by LinkedIn, Acedemi.edu, Mendeley and Scholastica, respectively. Further studies are required to explore the use of the SVU academic staff to other ASNSs and the effects of these sites on their professional performance. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jlis.v3n2a7