South African students’ perceptions of Facebook: Some implications for instructors

Abstract

The Facebook phenomenon has revolutionised communication patterns especially among students and youths. Young adults increasingly integrate Facebook into their daily lives. The commonly used features include chatting, uploading personal profiles, exchanging notes and study material. Several factors (for example, real-time interactive messaging, 3G mobile telephony, faster and cheaper Internet access) encourage social network sites (SNSs) and Facebook adoption. While Facebook started primarily as a social website connecting friends, many users have increasingly started using the platform for business, marketing and study purposes. However, despite the many opportunities for facilitating teaching and learning in universities, in particular promoting student instructor interaction, Facebook’s usage in classrooms is still low. It was therefore deemed opportune to investigate students’ perceptions of the SNS. The purposes of this study were to: (1) examine students’ Facebook usage habits and (2) investigate the perceived usefulness of Facebook in education. Following the introduction of Facebook in a Business Management course, students’ perceptions of Facebook were subsequently ascertained using constructs of the Rogers diffusion model. Data was collected from a sample of 194 undergraduate students using self-administered questionnaires. Findings confirm Facebook’s popularity and utility in education. Results are discussed in the context of existing literature, and the paper concludes by proposing both theoretical and practical implications. Key words: Education, Facebook, internet, social network sites, smart phones, universities.