Abstract
With the increased use of Social Networking Sites and Apps (SNSAs) in Saudi Arabia, it is important to consider the impact of this on the social lives of tertiary students, who are heavy users of such technology. A mixed methods study exploring the effect of SNSAs use on the social capital of Saudi postgraduate students was conducted using a multidimensional construct of social capital, which included the components of life satisfaction, social trust, civic participation, and political engagement. Data were collected through surveys and interviews involving 313 male and 293 female postgraduate students from Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in Makkah. Findings show that male and female participants perceived SNSAs use impacting all components of social capital at a moderate and mainly positive level. Correlational analysis demonstrated medium to large positive correlations among components of social capital. Gender differences were not evident in the life satisfaction and social trust components; however, females reported more involvement with SNSAs for the purposes of political engagement while males reported more use for civic participation, which is an interesting finding, in light of the norms and traditional culture of Saudi society.
Highlights
The results indicate that the students who sought to obtain information on Social Networking Sites and Apps (SNSAs) were more inclined to engage in civic activities offline, but this form of civic participation was related to academic grades; this is reflected in the relationship between civic activities and academic pursuits in college life [52]
A survey was used to assess the intensity of SNSAs use by postgraduate students and to examine their perceptions relating to social capital, using scales of life satisfaction, social trust, civic participation and political engagement
The main purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of postgraduate students in Saudi Arabia about the impact of SNSAs use on their social capital as measured by life satisfaction, social trust, civic participation, and political engagement
Summary
Social Networking Sites and Apps (SNSAs) occupy a large part of Internet usage in the KSA, where more than half of the population of 31 million is under the age of 29 [1]. This suggests that a high proportion of users would be students. The results indicated that females were more positive than their male counterparts about the social impact of SNSAs. Future Internet 2021, 13, 20 well as the instability of security in the region, were the issues most often discussed by students using SNSAs. Another study conducted by Al-Shehri [4] with 150 female Saudi university students found that expressing opinions freely, openly exchanging cultural and intellectual ideas, fostering old friendships, and searching for new friendships were the most important reasons for using SNSAs
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