Barriers in seeking academic Information from Social Media Sites; Perception of University Students

Abstract

The research purpose was to evaluate the effect of social media to support the academic performance of students. The objectives of this study were to measure the respondent’s perception of using social media tools and also to identify the barriers to seeking needed academic information using social networking sites. In two public sector universities in lower Punjab, Pakistan study was conducted. Respondents of the study were undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students of Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), and Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan. Data was collected through a quantitative survey. The researcher developed a close-ended questionnaire after a comprehensive review of the literature. The analysis of the data was statistically made through SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics are used to measure frequency, mean and standard deviation. The finding of the study revealed that a lack of trust in people as they feel social networking sites are risky to share their personal information was among the main barrier to seeking needed academic information from social networking sites. The finding of the study is helpful for the participating universities to design and implement trustworthy social networking platforms to promote learning in academia.