The Use of Facebook in Marketing - Coursework Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2012 Abstract Due to the social media platform’s massive reception by university students, there has been much interest in how the use of Facebook by students is related to academic performance .This particular paper provides a preliminary research analysis of the impacts of Facebook usage among the university students on their academic performance. A self-administered/user-based questionnaire survey will be used to gather data from a sample of 300 university students. The suggested research model assesses the popularity and usage pattern of Facebook among the university students on their academic performance. Moreover, this preliminary research analysis discusses the limitations of the study, implications, as well as provides future research directions. Key Words: social networks, learning in higher education, social media, Facebook, time management, organizational skills, procrastination, study skills Introduction The use of Facebook has attracted significant interest among researchers. As a key social networking/media site, Facebook undeniably offers an electronically-connected platform through which users can create profiles, produce and share information and contents, as well as interact with both known and unknown contacts. Facebook has also undergone a significant growth within the past few years, leading to its widespread use by individuals from all age groups or generation (Rouis et.al, 2012). Since its admittance to a sizeable number of university campuses in the year 2004, Facebook has turned out to be practically everywhere at universities. According to Junco (2011), recent statistics confirm this trend. For instance, during the year 2005, more than 85 percent of all college and university students had a Facebook profile. Currently, more than 40 million students between the ages 18-25 are active users of Facebook today. In addition, according to Dahlstrom et.al (2011), during the late 2010, a research study by the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) involving a sample of 36,950 university students from 26 United States universities and one university in Canada confirmed that of approximately 90 percent of the students using the social networking media, about 97percent confessed to be using Facebook. This 97 percent admitted to be using the site on daily basis. Alternatively, in a different study, students testified devoting a lot of their time to Facebook, consuming an average time of more than 1 hour and 40 minutes a day on the social site. According to Moon (2011), too much use of Facebook has been argued to be a major problem in a number of professions and school settings; as a consequence, a focus is required in higher education given the increasing number of university students using the social media site. Boyd & Ellison (2007), however, argues that although there is an increased professional and popular interest in how Facebook use by students affects their learning, only a little research has been carried out on the issue. This particular paper therefore intends to provide a report on the impact of Facebook use on university students’ academic performance. The problem statement With the advancement in communication technology, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are perhaps regarded as one of the most essential tools used to communicate or share some information among peers. Students have an uncontrollable need to keep in touch with their peers owing to the development of these accessible technologies that are available 24/7.University students seem to be utilizing this service excessively, as a consequence, spending a considerable amount of time on Facebook that could otherwise be for study purposes. Even though extreme Facebook use is a problem in various organizations and high school settings, it presents unique challenges to higher institutions of learning. With regards to this, there is a necessity to focus on the higher institutions of learning given the massive population occupied with the site. Literature Review As highlighted by Haq & Chand (2012),people are naturally curious, and Facebook as a social networking media, offers wide-ranging information via one interface, namely, individual ‘walls’. The flow of the information communicated on these ‘walls’ increases with the number of “friends” and groups the user of the social networking site has (size the user’s network).Consequently, users’ attraction to as well as their involvement in the activities on Facebook normally implies a greater concentration and time used up following news and even updates. Information communicated also relate to all areas of the users’ daily lives, which makes social networking sites such as Facebook a significant information source that any person can search and enlarge. On the other hand, as highlighted by Aghazamani (2010), whereas users feel delight and satisfaction when networking with their friends or relatives on these social networks as well as appearing to be in full command of this activity, they tend to lose control over other assignments that they are supposed to perform. Time runs while they remain absorbed in the curiosity and delight created by these particular social sites, as result, no time or effort is left to enable one carry out other tasks. Pempek et.al (2009) highlights that the ability of a student to concentrate normally influences his/her performance in a constructive way, thus concentration while studying is central to positive student performance. Pempek et.al (2009) further argues that students ought to find ways to ensure full concentration while studying and to avoid any form of distractions. Facebook, however, tends to avert students concentration from studying, a factor that could later hinder their performance. For instance, as highlighted by Grabmeier (2009), a number of explanatory studies have revealed that the unrestrained presence of university students on Facebook has a significant harmful impact on their productivity as well their task performance. Rouis et.al (2012) highlights that the two studies carried out demonstrated that long hours consumed on Facebook activities seem to negatively affect the students’ performance and so, their attainment of good grades. According to the explanatory studies, Rouis et.al (2012) highlights that students consume an average of between 30-35 minutes on daily basis surfing Facebook. A great number of them observed that they in fact consume at least 3-4 minutes during their many visits to the social site in order to check updates; others spend about 8 hours each day on the social site. A number of the students acknowledged that the social site is completely distracting as well as time consuming; however, they argued that they are not able to quit visiting the social site because they are fond of it and use to keep in touch with friends and relatives, whether they see them on daily basis or not. On the other hand, a number of studies have argued that participation in Facebook by students is related to their academic success as well as performance proficiency. According to O’Dell (2011), data collected from various sources by Facebook, Twitter and OnlineEducation.net are employed to a significant benefit. Students embrace online engagement and resources, with approximately 75 percent of the student respondent arguing that they would to do online teamwork for class, in actual fact. Additionally, Tham (2011) highlights that the studies suggest that university students’ networking with colleagues and tutors can be an effective way of obtaining information, support and social acceptance, which in turn result in increased level of self-worth, contentment with school life and consequently performance proficiency. According to O’Dell (2011),students using social media were twice more likely to feel liked by their colleagues as well as to take part in extracurricular activities compared to the non-users.Moreover,20 percent more of the Facebook using students claimed they felt more attached to the institution and community. According to Golub & Miloloza (2010), the studies revealed that the more the students employed the use of the social networking site, the higher the level of their interactions with friends was, hence, having a constructive impact on the students’ self-esteem as well as their general contentment with life. Alternatively, according to Dew et.al (2009), some researchers established no correlation between the use of Facebook and Grade Point Average or established a negative correlation between the use of Facebook and academic performance deliberated by self-reported Grade Point Average and hours studying on a weekly basis than the non-users. A recent study revealed that users of Facebook registered lower Grade Point Averages and spent very few hours a week studying as compared to the non-users. Yu et.al (2010) therefore states that this is possible since it is the purpose for which Facebook is used rather than the quantity of it (quality of Facebook use) which is relevant to the overall academic performance of the students. If the social site is employed expansively for educational purposes or helpful communication with the others, then constructive impact on academic achievement can be expected. On the other hand, if the social site is intensively employed for leisure purposes only such as watching video links, negative impact on the student can be observed because in this particular scenario, students possibly dedicate too much time surfing Facebook at the expense of studying. Kabre & Brown ( 2011) highlights that a growing number of research reveals that a large number of the current university students take part in Facebook activities while carrying out their academic tasks at the same time. However, evidence demonstrates that no matter how good an individual is at multi-tasking, he/she can never attain efficiency, as when carrying out a single task at a time, since the switch back and forth between various activities increases the mental work. Research Objectives To assess the rate of Facebook use among the university students To assess, based on the university students’ point of view, if the use of Facebook as a social site affected their general academic performance. To establish the pattern of Facebook usage among the university students. The Research model In view of the limited research available, their conflicting findings and their methodological aims, it is crucial to expand the literature on Facebook usage and its impacts on the performance. This can only be achieved through extensive assessment measures aimed at evaluating the duration spent on activities relating to Facebook, and eventually evaluating the relationship between time spent face booking and the overall performance outcomes. This study will therefore expand on the prior research by applying various Facebook-frequency measures in addition to extending measures on the frequency of using various Facebook activities. To arrive at a suitable conclusion, this study will also take into account other crucial variables such as gender. While the impact of such variables is immense in the determination of technology-use outcomes, a limited number of research on Facebook usage and academic performance have incorporated all of them. This research will evaluate the actual overall grades gathered. In the linear model, a control for the high school performance is quite valuable as it has been consistently confirmed to be a strong predictor of the overall performance in higher institutions of learning, as highlighted by Williford (2009). As such, this study will include the high school performance (grades) in its analysis for the purposes of fully examining the variances that are attributable to the pre-existing performance differences while also aimed at placing other predictors in the context. Finally, a continuous measuring of the student study duration will be use as the outcome variable. As such, this study will as well examine the extent of relationship between Facebook activities, student study duration, and the overall performance outcome. With these particular questions in mind, the remaining part of the paper will go on considering the following research questions: Are Facebook duration, Facebook activity frequencies, and the overall academic performance associated? Do Facebook-checking frequency, Facebook activity frequency, and the overall academic performance have relations? Facebook duration and the frequency of its activities related to class-preparation time? Is there any relationship existing in the Facebook-checking frequency, the frequency of using Facebook activities, and the duration of class preparation time? Proposed Research Method/Methodology This particular study will majorly focus on the use of Facebook and its impact on the university students’ overall academic performance. The empirical study will be conducted with the Australian National University students to analyze Facebook use and the resultant effects on the learners in the Australian context. A questionnaire will be designed inline with this particular issue and mapped to suit the Australian educational context. Sampling Plan The suitable sample in this study will consist of 300 university students. In this number, 100 students (33.3%) will be male students while 200 students (66.6%) will be female students. The age of the participating students will range from 20 years to 32 years with most of these participants (90%) being aged between 20 years and 23 years. 102 participants (34%) will be students majoring in mathematics while 198 participants (66%) will be pursuing business administration degree. These participants will be recruited by researchers, who will go to the scheduled class after being permitted by the instructor and ask the students to fill questionnaires. The consent process will be explained to these participants and such a participation will be on a voluntary basis and anonymous (for a truthful information). Apart from the given demographic measures, the study will also utilize a questionnaire with other numerous measures as indicated. Data collection Among the various techniques of gathering information, this study will use a paper-based questionnaire survey to gather data from the students. This is due to the nature of the information needed as well as the type of analysis to be performed. A questionnaire with 10 questions will be designed and issued to the students. The students will be issued with the survey papers during a particular lecture of which after filling they will hand them over to the very lecturer during their next lecture. The students therefore will have an approximated duration of three days to one week within which they will have completed the survey questions. The research aims at attaining a response rate of over 40% and as such will enhance student participation by using five smart phones in its intended final competition draw. The proposed Facebook Research Questionnaire (to be ticked where applicable) QUESTIONS Do you have a Facebook account? Yes No Is it active? Yes No How frequent are you on Facebook? Never Rarely Some-times Often Always What is your grade point average on the 4.0 scale? 0‐0.5 0.51‐1.0 1.01‐1.5 1.51‐2.0 2.01‐2.5 2.51‐3.0 3.01‐3.5 3.51‐4.0 What is your general Facebook privacy setting? Everyone Friends Yourself Customized How frequent do you update the Facebook status? Never/almost never weekly twice weekly daily more times daily Do you use laptop for the activities unrelated to class work during class? Never Rarely Some-times Often Always How enthusiastic are you to be excellent in class? Never motivated A little bit motivated Not motivated and not unmotivated Somewhat motivated Very motivated How frequent do you comment on the Facebook postings? Never/almost never weekly twice weekly daily more times daily How active is your participation in class? not at all a little bit active Not active and not inactive somewhat active very active Do you participate in class discussion? Never Rarely Some-times Often Always How frequent do you skip class? Never Rarely Some-times Often Always What do you do mostly while on Facebook? chat Academic discussions Watch videos and play games Chat and watch videos Chat and do course activity Measures In measuring the Facebook use, participants will initially be asked if their Facebook accounts are active. Incase they provide a positive answer then they will be requested to provide further information as regards their Facebook use including use of mobile phones to check Facebook (answer being yes/no). They will also provide information on Facebook frequency for instance once daily, severally, or once annually. They will additionally indicate the approximate duration they spend performing Face book checks. On the purposes of checking Facebook, an inquiry will be made on the preferred Facebook activity, as either for social reasons (connection to people), recreational reasons (like playing games or watching videos) or academic reasons (like communication with lecturers). The purposes will be rated from 1 (meaning never) to 5 (meaning often).Multitasking (Facebook activities and academic tasks) was evaluated by using three items namely the frequency of staying in Facebook while learning, the duration taken on Facebook while undertaking academic tasks, and the frequency of study disruptions due to Facebook checks. The former two are not active variables in this case but are basically foundation for multitasking. The third variable measures the actual multitasking activity due to its measures on the shifting frequency. Academic performance will be based on self-reported grade and hours in a week spend on studies. The proficiency in academic performance will also be measured through an appropriate scale when responses will be based on a 5-point scale from 1 implying strong disagreement to 5 implying strong agreement. In-depth interview An in-depth interview was conducted to acquire the opinion of five students on the relationship between academic performance and Facebook usage. The interview was conducted like other in-depth interviews where, according to Friesen, (2010), thematizing, designing, interviewing, transcribing, analyzing, verifying, and reporting took place. In the particular interview, a sample of five students was intensively interviewed through an open-ended approach using the sample questionnaires that would be used in the research study. There opinions were perceived to be significant predictors of the forthcoming research findings. The in-depth interview was an effective method since the interpretative approach (qualitative) was used in the investigation. According to Wertz et al (2011), interpretative research mainly aims at understanding the experiences of individuals in a wholesome way. The in-depth interview was designed to address the given questions in light of the forthcoming research. Interview question 1: do you have a Facebook account? Interview question 2: how did you join Facebook? Interview question 3: why do you think Facebook attracts people? Interview question 4: what attracts you most in Facebook? Interview question 5: is Facebook addictive? Interview question 6: what has been your experience with Facebook? Interview question 7: would you recommend Facebook to a friend without a Facebook account? Interview question 8: what duration do you take surfing on a daily basis? Interview question 9: does this compromise on your study time? Interview question 10: how has been your academic performance ever since you joined Facebook? Interview question 11: what advise would you give students concerning the use of Facebook? Findings from the in-depth interview The findings from the in-depth research highlight a possible negative impact of Facebook on the academic performance. According to the in-depth-research, all of the respondents had Facebook accounts that were opened due to influence from friends. This highlights that there is a possibility that external influence is the motive behind Facebook popularity. On a further interrogation concerning the reasons behind Facebook attractiveness, the response from two of the respondents indicated a desire to continue connecting with friends. One of the respondents however said that the service was crucial in finding new friends and searching for the lost ones. Likewise, one respondent also indicated that the service was enjoyable because of attractive photos, funny comments, and latest updates. The last respondent’s answer, however, was that Facebook was popular and a symbol of modernity/civilization whereby everybody keep referring to Facebook in their discussions, hence being without one would seem to be backwards. Opinions on the fourth question were diverse and varied whereby 3 respondents assented to utilizing Facebook for updates and chatting purposes. On the same note, one respondent specified that the main purpose was to view people’s comments and photos, while the final respondent liked the fact that through Facebook, many friendships have been made. Concerning addiction, all the respondents agreed that Facebook was addictive, especially if there was no self-regulation. On the experience with the service, the results were positive from all the respondents where they have made new connections and have maintained their friends. They also indicated that they were well updated on various issues. Whether to recommend Facebook to friends or not received a positive answer where they suggested that even though they would, they would also recommend that to people who they associate with and those that they would like to associate with. With regards to time spent on Facebook, four of the respondents replied that they spend an average of 3 hours daily while one respondent stated that checking Facebook would consume most of the time, to an average of 4-6 hours if the respondent had no chores to undertake. Three of the respondents agreed that their study time was much affected by Facebook activity whereby even during study times they often check in to answer messages from friends. Two of the respondents, however, indicated that they regulate their use by striking a balance between the studies and Facebook activities. On the tenth question, one respondent stated that there was slow rate of improvement compared to previously, three of the respondents agreed to have dropped slightly after joining Facebook, while yet another respondent claimed to have significantly dropped in academics. On the last question, most of the respondents stated that they would advise students to shun from Facebook until they are sure they can multi-task academics and social activities while striking a clear working balance. Besides, they also suggested an approach whereby students focus on specific academic-related activates. Possible implication of the research This study may have limited implications not only for the university but also for the university instructors. However, one major implication to the university may be that the usage of Facebook in itself does not harbor harmful impacts on the academic performance, hence can be utilized in ways that are beneficial in the general performance of the students. The use of the provided results will therefore aid the administrators and the overall faculty to develop effective education practices incorporating Facebook in such a way that optimization of engagement and the academic benefits become actual realities. On the other hand, since co-curricular activities seem to offer a better alternative, engaging in such activities may in effect maximize the students’ persistence along with their educational achievements. Additionally, since peer interaction is associated with persistence and completion of degree, it can be argued that encouraging Facebook use among the students with a focus on peer interactions and campus activities has positive impacts on academic outcomes. Ethical considerations/Limitations of the Study This particular study will be limited by the fact that it will be cross-sectional as well as correlational in nature, as result, it will be impossible to establish the casual mechanisms between the students’ use of Facebook and their general academic performance. While preliminary research indicates that the use of Facebook and their overall academic performance vary, it will be tricky to ascertain the bearing of the effect. For instance, it could be that the university students who spend too much of their time surfing Facebook are attaining lower grades. On the other hand, it is equally more likely that the university students who attain lower grades or initially had lower grades spend too much time surfing Facebook, hence their lower grades can not be attributed to Facebook. Another major limitation to this particular study could be that; whereas the student sample employed in this research will be representative of the general university student population, it might, on the other hand, not be representative of all the institutions of this nation in terms of aspects such as academic institutions, income, race and ethnicity. Future researches may want to replicate this particular study by incorporating more diverse samples in terms of aspects such as academic institutions, income, race and ethnicity. This preliminary study will also be limited by the fact that all data will assessed through self report. The budget and timeframe of the research Item Timeframe Resources Budget Planning 1st week Stationery and human resources $50 Designing 2nd week Stationery, human capital, and computer $230 implementation 3rd week Questionnaires, 5 smart phones, human input, and stationery. $1150 Analysis and discussion 4th week Stationary, collected questionnaires and human capital. $70 total= $1500 Conclusion Preliminary analysis clearly shows that the use of Facebook among university students is adversely affecting their academic performance. This findings can, however be further investigated, but one underlying principle of the preliminary analysis is that, generally, use of Facebook has a significant undesirable effect on students’ academic performance. This issue will be further investigated in our future work. References Aghazamani, A, 2010, How do University Students spend their Time on Facebook? 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