Why students use Facebook (Essay Sample)

Why students use Facebook
Students use Facebook for varied reasons. A study conducted on Iranian students asking the same question established a couple of reasons why students use Facebook. DeAndrea et al., (2011) found that students use Facebook for learning purposes, to develop new relationships, spend free time, maintain relationships and set up personal identification. Apparently, the reasons were almost similar in all the countries where the study was conducted. However, an analysis of the research on Iran students established that they used Facebook for education purposes less compared to other countries.
The very essence of Facebook is to connect people across the world based on common interests and needs by creating a new group or joining an existing groups. Nonetheless, the adoption of Facebook is widely dependent on communal identity. People establish a common identity by joining groups and sharing with others. This form is common identity has an extremely significant influence in the adoption of Facebook. On the contrary, a study by Selwyn in 2009 found that students use Facebook for other purposes other than learning. The findings established that Facebook was being used as a time wasting platform through social communication activities such as following updates posted by friends.
Drawbacks to Facebook in education
The influence of Facebook today cannot be ignored because social media has taken over the youthful generation. However, if teachers must use Facebook to engage their students in a less formal manner as far as education is concerned, then anyone would argue that the results would be worthwhile. If teachers wish to use Facebook as an educational platform, then the biggest concern would be the interruption by rogue friends on Facebook. A teacher may create an official Facebook page and post information in an attempt to make interpersonal or academic interactions with students. The friends on Facebook can also post messages on the user’s wall while the teacher can control the content disclosed on their university web pages. The only concern with this approach is that strangers, friends and other students can post defamatory and discrediting information on the wall, and the teacher would be unable to control the content posted. This is quite dangerous. However, no empirical studies have verified the authenticity of these claims. Critics of this approach argue that students may use Facebook for other purposes other than education. For instance, they may post improper pictures of themselves on their Facebook profiles. Cases of students posting nude or half-naked pictures on their profiles have been reported, and this has a potential damage to their future employment in case their profile data is reviewed by employers (Hew, 2011).
Another drawback of using Facebook in education attributes to the amount of time spent on other activities other than studying. For instance, low academic performance among students has been attributed to time spent on chatting and posting status updates on Facebook. This means that students have less time to study. However, instructors and other concerned authorities in higher learning may use these indicators to identify students who are at risk of academic failure due to excessive Facebook use. Apparently, monitoring students’ activities on Facebook is not easy (Hew, 2011). Nevertheless, higher education professional may use Facebook as a platform to encourage beneficial use and discourage other non-relevant activities. For example, a faculty could post information on their Facebook page to encourage student engagement and improve on their grades and not simply for social interactions.
Challenges
Studies have been conducted to ascertain whether Facebook is an appropriate platform for academic use. 43% of the respondents asked responded negatively arguing that Facebook was more of a social media platform than an academic tool. Many respondents explained that using Facebook otherwise was indeed contradictory. Most students do not approve of suing Facebook as an academic tool. Hargittai, E. (2007) reveals that most of the suggestions put forward have nothing to do with the pedagogic facet of learning and teaching, but more to do with departmental or module relates administrative arrangements (Hargittai, 2007).
Students were also asked if staff from the university could contact them for marketing, pastoral, teaching or administrative purposes via Facebook. As expected, most students were opposed to the idea because most of them considered Facebook as a platform for personal interactions between family and friends and not a tool for academic use. Based on this statistics and opinions, it is evident that students regard Facebook as a social tool than one for formal academic purposes. As much as students used it privately for education purposes, they did not want it incorporated as a formal necessity in the education system.
The issue of trust in Facebook also comes into play. There is quite a significant percentage of trust among Facebook users, but this does not extend to student/teacher relationship. Social media sites including Facebook provide users with an opportunity to share personal information in order to develop social networks online. However, there are risks associated with disclosure to millions of Facebook users across the world (McBride and Wahl, 2005). This explains the trust among Facebook users, as most of them are willing to share sensitive information with their friends on Facebook. This trust is anchored in the privacy setting available on the Facebook wall.
In order to facilitate the adoption of Facebook into the education system, certain dimensions must be put in place. Mazman and Usluel (2010)...