Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Challenges in the Era of Globalization
Edited by Emmanuel Obuah
To get a deeper sense of SNS usage across other demographic characteristics, the various social network
sites were compared across the newly transformed level of education and Internet experience variables.
Figure 3 shows that Hi5, My Space, Live Sports, and Windows Live, in particular are preferred by
individuals with more than 5 years’ Internet experience. Also, education affects SNS choice (Figure 4).
MXiT and My Space are much more popular among high school students than in university. 69 per cent
of high school students subscribe to MXiT compared to 42 per cent in university. Likewise, 15 per cent of
high school students use My Space compared to a paltry 7 per cent by university students.
Figure 3: Social networking site choice across Internet experience
% within Internet exp. group
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Hi5 My Space Live Sports YouTube Windows Live
Figure 4: Social networking site choice across education level
% within ed. level group
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
MxiT My Space Live Sports LinkedIn
Low exp.
High exp.
High sch.
University
However, Live Sports and LinkedIn are less popular in high school. Since MXiT connection is mostly via
mobile phones, it makes sense for high school students to use this platform more often. This corroborates
the significant results in the Chi-square test of association of education level and Internet connection type
which yielded significant results (x 2 = 3.980; p = .046). Furthermore, the fact that it is relatively cheaper –
ZAR0.02 per message, MXiT proves to be cost efficient for high school students.
Conclusion
This paper investigated young consumers’ adoption patterns of SNSs and also sought to establish the
most preferred network. Results confirm the dominance of Facebook and that social network sites have
revolutionised computer-mediated communication in the 21 st Century. Since students integrate SNSs into
their daily lives and the fact that Internet and SNS usage increases with progression of studies, there is
much evidence suggesting massive potential for social networking in many aspects of youths’ life
including education. With the advent of cheaper and faster Internet access driven by affordable
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