Factors Affecting the Usage of Social Media among Youngsters (A Quantitative Approach)

Abstract

Youngsters in every society are of great importance. Their attitudes and behaviors are significant since they are the leaders of tomorrow. They are getting involved with internet related activities more closely than others. Especially, at present social media plays a vital part in their day today life. Therefore, main focus of this study is to explore the factors that affect the usage of social media among youngsters. Mainly, primary data were used. Sampling was done through stratified random sampling technique. Data were collected from 420 undergraduates at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura using a web-paper based questionnaire. Descriptive statistical tools were used to present data. Regression models were applied on two dimensions of social media usage as how often youngsters use social media and how much time youngsters spend on social media. Most of youngsters use social media daily and spend 2 hours a day on social media. Relationship with family, relationship with friends, and privacy concentration are significant factor to the time spent on social media model. Relationship with friends, privacy concentration, and income are significant factor to the frequency of social media usage model. The coefficients are 0.0016, -0.0085, and 0.00000284 respectively. According to Analysis of Variance, purpose of online surfing and rural-urban residence effect on both frequency of social media usage and time spent on social media. Purpose of education is demotivated the usage of social media while communication and entertainment are motivated the usage of social media. Youngsters in urban areas use social media more than youngsters in rural areas.