Role of Social Networking Sites and eWom

Communication in Enhancing Student Engagement

Plan of Presentation
Abstract
Introduction
Research

Purpose
Social Networking Sites
Student Engagement and Learning
Research Method
Results and Discussions
Conclusion

Abstract
Student engagement is a critical factor in online learning
environment
Social Networking Sites (SNSs) and electronic Word of
Mouth (eWOM) Communication play important role in
facilitating fruitful interaction among Student, Teacher,
and Content
It promotes active learning in online learning scenarios
with improved learning outcomes.
This research paper highlights the new role of Social
Networking Sites and eWOM Communication in the
online learning Scenario.

Introduction

The continuous growth in internet usage and advancement in web technologies

brought popularity of online social networks into prominence

It has become an indispensable tool for establishing connectivity and useful

interactions among communities across the world

There are numerous ways people communicate and interact, post information in
blogs, news feeds etc which reaches a wider audience in shortest possible time.

In ecommerce scenario, when making purchasing decisions, Consumers frequently

seek out interpersonal sources of information about Products called Word of Mouth
(WOM)

In recent times, WOM has been evolved into eWOM (electronic Word of Mouth)
when it is online

This research work highlights fruitful student interactions in Social Networking

Sites

Wom Communication Model

Research study by Nielson(2012)

(i) 90% of consumers trust recommendations are
from friends and family
(ii) 70% of consumers trust online reviews and
surveys by other consumers
As per university of Brighton blog (April
2015), eWOM is emerging as a powerful tool
for consumers in making online purchasing
decisions.

Social Networking Sites

Social Networking Sites are offering useful services to
online users in unprecedented way in recent times.
Social media connect likeminded people to become
friends, share information and opinions, and seeking
advice from expert users by posing problems and
finding answers and solutions to problems posed.
The users of social media get frequent notifications on
update of the current positions and whereabouts of
people so that users keep up-to-date information on
their connections.

Research Purpose

Existing research studies mainly focus on the problems, issues and

innovations that are taking place in Ecommerce and Emarketing areas where
the users need to make costly and complex purchase decisions quickly.

Many young people and professionals start using social media in recent times
in order to get connected with their friends, by way of sharing information and
resources and have interactions individually as well as in groups.

Current research studies are not focusing the needs of the students who
were engaged in Social Networking activities.

The main focus of this research study is to make an explorative study of

collecting data on how students are interacting in Social Media Sites by
connecting with their peers, teachers and Experts.

This study will help to identify the key variables and factors that can be
brought to practical use by the students to maximize the benefits in meeting
their academic needs and future professional needs.

Future studies can cover a wider audience to understand the scalability, user
satisfaction , privacy and security aspects.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking phenomena has established unprecedented

connectivity among online users and they offer enormous opportunities
interact with a wider audience and share information and knowledge.
Facebook is the most popular online social networking service which
was launched in the year 2004 and whose members have crossed 1
billion.
Another prominent Social networking service is LinkedIn which was
launched in the year 2003. As on March 2015, LinkedIn has 364
million registered users.
LinkedIn is a professional networking site where users share their
profiles, update their positions, skills and capabilities etc which will
invite likeminded users to get connected.
LinkedIn users endorse skill sets of other members and it improves
social and professional standings of individuals.
It benefits the recruiters to identify a suitable person with specific skill
set and experience in the job market.

Student Engagement and Learning

Social Networking by Students

Skills and Endorsements

A Simple Social Network

User Profile

Research Method

Explorative survey on Social Media usage by Students

A two stage survey is conducted to collect demographic data
and Social Media Usage by a sample of 50 undergraduate
and Post Graduate students.
In the first Stage , Questionnaires for collecting the
demographic data , and key and major usage of Social
Media by students in their own words were circulated .
Based on output of Survey-I , 22 key variables were
identified and the same is circulated to the same students to
get answers in 5 point Likert Scale in Survey-II.
Explorative factor analysis will be conducted on the
collected data in order to identify major factors which
correlates with the 22 variables identified in the first stage.

Outcome of the Survey

Students are able to appreciate usefulness of
eWOM communication
They posted positive comments about their
interactions in the Social Network Sites.
The responses to the Survey show some
interesting findings on engagement of student in
Social Networking Sites.
Future research studies are planned to identify the
important factors that contribute to fruitful
interaction of students in Social Media Sites and
to study scalability and Security aspects.

Results and Discussions

Survey-I Results

In the first stage, a survey was conducted with 50 Under Graduate and
Post Graduate students from SRM University.
Using this Survey , the demographic information of the students like
their age, Gender, LinkedIn Membership, Number of Connections, Time
spent on LinkedIn Sites per week, and Frequency of LinkedIn visits per
week. The average age of students was 21.5 years and 22.5% of the
respondents were females. The Summary of demographic data of the
respondents are shown in Table I.
Table II lists the key items identified from student responses in stage I
survey regarding their use of social networking sites.
It can be inferred that students mainly use Social Networking Sites for
connecting with a larger community consisting of peers, teachers , and
other professional experts.
They also seek advice and guidance for their betterment in achieving
their educational as well as to get a path to be followed to fulfill their
professional needs.

Survey-I Demographic Information

Slno

User Info/ Activity

Demographic Data

Age

MAX
25

MIN
19

Gender

Male
31

Female
19

Residenceship

Hosteller
19

Day
Scholar
31

Time spent in
LinkedIn Site
Per week (Hours)

MAX
7

MIN
0

AVERAGE
1.42

Frequency of Visits
per week

MAX
20

MIN
0

AVERAGE
2.2

Number of
Connections

MAX
500

MIN
1

AVERAGE
37

Viewing Profiles of
others

YES
30

NO
10

Group Discussions

YES
20

NO
20

AVERAGE
21.5

Items generated based on Survey-I

Code

Items

Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6

Building connections between people

Helps to find jobs
Networks students, teachers, and experts
Seeking advice from experts
Opportunity communicate with professionals
Useful in identifying Seminar topic or Project Title

Q7
Q8

Updating my profiles and adding connections

Discussions with like minded professionals through groups

Q9
Q10
Q11
Q12

Getting motivation from faculties

Search for various companies
Group discussion about jobs
To choose right path for acquiring higher degrees

Q13
Q14
Q15
Q16

View profiles of colleagues

Networking with people
Seek opinions regarding jobs or higher studies
Endorsement gives emotional boost and increases confidence level

Q17

Helps users to reach companies and get their dream jobs

Q18

Sharing information, Knowledge, and resources with friends

Q19
Q20
Q21
Q22

Seeking expert opinion and guidance

Skill set endorsement of friends and colleagues
Being informed about current business trends
Following the Career program of any contacts

Factor Analysis
Total Variance Explained
Initial Eigenvalues
Component
1
2
3

Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

Total
% of Variance Cumulative %
15.916
58.946
58.946
1.677
6.212
65.158
1.162
4.303
69.462

.912

3.376

72.838

.877

3.250

76.088

.712

2.637

78.725

.630

2.332

81.057

.550

2.037

83.094

.520

1.927

85.021

10

.453

1.677

86.697

Total
% of Variance Cumulative %
15.916
58.946
58.946
1.677
6.212
65.158
1.162
4.303
69.462

Factor Analysis

Steps

Principal Component Analysis with Varimax Roatation and Kaiser

Normalization were conducted

Eigenvalues equal to or greater than 1.00 were extracted

With regard to 27 variables used , Orthogonal rotation of the variables

yielded 3 factors, accounting for 25.397, 23.976, and 69.462 resp, to a total of
69.462% of the total variance explained

To enhance the interpretability of factors, only variables with factor loadings

as follows were selected for inclusion in their respective factors :

> 0.57 (Factor-1)

> 0.69 (Factor-2)

> 0.57 (Factor-3)

Factor Analysis
Naming of the Factors Identified
Faculty

Interaction and Expert Opinion

Seeking
Notificaton of Profile changes and Skill Set
endorsement
Networking With Peoples and Viewing
Profiles

Factor Analysis

Total Variance Explained

Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Component
1

Total

% of Variance
Cumulative %
6.857
25.397
25.397

6.474

23.976

49.374

5.424

20.088

69.462

Rotated Component Matrix

Component-1

Cut off Point 0.57

Getting Motivation from Faculties

0.825

Useful in Identifying Seminar Topic or Project Title

0.769

12

To Choose right path for acquiring higher degree

0.726

11

Group Discussion about Jobs

0.717

17

Helps users to reach Companies and get their dream jobs

0.632

Network Student,Teachers and Executives

0.624

19

Seeking Expert Opinion and Guidance

0.572

Component-2

Cut off Point 0.69

22

Following Career Progress of Contacts

0.827

27

Notifications are useful and important Feature

0.817

23

Widening network by connecting with people from other

countries

0.789

26

To know about important skill sets

0.697

Component-3

Cut off Point 0.57

13

View Profile of colleagues

0.775

Opportunities communicate with Professionals

0.742

Building connection between people

0.704

14

Networking with people

0.572

Reliability Aanalysis
Summary Item Statistics
Mean
Minimum Maximum
3.620
3.258
3.828

Item Means

Range
.570

Maximum /
Minimum
Variance N of Items
1.175
.017
27

Case Processing Summary

Reliability Statistics

N
Cases

Valid
Excludeda
Total

Cronbach's

%
93

95.9

4.1

97

100.0

Alpha Based on
Cronbach's

Standardized

Alpha

Items
.972

N of Items
.973

27

Conclusion and Future Works

The role of Social Networking Sites and eWOM communication has been proven as a powerful force in
eCommerce and eMarketting.

This paper focussed on eWOM communication by students and young Professionals in a fruitful way.

An exploratory survey was made on the role of Social Networking Sites from 50 university students who are
LinkedIn members in the age group of 19 to 25 regarding how it is important to get connected with their peers,
teachers and other professional experts.

There are interesting responses collected from the students and some key variables are identified and tabulated .

Based on responses from Survey-I, Stage-II survey was conducted with different audience by circulating key
items and variables identified in Stage-I Survey and asking for rating of each item in Five Point Likerts Scale

Factor analysis was done using SPSS, a statistical analysis Software tool. The aim is to identify the key factors that
can enhance user experience and expertise needed while using Social networking Sites for enhancing student
engagement and learning in current learning scenarios

The Survey results based on Factor Analysis using SPSS Software revealed interesting Patterns on Social behavior
of students communicating in Social Networks

The important latent factors identified are

Faculty Interaction and Expert Opinion Seeking
Notificaton of Profile changes and Skill Set endorsement
Networking With Peoples and Viewing Profiles

Future work involves research work on scalability , security aspects by conducting experiments on a larger
audience.