Students, more than any other internet user group, have been finding it most difficult to resist the tactics that have turned facebook and twitter into the most used websites in U.K with a greater addiction level than even alcohol and tobacco (naomip93).
“Most would argue that stopping students’ use of Facebook would be impossible.” (Heiberger and Junco)
The importance of facebook and other social networking sites in the daily lives of students has become a force to reckon with. Being aware of this it would be eccentric to underestimate their influences on all aspect of their lives.
In the light of the above can facebook be considered as the new Student Union?
Everything we may think of is there on facebook, to be liked shared and talked about. The variety of pages that you get to see now, range from representing high-end international organizations to neighborhood communities, from work to recreation, entertainment to religious ideals, celebrity pages to hate groups and the abundance of pages that comment on things we barely notice in routine life.
Studies have shown that students today spend, at the very least, more than an hour and forty minutes on facebook each day (Heiberger and Junco), not taking into account the increasing popularity of mobile facebook usage.
According to another research, most internet users claim that social networking influences their lives to a great extent (Raizada, Vinayak and Srivastav). Having virtually connected one end of the globe to the other, and giving all the people in it a larger platform for self expression, social media is responsible for a greater sensitivity and cross cultural influence among its users (Raizada, Vinayak and Srivastav).
But are the affects of this extended exposure to social media limited to a personal level or do these social interactions change the way we behave in public too?
Facebook being an extension of our social spheres exerts the same pressure as our real life peer groups do, but to a deeper extent. This results in a greater social conformity and compliance to similar ideals which in turn influence social behavior.
Conformity, the most common social influence, results from a subtle social pressure which is higher when opinions or actions are to be made public (Feldman). Since Facebook encourages its users to share their lives and thoughts with their extended social connections, it has a major role in enforcing social conformity.
This is seen for example, when a particular page is liked by a group of connected users, their friends are informed of this approval and this encourages an increase in its popularity.
Compliance, another type of social influence, also makes its way to facebook pages, when upon the joining of a cause or an event; it becomes sort of an obligation to invite others to it. This may serve well as an example of the foot-in-door technique for compliance stated by Robert S. Feldman (Essentails of Understanding Psychology 550).
Being in a virtual space, a lot of the hurdles that come in the way of making real life connections are not present in social networking sites, and this encourages a greater freedom of expression and, contradictory to some researches, discourages antisocial behavior (Jenness).
In a study regarding the behavior of undergraduate students and the usage of social media, it has been observed that the students that are more active on these sites are more involved in on-campus activities and are better at socializing (Jenness). Thus the use of facebook mobilizes the student body, encouraging community participation and the expression of opinions, the execution of which in the form of student communities or unions has efficient and better organized results.
Facebook, along with other social interactive sites, has both positive and negative impacts on the behavior of students towards their education and their communities. It is undeniable however that this influence is strong and that it could be and is being exploited for the conveyance of thoughts and ideals that could persuade organizations, communities and even governments.
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