Individual differences in motivations for using social media among university students

Abstract

This study aimed to examine individual differences in motivations for using social media among university students. Motivations were measured with a validated social media motives scale. Participants were 348 undergraduate students studying in a university in Hong Kong. Results from a series of MANOVAs showed that there were in general no significant differences in the five motivation variables (entertainment, personal utility, information seeking, convenience, and altruism) with respect to a group of demographic variables (gender, faculty, year of study, experience in using computers or the Internet, and IT proficiency). However, given that students mostly agreed that they used social media to seek free information and to know what is happening recently, educators may encourage students to develop their own personal learning environments and integrate informal and formal learning activities with social media.