The Advantages and Risks of Using Social Networking in Higher Education in Pakistan

Abstract

To understand and affiliate themselves with the feelings of their own kind seems to be an inherent feature of mankind. Social networking sites are the product of this drive in the context of the modern world whose outlook has been completely changed by the advent of technology. It is a medium to virtually connect a multitude of people around the world through the internet. “Man is by nature a social animal”. This claim by Aristotle has stood the test of time. For this reason, humans want to interact with one another through communication channels. The internet has completely changed the face of world communication. Web 2.0 technology allows the people worldwide to communicate with each another more easily, frequently, timelessly and inexpensively to promote business, commerce, health care, school and universities etc. In such demanding contexts, social networking (via social networking sites) is used in different sectors such as government, health and commerce. In addition, higher education is seriously considering its implementations for e-teaching, e-learning and e-marketing. Universities and other education institutions have realized that Web 2.0 tools such as Facebook and Twitter have great potential to create constructive communication between students and teachers; therefore, they are considering them as well as other Web 2.0 features (blog, wiki, blackboard etc.) for pedagogical purposes. On the one hand, different researchers are discovering numerous positive factors (advantages) of social networking; on the other hand, they are also confronting negative factors (risks) of social networking. These risks and advantages are different in different countries because of varying security and privacy policies and cultural and moral issues. Before implementing these tools and technologies in higher education, it is important to do research demographically to know exactly what risks and advantages are related to different regions. Accordingly, this research focuses on Pakistan’s higher education sector. Therefore, for the data collection, only university students were targeted from different universities in Pakistan. An online survey was conducted and more than 150 participants’ valid responses were used for data analysis. The findings are based on four positive factors (advantages) and five negative factors (risks) associated with the use of social networking in higher education in Pakistan. Some recommendations are given to mitigate those risks and maximize the benefits of opportunities for facilitating students, teacher and institution. In conclusion, this research has pinpointed directly and precisely the advantages and risks (positive and negative factors) of using social networking in the higher education sector in Pakistan.