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Non-probability convenience sampling was used to draw the respondents for the survey. The survey link was distributed amongst undergraduate students registered at the Tshwane University of Technology in 2012. A screening question was included in order to ensure only respondents who were current users of SNS were included in the sample. The survey yielded 651 responses. Descriptive statistics and statistical tests were performed to examine variations and significant differences. Hypothesis testing was conducted where appropriate to identify significant differences between demographic groups.
The questionnaire was evaluated by other researchers and pilot testing conducted to ensure face validity. The split-half method was used to test internal consistency reliability. The results thereof indicated no significant differences; indicating that the instrument may be regarded as reliable.
RESULTS Demographics
The gender distribution of the sample was 55.5% males and 44.5% females. The majority of the respondents were 20 to 21 years of age. Figure 1 represents the grouped average monthly spending money of the students.
Figure 1 shows that more than half of the respondents have R600 or less average spending money per month. These results indicate that the respondents generally have limited spending money, which could possibly impact on the money they have available to purchase data for Internet and inter alia SNS use.
Subscriptions to SNS
The respondents were asked to indicate all of the SNS that they subscribe to – they could select more than one option. Four options (Facebook, Mxit, Twitter and LinkedIn) were provided (based on literature suggesting most popular SNS), and the option of “other” was also provided to the respondents. The majority (95.8%) of respondents are subscribed to Facebook; 62.4% are members of Mxit; Twitter subscriptions were reported as 47.7%; and 10.9% of the respondents are LinkedIn members. Other SNS that were reported by the respondents included My Space,
More than R1000
SOCIAL NETWORKING: A PROFILE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN TSHWANE 446