Volume 7, Issue 1 (6-2020)
Human Information Interaction 2020, 7(1): 1-14 |
Back to browse issues page
Abstract: (3670 Views)
Aim: The main purpose was to investigate the students’ information sharing behavior in social network sites with a qualitative approach.
Methodology: An applied research with qualitative approach - A Thematic Analysis method was used. Population consisted of all the students at the Universities in South Khorasan Province affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology who had a minimum of six months experience in using one of the social network sites such as: Telegram, Instagram or WhatsApp. A non-probability (non-random), and a snowball sampling procedure was used and 17 persons were interviewed. The semi-structured type of interview was incorporated.
Findings: Results showed that most students’ information sharing was done on Telegram and Instagram, respectively. Eighteen primary codes were provided by students as motives for information sharing in social network sites. These primary codes were categorized into two main categories (personal and social motives) and seven subcategories. Among all the primary codes of the two main categories, the sub-category of “net-surfing and entertainment” had the highest occurrence. For the types of information shared on social network sites by student, 24 primary codes were obtained. These primary codes were categorized into eight sub-categories and two main categories (knowledge and entertaining information). Among the sub-categories identified, the most recurrently shared types of information were “literary-artistic information” and “scientific-educational information”.
Conclusion: For surfing and entertainments’ own good - information sharing on social network sites could lead to admittance of valuable information. If properly planned, it may function as a suitable platform (available to diverse strata of the society, especially the students, at the lowest possible cost) to attain the best possible practice especially in educational settings.
Methodology: An applied research with qualitative approach - A Thematic Analysis method was used. Population consisted of all the students at the Universities in South Khorasan Province affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology who had a minimum of six months experience in using one of the social network sites such as: Telegram, Instagram or WhatsApp. A non-probability (non-random), and a snowball sampling procedure was used and 17 persons were interviewed. The semi-structured type of interview was incorporated.
Findings: Results showed that most students’ information sharing was done on Telegram and Instagram, respectively. Eighteen primary codes were provided by students as motives for information sharing in social network sites. These primary codes were categorized into two main categories (personal and social motives) and seven subcategories. Among all the primary codes of the two main categories, the sub-category of “net-surfing and entertainment” had the highest occurrence. For the types of information shared on social network sites by student, 24 primary codes were obtained. These primary codes were categorized into eight sub-categories and two main categories (knowledge and entertaining information). Among the sub-categories identified, the most recurrently shared types of information were “literary-artistic information” and “scientific-educational information”.
Conclusion: For surfing and entertainments’ own good - information sharing on social network sites could lead to admittance of valuable information. If properly planned, it may function as a suitable platform (available to diverse strata of the society, especially the students, at the lowest possible cost) to attain the best possible practice especially in educational settings.
Keywords: Information Sharing Behavior, Social Network Sites, Students, Qualitative Approach, Thematic Analysis.
References
1. Abedi Ja'fari, H., Taslimi, M., Faghihi, A., Sheikhzade, M. (2011). Thematic analysis and thematic networks: A simple and efficient method for exploring patterns embedded in qualitative data municipalities). Strategic Management Thought, 5(2), 151-198. (Persian)
2. Almehmadi, F., Hepworth M., Maynard S. (2014). A framework for understanding information sharing: An exploration of the information sharing experiences of female academics in Saudi Arabia. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Leeds, 2-5 September, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2018 from http://InformationR.net/ir/19-4/isic/isic01.html.
3. Calo K.M., Cenci K., Fillottrani, P., Estevez E. (2012). Information sharing - benefits. Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 12 (2), 49-55.
4. Cannon, J.P.J., Perreault, W.D. (1999). Buyer-seller relationships in business markets. Journal of Marketing Research, 36(4), 439-460. [DOI:10.1177/002224379903600404]
5. Chia, J., Geow, J.C.L., Khoo, C.S.G. (2015). Characteristics of information shared on facebook: An exploratory study. In proceedings of the 6th international conference on Asia-Pacific library and information education and practice, manila, philippines, October 28-30, 2015. Quezon city: University of the Philippines, School of Library and Information Studies. Retrieved May 8, 2018, from http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/assgkhoo/papers/Chia,%20Geow%20&%20Khoo.A-IEP2015.pdf.
6. Dastani M., Keramati, J., Poorfatemi, A., Ekrami, A. (2015). The reasons and motives of virtual social networks among students of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences. Caspian Journal of Scientometrics, 2 (2) 24-27. (Persian)
7. Du, J. (2014). The information journey of marketing professionals: Incorporating work task-driven information seeking, information judgments, information use, and information sharing. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(9),1850-1869. [DOI:10.1002/asi.23085]
8. Eydi Zade, R., Ahmadi Blotaki, H. (2018). The relationship between the usage of what's app and telegram social networks and life style social sciences' students in science and research branch. Journal Sociology Studies, 11(38), 43-60. (Persian)
9. Fidel, R. (2015). Human information interaction: An Ecological Approach to Information Behavior. Translated by Farideh Osareh and et al. Tehran: ketabdar. (Persian)
10. Gardoni, M., Spadoni, M., Vernadat, F. (2000). Harnessing non-structured information and knowledge and know-how capitalisation in integrated engineering: Case study at aerospatiale matra. Concurrent Engineering, 8(4), 281-296. [DOI:10.1177/1063293X0000800403]
11. Ghaisani, A.P., Handayani, P.W., Munajat, Q. (2017). Users' motivation in sharing information on social media. Procedia Computer Science, 124, 530-535. [DOI:10.1016/j.procs.2017.12.186]
12. Gitonga, M.M.A. (2013). Information sharing among humanitarian organizations in Kenya. M.A. thesis. University of Nairobi. Retrieved September 8, 2018, from http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/60627/Information%20sharing%20among%20humanitarian%20organizations%20in%20Kenya.pdf?sequence=3.
13. Hooman, H. A. (2006). Practical guide to qualitative research. Tehran: Organization for the Study and Development of Humanities Textbooks for Universities (SAMT). (Persian)
14. Ispa (2019). Iranian users' interest in using social networks. Retrieved 10 February, 2018 from http://ispa.ir/Default/Details/fa/1953. (Persian)
15. Jansen, B.J., Sobel, K., Cook, G. (2011). Classifying ecommerce information sharing behaviour by youths on social networking sites. Information Science, 37 (2), 120-136. [DOI:10.1177/0165551510396975]
16. Khalili, L. (2015) Use of social networks by university students. Human Information Interact, 2 (1), 59-73. (Persian)
17. Kian, M., Ya'ghoubi Malal, N., Riyaheeniya, N. (2015). Analysis of the role and use of virtual social networks among university students. Technology of Instruction and Learning, 1(3), 69-88. (Persian)
18. Kuhlthau, C.C. (1991). Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 361-371.
https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199106)42:5<361::AID-ASI6>3.0.CO;2-# [DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199106)42:53.0.CO;2-#]
19. Li, Y., Ye, F., Sheu, C. (2014). Social capital, information sharing and performance. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 34 (11),1440 - 1462. [DOI:10.1108/IJOPM-03-2013-0132]
20. Mazman, G., Usluel, Y.K. (2011). Gender differences in using social networks. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10 (2), 133-139.
21. Mirzaei, M., Rahimi, S., Moradi, M. (2016). A Survey on the Roll of Social Networks on Scientific Exchanges (Case study: Master's students of Razi University). Library and Information Sciences, 19(1), 108-130. (Persian)
22. Moeini Kia, M., Zahed Babelan, A., Aryani, E., Khaleghkhah, A. (2016). Reviewing the goals and motivation of students in applying virtual social networks (A case study of post-graduate students of Tehran universities, Allameh Tabatabai, Shahid Beheshti and Mohaqeq Ardebili). Rasaneh, 26(4), 105-130. (Persian)
23. Moradi, S., Rajabpour, M., Kian Hereditary, f., Hajlou, N., Radbakhsh, N. (2014). Motivational factors in using virtual social networks. Culture in the Islamic University, 4(10), 95-118. (Persian)
24. Navidi, F. (2015). The role of online social networks in users' everyday-life information seeking. Human Information Interact, 2 (1), 50-58. (Persian)
25. Oh, S., Syn, S.Y. (2015). Motivations for sharing in-formation and social support in social media: A comparative analysis of Facebook, Twitter, Deli-cious, YouTube, and Flickr. Journal of the Asso-ciation for Information Science and Technology, 66 (10), 2045-2060. [DOI:10.1002/asi.23320]
26. Park, H.P, Gu, B., Leung, A.C.M., Konana, P. (2014). An investigation of information sharing and seek-ing behaviors in online investment communities. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 1-12. [DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.002]
27. Rafaeli, S., Raban, D.R. (2005). Information sharing online: A research challenge. International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 1(1/2), 62-79. [DOI:10.1504/IJKL.2005.006251]
28. Rafique, G.M. (2017). Personal information sharing behavior of university Students via online social networks. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). Retrieved May 26, 2018, from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1454.
29. Ramaswami, C., Murugathasan, M., Narayanasamy, P., Khoo, C. S. G. (2014). A survey of information sharing on Facebook. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Leeds, 2-5 September, 2014: Part 1. Retrieved 3 February, 2018 from http://InformationR.net/ir/19-4/isic/isicsp8.html.
30. Rasoulzadeh Aghdam, S., Adlipour, S., Zeinivand, Y. (2012). Study of Iranian young users' attitudes to-wards virtual social networks. Journal Sociology Studies, 5(16), 49-64. (Persian)
31. Sabouri Khosrowshahi, H. , Azargoon, N. (2013). the Impact of virtual Social Networks (Facebook) on social identity. Media Studies, 8 (21), 1-20. (Per-sian)
32. Safiri, K. (2008). Qualitative research methods. Teh-ran: Payam Puya. (Persian)
33. Salavatian, S., Dolatkhah, M. (2017). The Impact of mobile social networks on cultural identity of stu-dents. Interdisciplinary Studies in Media and Cul-ture, 7(13), 67-84. (Persian)
34. Sarafzadeh, M., Alavi, S. (2014). The State of online social networking among library and information sciences students. Human Information Interact, 1 (1), 44-56. (Persian)
35. Schaefer, C. (2008). Motivations and usage patterns on social network sites. In ECIS 2008 Proceedings, 143. Retrieved May 19, 2018, from https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2008/143.
36. Shahabi, M., Bayat, G. (2013). Purposes and motiva-tions of social networks' members (A study on youth from Tehran). Culture-Communication Studies, 13(20), 61-86. (Persian)
37. Tavalaee, R., Sabaghi, Z., Nezafati, N. (2017). Identi-fy and analyze the opportunities and threats of so-cial networks for shahid Beheshti University stu-dents. Journal of Iran Cultural, 10(3), 153-175. (Persian)
38. Tian, X. (2016). Network domains in social networking sites: expectations, meanings, and social capital. Information, Communication & Society, 19 (2), 188-202. [DOI:10.1080/1369118X.2015.1050051]
39. Yaghoubi, J., Najaflu, P., Mohammadi, V. (2018). Application of Social Networks in Educational and Research Activities of Agricultural Students in University of Zanjan. Journal of Agricultural Edu-cation Administration Research, 9(43), 17-29. (Persian)
| Rights and permissions | |
 | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |