Factors influencing the usage of social networking websites amongst young, professional South Africans

Abstract

This study examines three factors identified as potentially influencing the usage of Social Networking Sites (SNS’s) amongst young, professional South Africans. The three factors identified were Age, gender and Access to Technology. The propositions on which this research is based are that the men in the sample would make more use of SNS’s than the women would, that usage of SNS’s would drop off with age and that having access to technology would not influence the usage of SNS’s. A sample of 271 people was invited to participate in the research. The research instrument was a web-based questionnaire which had to be accessed online in order to complete it. The questionnaire rendered a sample of 98 usable responses, of which 31 were women and 67 were men. The results were collated into a spreadsheet and analysed to generate the results of the survey. A significant finding of this research is that 78% of make use of SNS’s, a higher proportion than the literature studies suggested would be that case. It was found that, contrary to expectations, women make more use of SNS’s than men do, although men utilise them more than women do for work related activities, that usage decreases with age, although it does become more work related as the respondents age, and that having access to technology is a strong indicator of SNS usage, but is not a defining characteristic. Copyright