Students' Social Media and Content Development Practices: Evidence from a University in Cyprus

Technological advancement goes through ongoing alterations, re-writing the rules and norms of social relationships among members in society. One area that has particularly affected behaviors in the last few years is the use of social media. Many people use social media for communication with friends and relatives, news sharing, being informed about world events, posting personal stories etc. Within this context, the current paper explores diverse aspects related to the selection and usage of social media along with practices related to user-generated content by university students. More specifically, topics such as which social media are used more often and for what reasons, frequency of usage and posting on social media, network size, types of user generated content are explored. The analysis draws on findings collected through a survey from learners at all levels of higher education. While some of the findings resonate with existing studies, such as the popularity of Instagram and Facebook, the relatively long hours young people spent on social media and the importance of connecting with friends and family, other findings are quite unexpected, including responders' preferences for physical rather than online interaction with followers, as well as the rise of real names in social media as opposed to pseudonyms and anonymity.