Social networking, knowledge sharing, and student learning: The case of university students

The recent development of social networking brought new opportunities not only for socializing and marketing but also for knowledge sharing and learning. As the social computing technology is relatively new, a review of literature revealed lack of research on the impact of ways of using social networking sites (SNS) on knowledge sharing and learning among tertiary students. This paper aims to empirically examine the various categories of SNS use including: chatting and online discussion, creating knowledge and information content, file sharing, and enjoyment and entertainment by tertiary students at a University in Saudi Arabia. It will investigate the impact of these categories of SNS use on knowledge sharing and learning performance. We adopted a cross sectional survey questionnaire for data collection, and received 308 valid responses from a sample of students that include graduates and undergraduates. The results show that there are significant positive relationships between both chatting and online discussion and file sharing and knowledge sharing, and entertainment and enjoyment with student learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations and implications of this study, along with directions for further research. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.