Do Facebook Usage Patterns Influence Individuals’ ICT Engagement?

Abstract

Research problem: Information Communication Technology (ICT) access and information literacy appear to be increasingly linked with individuals’ personal, social, educational, vocational and economic outcomes. Social media, especially Facebook, is increasingly ubiquitous amongst online adults, and some studies have found significant negative correlations between social media and educational outcomes, and also in some contexts positive correlations.

If Facebook usage patterns significantly influence ICT engagement, then they therefore may also impact on users’ broad socioeconomic outcomes and well-being.

Methodology: This research is based in the quantitative tradition, and is a cross-sectional correlational study.

Questionnaire instruments were used, as quantitative approaches using questionnaire instruments have previously been successfully used in cross-sectional studies to measure ICT engagement and educational outcomes. The instruments were designed to measure three variables: individuals’ average duration of weekly Facebook access; average frequency of the same; and ICT engagement. Inferential statistical analyses were used to determine correlations between the Facebook usage variables and ICT engagement.

The target population was online New Zealanders (this limit was imposed to assist feasibility) aged 16 and over. To maximise representativeness and minimise sampling bias, links to the questionnaire instrument were offered to the general public via public libraries across New Zealand.

Results: While there was no significant correlation found between the duration of users’ average weekly Facebook access and ICT engagement, a significant (though weak) positive correlation of .279 at the 0.01 level (two-tailed) using the Pearson product moment correlation.

Interestingly, Facebook access frequency and Facebook access duration were also similarly significantly positively correlated, though here only at .299. This suggests that while users’ frequency of access and duration of access patterns do influence one another, there is a wide range of effect of this influence. Thus it appears that users’ Facebook access patterns can be quite varied and heterogeneous, at least so far as the combinations of duration and frequency of access are concerned.

Implications: Due to methodological limitations, as discussed in this report, further research and replication of the findings is advised to better inform the consideration of implications of this research’s results on digital divide issues and broad socioeconomic outcomes, and the subsequent recommendations for updates to information professionals’ practice or governmental policy in these areas.

Based on the findings of this report, it appears possible that facilitating users’ frequent access to Facebook (and perhaps, speculatively at this stage, across a variety of devices e.g. desktop computer, laptop, pad or tablet, smartphone etc.) could have a significant positive impact on overall ICT engagement. Due to digital divide issues and the possible relationship between ICT engagement and broad social outcomes, this may raise issues of governmental and information professional obligation to work deliberately to facilitate said access, particularly for individuals and groups characterised by low Socioeconomic Status (SES) or ICT access groups. This might include funding and educational workshops directed at assisting and advocating Facebook access in a broader range of contexts and devices throughout individuals’ daily activities.

As a correlational study though, an important caveat is that the direction of causation (if causation indeed exists) is naturally unclear.