Analysis of the Effect of Internet Social Networks on Societal Development
Abstract
Social Network is an Internet application in the field of Information Technology to study and
assess relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, or even entire societies.
Social media offers a range of new possibilities for individuals and organisations working for
social good. The aim of this research is to identify a number of social networks in existence,
and evaluate the individual and collective effects (both positive and negative effects) these
social networks have on societal growth and development. Five social networks were
identified; Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Hi5 and MySpace, which forms the independent
variables. The study used a population size of 100 respondents, with a sample size of 80
respondents. Data were collected and analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods
and the use of regression analysis was used in testing of the hypothesis at a 0.05 significant
level. From the researchers’ findings, the respondents agreed that there is a significant effect
of individual social network and the collective social networks on societal development.
Therefore, social networks can be an effective tool for individual and organisation’s growth,
as well as having a sizeable impact on the development of a society.
Downloads
References
effects of social networks, in Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on Networked Systems
Design and Implementation (NSDI’06), San Jose, CA, May 2006.
S. Milgram (1967) the small world problem Psychology Today
Freeman, Linton C. and B. Wellman (1995)."A note on the ancestoral Toronto home of social
network analysis." Connections, 18(2): 15-19.
D. Liben-Nowell, J. Novak, R. Kumar, P. Raghavan, and A. Tomkins (2005) Geographic Routing in
Social Networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 102(33):11623–
11628, 2005
Author(s) and co-author(s) jointly and severally represent and warrant that the Article is original with the author(s) and does not infringe any copyright or violate any other right of any third parties, and that the Article has not been published elsewhere. Author(s) agree to the terms that the IJRDO Journal will have the full right to remove the published article on any misconduct found in the published article.
