Information Sharing Behaviour of Generation Z (Gen Z) Students through Social Networking Sites: A Descriptive Study

This study investigates the information sharing behaviour of Gen Z students in use of social networking sites (SNSs). Social network sites have become a necessity for survival in today's interconnected world by transforming personal and professional lives to connect, communicate, and share information. This study employed a quantitative method, where the questionnaire was shared with the respondents through Google Forms via emails. The study comprised Generation Z Students among UG and PG students to understand their level of awareness of SNSs. The study found that both UG (52.28 %) and PG (47.71 %) students were aware of SNSs, and the majority of the students used smartphones (41.56%) to access these sites. Similarly, most respondents (31.36%) used SNSs for more than one hour daily. In addition, they used more than 2-3 forms of SNSs for varying purposes such as entertainment (13%), discussion, sharing of ideas/events (6.67%), communicating with new friends (4.58%), and interacting with teachers and friends for academic communication purpose (11.83%), job searching purpose (11.42%), etc. Furthermore, the study found that the most commonly used SNSs were WhatsApp (16.19%), YouTube (15.77%), and Instagram (15.01%). Notably, among the challenges Gen Z students face regularly include shifting the focus of using academic/research information to other purposes, unwanted advertisements (16.83%), data security (15.61%), privacy concerns (15.17%), and lack of concentration on their studies (25.05%). The study concluded that despite positive and negative perceptions, most Gen Z students were satisfied with using SNSs.