Independent social media researcher Sophia Alimhas worked with Ibrahim AlShourbaji of the Computer and Network engineering Department at Jazan University in Saudi Arabia to investigate how Facebook is being used in a serious way by students to help them find employment.
Writing in the International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, the team questioned more than 100 students from around the world about their Facebook activity and behaviour with respect to employment. Their statistical analysis of the survey results shows that networking with businesses was the most popular career-related activity carried out by students on Facebook. Moreover, they saw a moderate positive correlation between the amount of time a student would spend on such Facebook networking on a daily basis and the number of job offers they received.
Given that Facebook has well over 2500 million users around the world and hundreds of thousands of companies using it, it is perhaps no surprise that many people are utilizing the service in more serious, professional ways. This new research hints at some of that activity although the small sample size perhaps offers a limited perspective given the much bigger numbers that might be surveyed in future work.
“Research is needed to look into the factors which can affect job searching when students use Facebook or any other social media platforms on a bigger scale. What do career advisors and students think about which types of contacts are the best options for job searching,” the team concludes.
Alim, S. and AlShourbaji, I. (2020) ‘Professional uses of Facebook amongst university students in relation to searching for jobs: an exploration of activities and behaviours’, Int. J. Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp.200–229.
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