The Impact of Social Media Usage on the Cognitive Social Capital of University Students

Introduction The purpose of the research was to investigate the impact of Facebook and Twitter usage on the cognitive social capital of university students within the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The study aimed to gain familiarity and new insight into social capital among university students. Many people have begun using the Internet to create and maintain social relationships through online profiles, the gathering of online friends, commenting on friends' website pages, and the monitoring of the online status of others (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Giannakos, Choria nopoulos, Giotopoulos, & Vlamos , 2013; Pfeil, Arjan, & Zaphiris, 2009; Powell, 2009; Stevens & Morris, 2007). This research is transdisciplinary in that it involves disciplines such as Information Systems, Psychology, and Sociology, and the information gathered is meant to inform inquiry in various disciplines (Cohen, 2009). Because social network systems (SNSs) provide individuals with more opportunities to interact, communicate, and share with others, individuals are able to create and maintain relationships (Donath & Boyd, 2004; Ellison et al., 2007; Kwon, D'Angelo, & McLeod, 2013; Powell, 2009; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008). SNSs enable individuals to build and reserve social capital for future use (Kwon et al., 2013; Powell, 2009). Social capital refers to all resources (virtual or actual) that have been accumulated from various relationships and social interactions (Coleman, 1989; Kwon et al., 2013; Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009), and is "well suited for transdisciplinary studies" (Burton, Wu, & Prybutok, 2010, p. 122). Social capital is perceived as a by-product of social relationships stemming from social engagement through structured social networks (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Islam, Merlo, Kawachi, Lindstrom, & Gerdtham, 2006). "Researchers have begun to approach the concept of social capital at the individual level instead of at the community level and the virtual world instead of the corporeal and to discern between two particular types of social capital at an individual level" (Kwon et al., 2013, p. 36). Social capital is important to students for several reasons, including fun, arranging activities, and finding friends (Giannakos et al., 2013). In order to understand the dynamic of social capital among university students in the Western Cape of South African, an understanding of South African universities is required. According to Akpojivi (2013) and Van der Merwe (2013), public universities within South Africa are categorised into three distinct types: traditional, universities of technologies, and comprehensive universities. Traditional Universities offer theoretically-oriented university degrees (Akpojivi, 2013; Van der Merwe, 2013), Universities of Technology offer vocationally-oriented diplomas and degrees (Akpojivi, 2013; Van der Merwe, 2013), while Comprehensive Universities offer a combination of both types of qualifications (Van der Merwe, 2013). The study done by Johnston, Tanner, Lalla, and Kawalski (2013) surveyed five universities throughout South Africa, none of which were of the comprehensive university type. The study, therefore, added a comprehensive university to the research context. Few studies were found that address the impact that Facebook and Twitter have on the cognitive social capital of university students. The study done by Johnston et al. (2013) and Ellison et al. (2007) used only Facebook as the research context. The gaps identified by Johnston et al. (2013) suggest that new avenues of future research could create a more detailed analysis with regard to the demographic use and non-use of SNSs within South Africa, as well as the role of race and age in the creation and maintenance of social capital among South African university students. The research questions for this study were: 1. …