THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: THE PERSPECTIVE OF FACULTY MEMBERS OF PERIYAR UNIVERSITY, SALEM

The Internet has undergone rapid development, with significant impact on social life and on modes of communication. Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. This study aimed to study the faculty perception of SNS on academic performance of students. The study also focuses to assess the positive and negative impacts of SNS on students' academic performance. A structured questionnaire designed and was randomly distributed to 110 faculty members of Periyar University, Salem. After collecting the data, SPSS 16 Software was use for the analysis. Percentage analsis, Mean, SD, KMO and Bartlett's Test and MANCOVA test used to show the interrelationship between variable. More number of faculty members felt that the Addiction to SNSs is problematic issue that affects the students' academic life and More number of faculty members' mentioned that help of SNS in the students' studies because the student can discuss their assignments with friends. The test result there is statistically significant interrelationship between faculty members' perceptions on negative and positive impacts of SNS on students' academic performance. The study exposed that there is a significant relationship between gender, age and concern department of the faculty members and their opinion on negative perceptions of SNS on student's academic performance. However there is no association between the designation of faculty members' and their opinion on negative perceptions of SNS on student's performance. It is shows that all the negative opinion is same on SNS. The study pointed that there is no significant relationship between the gender and designation of faculty members' and their on positive perceptions of SNS on student's performance. Hence there is a significant relationship between the age and department of faculty members' and their opinion on positive perceptions of SNS on student's performance.  The Internet is more than just a means of seeking information. People have discovered that the Internet can be used to connect with other people for business or commercial purpose, to make new friends, or to reawaken old friends and long lost relatives. The emergence of social networking sites (SNSs) simplifies the process because they do not require advanced internet knowledge or experience and are made up of a wide array of different formats and topics. This means that anyone can connect through SNSs. With such extensive acceptance, it is no surprise that SNSs have impacted the way people live and socialize. SNSs are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool, especially in the West. It is a bidirectional process as students are using these mediums to share comments with their teachers According to Boyd and Ellison, Social network site is a web based service which allows people to sign up in a bounded system, articulating group of people within the same system so as to share personal or academic related information This indicates that SNS entails a place where people connect with each other and share common issues relating to relationship, sports, politics or academics. However, Boyd and Ellison argue that participants from certain social media sites are not primarily there to connect with people they are not familiar with, rather they sign up to connect and catch up with loss but found offline friends as well as close ones. Social network sites have attracted considerable attention among scholars and educators due to the growing popularity among students and the potential effect on academic performance. However, the studies appear from two opposing views on the impact of SNSs on users. While proponents argue that it allows users in connecting people of common interest and value, opponents claim that excessive use of these sites affect the social, mental and physical health of the users.  Piotrowski, Chris (2015) designed to analysis the gauge the scope of the research domain of education typology by conducting a content analysis of dissertation research in this area. A keyword search of the term (Social Media) yielded 662 studies represented in ProQuest's Dissertations Theses database.The author summarized the major outcome findings of 29 dissertations that had a specific focus on SM Education issues. Of these, only 2 studies reported any negative views by either students or faculty on the implementation of SM platforms for academic purposes. Instructors' lack of efficacy in Web 2.0 technology, privacy issues, and data overload were the major concerns noted. As these results are based on areas of investigatory interest of young researchers, the current findings provide a barometer of emerging trends regarding critical issues in Social Media Education research. Subramani, R (2015) examined the academic use of social media applications by university students, and to study the usage of various academic applications of social media by the university students. The population of the study consisted of thirteen major discipline of students in Doctoral, M Phil and Master Branches. The sample size of the study comprised of 482 students selected through convenient sampling technique. The structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Helou, Adam Mahamat (2014) attempted to obtain students' perceptions on how their use of social networking sites influences their academic performance and conducted a preliminary survey of a group of Malaysian university student to gather initial findings on their use of social networking sites and its influence on their academic performance. This study found that the majority of respondents agreed that social networking sites have a positive impact on their academic performance. Nee, Chee Ken (2014) investigated the impacts of incorporating Edmodo as educational network, into a classroom setting on the academic achievement of Biology students based on three types of conceptual level comprises of direct, simple, and complex concept. The results indicated that students that were instructed by the instruction with intervention performed a larger on the gain scores of all the three cognitive levels; than those instructed by the conventional approaches. This educational network will permeate all facets of the curriculum as a new paradigm of teaching tools. Salvation, Mark (2014) designed to analyze the impact of social network sites on students' academic performance in Malaysia. Using a conceptual approach, the study gathered that more students prefer the use of Facebook and Twitter in academic related discussions in complementing conventional classroom teaching and learning process. Thus, it is imperative that lecturers and academic institutions should implement the use of these applications in promoting academic excellence. The discussion from this study however does not represent the general sampling of Malaysian university students. Alhazmi, Abdulsalam K (2013) conducted study to understand the social aspects of Facebook use among students and how they perceive using it for academic purposes, an exploratory survey has been distributed to 105 local and international students at a large public technology university in Malaysia. The results indicated that the students' perception of using Facebook for academic purposes is not significantly related to students' gender or students' background; while it is significantly related to study level and students' experience. Moreover, based on the overall results of the survey and literature reviews, the paper presents recommendations and suggestions for further research of social networking in a higher education context. Hamat, Afendi (2012) presented the results of a nationwide survey on tertiary level students in Malaysia. The results showed that SNSs penetration is not at full 100% as initially assumed. The results also indicated that while the respondents are using SNS for the purpose of informal learning activities, only half (50.3% use it to get in touch with their lecturers in informal learning contexts. The respondents reported spending more time on SNS for socializing rather than learning and they do not believe the use of SNS is affecting their academic performance. Weber, Alan S (2012 stated that SNSs are becoming more ubiquitous, they are also becoming more sophisticated and many operate on a free service model based on advertizing revenues. The educational uses have generally been the result of the creative adaptation of SNSs by educators and application builders. Therefore some serious issues of data privacy, trust, and security have arisen since both the educational, medical, and medical education realms operate in the U.S. under strict data protection laws such as HITECH, HIPAA, FERPA, and COPPA. However, the business models of many SNSs as essentially advertizing platforms and as a means of tracking online behaviors which can be monetized (with non transparent policies of data collection and retention) raise some key concerns for educators. Leitch, S (2011) mentioned about prior research which was conducted at an Australian University into the design of online teaching and learning systems from a student's perspective and uses these outcomes to focus and trial the use of two social networking technologies in a tertiary education institution. Tham, Jason (2011) examined the usage and implications of social networking sites among college students. A survey was administered to a non random sample of 445 college students on SNS use, perceptions of SNS communications, and awareness of the impacts of SNS in academic performance and personal development. Results revealed that there were significant relationships between users' class rank and field of study, and the influence of SNS. Positive correlations were found in SNS usage rate and students' networking with friends, family members, and pro