The Effect of Social Influence on the Motives of Using Social Networks.

The proliferation of online social networks (OSNs) among university students becomes a challenge for teachers in what regards finding new ways of exploiting the educational potential of social networks. The increasing popularity of OSNs among students is raising several research questions regarding the motives for joining and using the social networking websites. The online social networks are information and communication technologies that facilitate the interaction and the network creation among professors, pupils, students and parents, on the one side, and content creation within and outside the classroom, on the other side. Facebook is an example of an OSN capable of offering educational support such as: increased communication among students, greater access to course materials, collaboration, increased enjoyment, students' community building, thematic discussion groups. The objective of this article is to present and explore the relationship between social influence and the motives of using Facebook by students from an educational perspective. Three categories of motives have been considered: extending social relations, information & collaboration, and maintaining social relations. A total of 758 students from seven Romanian universities took part in this study. The results of a multiple-regression analysis show that social influence has an effect on the motives of using Facebook. People and friends influence students in extending their social relations through the use of Facebook. The use of OSNs depends on the degree to which students perceive that other persons important to them believe they should use a specific technology. The results of this research contribute to a better understanding of the importance of social influence in taking the decision to use Facebook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]