Perception and use of social networking sites among university students.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the perception and use of social networking sites among university students in the state of Kuwait and study their positive and negative impacts. Design/methodology/approach – The research method is descriptive in nature. A questionnaire with five major sections was designed, validated and distributed among the sample of students. Findings – The results showed a heavy use of Twitter and Facebook among university students who were viewing their sites more frequently than posting. The most positive impacts were better relation with family, relatives, and friends and more involvement in social, political and cultural activities. Neglecting study/work and the time consumed are the two major drawbacks. Research limitations/implications – The stratified sample of students was based on availability of students at the time of distributing the questionnaire. Originality/value – The paper aims to understand the practice, implication and importance of social networking in a Muslim country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]