Consuming, sharing, and creating content: How young students use new social media in and outside school

• Published in: Computers in human behavior 2016-11, Vol.64, p.55-64
• Main Authors: Lu, Jingyan, Hao, Qiang, Jing, Mengguo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Content creating; Content sharing; Opinions of social media; Secondary students; Social media activity
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.019

This survey study investigated 186 secondary 2–5 school students from two schools to understand how and why they used new social media both in and outside of school to consume, share, and create content. It found that whereas students tend to consume and share more social media content outside of school they create more in school. Perceived importance of sharing content with peers or others is the most significant predictor having positive impact on all social media activities, both in and outside school. However, the negative impact of self-regulation ability on outside school social media activities implies the conscientiousness of their social media engagement, which calls for a further investigation on the quality of the social media content. •Characterize and compare how students consume, share, create social media in and outside school.•Perceived importance of sharing is the most significant predictor of all social media activities.•Self-regulated behavior has a negative impact on social media activity.•Students tend to consume and share more social media content outside than in school.•Students tend to create more social media content inside school.