The chapter examines Facebook usage among female undergraduate students of library and information science. Through a survey approach, the study drew on 154 female undergraduate Library and Information Science students from four universities. Questionnaire was used to gather data. Four research questions were developed and answered. The results revealed that the majority of the respondents (female undergraduates) use Facebook on a daily basis. Female undergraduates use Facebook to socialize, connect, and chat with friends, making it the highest purpose of using Facebook. While majority of female students use Facebook on a daily basis, the negative aspects of it were also revealed, including consumption of ones' precious time; the time they should use for other productive academic work is being channeled to Facebook, thereby making Facebook time consuming. Finally, erratic power supply was identified as the major problem of using Facebook by female LIS undergraduate students.
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Social networking websites are a type of online application that has grown rapidly in prevalence and popularity over the last few years (Pempek, Yermolayeva and Calvert, 2009). Social networking websites, such as Facebook, are a member-based Internet communities which allow participants to post profile information, such as usernames and photographs and to interact with others in innovative ways, such as sending public or private online messages or sharing photos online (Pempek et al., 2009). Moreover, Facebook members may use the site to contact people they already know offline or to meet new people (Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe, 2007). Facebook members can also join virtual groups based on common interests, learn each other’s’ hobbies, interests, and musical preference, and check romantic relationship statuses through these profiles (Ellison et al., 2007). In addition, Facebook also offers many online games, such as Happy Farm, Restaurant City, Pet Society, Cafe World, and Mystical Fishbowl and so on. The rich entertainment functions provided by Facebook have resulted in heavy user immersion, and especially because its services are mostly free, it makes them affordable and attractive.
Facebook is one of the renowned social networking sites (SNS) on the Internet. Facebook is estimated to have more than 500 million users as at 2011 (Facebook, 2011). As a convenient tool for Internet communication, Facebook has become an essential part of Internet users’ lives. A number of previous studies have examined patterns of college students’ use of Facebook. Such research has focused on different academic interests, including the characteristics of profile elements (Park, Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008), identity presentation (Stutzman, 2006), surveillance and privacy concerns (Gross & Acquisti, 2005; Peluchette & Karl, 2008), social capital (Ellison et al., 2007) and social grooming (Tufekci, 2008), social well-being (Valkenburg, Peter, & Schouten, 2006), relationship marketing strategies for the Facebook generation (Meadows-Klue, 2008), and students’ perceptions of instructor self-disclosure via Facebook (Mazer, Murphy, & Simonds, 2007). While some studies (e.g., Gross & Acquisti, 2005) have indicated negative outcomes of Facebook use, such as stalking and identity theft, others (e.g., Donath & Boyd, 2004; Ellison et al., 2007; Wellman, Haase, Witte, & Hampton, 2001) have shown how Facebook can generate positive social outcomes, such as enhanced social capital and collaboration.