Students’ usage of and attitudes toward social media

This study examines the extent of usage of a group of college students of six social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and YouTube. The results confirm a shift to Instagram and Snapchat, but more than 60% of respondents use Facebook at least daily. The reasons to engage are largely social or to gain information. Respondents’ agreement with various statements related to privacy demonstrate a nuanced reality. In particular, respondents engage regularly with social media platforms while disliking the personalized advertising business model upon which social media platforms are based, and they largely do not trust the sites