The State of Social Media Policy Awareness and Compliance at the Nelson Mandela University

The use of social media in higher education has both benefits and pitfalls. Higher education institutions are concerned about their staff and students’ use of social media and have thus resorted to implementing social media policies and guidelines. The Nelson Mandela University has implemented a social media policy and guidelines to inform and enforce the acceptable use of social media by its staff and students. In order to know whether staff and students of the Nelson Mandela University are aware of and compliant with its policy and guidelines, it is necessary to measure their level of awareness and compliance. Within this context, the primary objective of this study is to describe the state of awareness and compliance of staff and students at the Nelson Mandela University towards its social media policy and social media guidelines. In order to address the primary objective, the uses, benefits and risks of social media in higher education were identified through a literature review. The literature review revealed that social media is used in higher education to support and manage teaching and learning, marketing and crisis management, and for other purposes which may be specific to higher education stakeholders (both staff and students). The risks of social media use in higher education were revealed to be associated with institutional reputation, online content, privacy, intellectual property and the types of media shared by the stakeholders. The role of social media policies and guidelines in higher education was then described, based on a preliminary literature study which reviewed social media policies and guidelines implemented in higher education. Furthermore, the aspects of awareness and compliance towards social media policies and ii guidelines in higher education were also discussed. A general guide for the creation of social media policies and guidelines was identified and used to compare the nature and content of South African public universities’ social media policies and guidelines. Through comparative content analysis, the content of the universities’ social media policy and guidelines was compared, similarities and variances between were drawn, and the role of social media policies and guidelines was further explored. Finally, the knowledge of staff and students at the Nelson Mandela University in respect to the university’s social media policy and guidelines was measured and described through the use of a survey questionnaire and statistical analysis of the data collected. The results of the analysis indicated an overall medium level of awareness for both staff and students, with a mean average score of 3.2; while both groups demonstrated an overall high level of compliance towards the social media policy and guidelines, with a mean average score of 4.3. By addressing the primary objective, the contribution made by this study thus informs the Nelson Mandela University of the extent to which its social media policy and guidelines align with those of other South African public universities, and it indicates where the Nelson Mandela University should look to improve its staff and students’ awareness of and compliance with its social media policy and guidelines.Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology, 202