Use of Facebook and Whatsapp messenger by participants of 144th orientation programme at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh: a case study

Abstract

Professionals use technology for their routine communication to provide higher education in a disciplined atmosphere and produce skilled youth with high moral and spiritual values for sustenance and service of the society. Use of social networking sites like Whatsapp (Wa) and Facebook (Fb) through smart phone/mobile has become an important part of personal, professional and educational life. A survey was conducted using a well-designed questionnaire circulated among Participants of 144th Orientation Programme at Aligarh Muslim University, India for the training session 2016-2017. It was explored that the faculty member are in favour of using social networking sites like Facebook and Whatsapp for communication purpose. Majority of the trainees were found to use Facebook (63.3%) and Whatsapp (69.4%) for communication quite frequently. However, 18.4% and 16.3% trainees use Facebook and Whatsapp at times with 18.4% and 14.3% not using them at all. Half of the participants (51%) were found to be comfortable in using Whatsapp for family conversations, whereas only 32.7% participants were comfortable in using Facebook for the same. On asking about the effect of social networking sites on professional platform, 63.3% participants strongly believe that Fb has positive impact of their professional platform whereas 75.5% participants believe Wa has positive impact on the same. However, very few faculty members reveal that Fb and Wa have negative impact on their professional platform.