Gender perceptions and utilization of facebook by students at one christian based university in Kenya

Abstract

Social Media is a modern form of communication used by the young people across the world.This has been enhanced by the use of cell phone as a modern form of technology with 34% using it in Kenya to access internet out of 78% who own a mobile phone. The frequency at which it is used in Kenya, has attracted several individuals‟ and organizations such as local media stations, local manufacturing companies, real estate and construction companies, tourism organizations, and many more who are streaming in to propagate their ideas or market their products through it. Research on gender and communication has demonstrated that language use and communication styles between men and women vary mainly due to gendered socialization. However, research on social media has not focused on ways in which this gendered socialization is manifested on it as a communication platform. An understanding of gender and social media use is critical as it will enable those who seek to utilize it for various purposes to understand the user characteristics, hence structure their communication accordingly. This study examined the differences and similarities between the perceptions of men and women towards the use of Facebook, and how gendered socialization is manifested on its usage. Specifically, the study aimed to answer the following questions: How do the culturally constructed norms affect the perceptions of Facebook use by men and women? How do socially constructed norms affect the way men and women communicate through Facebook? What is the nature of influence of gendered use of language on Facebook communication by men and women? Case study research design was employed to investigate Facebook usage among students in one private university in Kenya with multi-stage sampling techniques involving stratified and purposive sampling used to identify 70 out of 250 students enrolled in the school of language and communications. Sequential Mixed-method approach involving open-ended questionnaires, online focus group discussions (FGDs), and content analysis of selected Facebook posts were then used to generate data. The data generated from various instruments was triangulated and organized into emerging themes to validate the findings. Study findings show that Facebook communication is influenced by the socio-cultural backgrounds of the communicators. It emerged that, men and women often perceived Facebook differently. While men perceived it mainly as a tool for socialization activities such as chatting, on the other hand, women treated it as a medium of socialization and networking. It also emerged that women spent more time on Facebook than men. At another level, the socially constructed norms of men and women were manifested in the use of Facebook in the manner that women often commented on religious and social issues while men mainly commented on political and business issues. The socially constructed norms therefore influenced how men and women perceive and utilize social media. This study therefore recommends that individuals and organizations utilizing social media for their various communications need to clearly understand how men and women perceive and utilize social media so that they can restructure their communications to suit their appropriate audiences for effective communications.