DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM FOR STUDENTS INTERACTION

Socialization in the society without doubt aids in boosting the effectiveness of communication. It has indeed strengthened ties between persons. This fact has led to the idea of social network, which has been used to strengthen relationships between members of social systems. It is observed in some higher institutions that dissemination of information between students is usually restricted to the use of mobile communication devices and emails. There may be need to improve the information dissemination strategies in the department which will in turn enhance the flow of communication using additional platforms. This study presents a web-based social networking system for universities, which would support the effectiveness of communication between students within academic department. In developing the system, PHP, HTML and JAVA Script were used to create the web pages dynamically. MySQL database was used as the backend. The web server used was Apache. The system was evaluated using cognitive walkthrough strategy. This system delivers a platform for students to interact, share ideas, transmit important departmental announcements and develop ties and relationships. Activities to boost these include status update, mailing, photo uploads, instant messaging and voice chat. The full deployment of the application in the department would yield desired communication feedback and could even be adapted in different departments of the institution in the nearest future.

[1]  Victoria L. Crittenden,et al.  We're all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem , 2011 .

[2]  N. Christakis,et al.  and Tastes, ties, and time: A new social network dataset using Facebook. , 2008 .

[3]  Aghalarov Babak.  A study on the utilization, perception and potential of social media as a marketing tool: the case of travel agencies in Azerbaijan , 2014 .

[4]  P. Greenfield,et al.  Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships , 2008, The Future of children.

[5]  Katerina Gjorgjevska,et al.  Analysis of Healthcare Social Networking sites and applicability in Macedonian e-society , 2010, The 33rd International Convention MIPRO.

[6]  Shailey Minocha,et al.  The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of using social software in higher and further education teaching and learning , 2010, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[7]  Marita Franzke,et al.  Usability evaluation with the cognitive walkthrough , 1995, CHI 95 Conference Companion.

[8]  Pei-Luen Patrick Rau,et al.  The Influence of Cultural Differences on the Use of Social Network Services and the Formation of Social Capital , 2010, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[9]  Jeff Sauro,et al.  A method to standardize usability metrics into a single score , 2005, CHI.

[10]  Nicholas Omoregbe,et al.  Towards Developing an Online Social Media-based Mobile Learning System , 2012 .

[11]  Sang-Won Lee,et al.  On social Web sites , 2010, Inf. Syst..

[12]  J. Meek,et al.  Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’ , 2009 .

[13]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship , 2007, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[14]  Kathryn Anne Cardenas.  Social media use in local government: an implementation guide for public officials , 2013 .

[15]  Paul T. Jaeger,et al.  Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies , 2010, Gov. Inf. Q..

[16]  Panayiotis Zaphiris,et al.  Age differences in online social networking - A study of user profiles and the social capital divide among teenagers and older users in MySpace , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[17]  Lindsay T. Graham,et al.  A Review of Facebook Research in the Social Sciences , 2012, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[18]  John Raacke,et al.  MySpace and Facebook: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Exploring Friend-Networking Sites , 2008, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..