Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the usages of the Social Media Network (SMN) by students at AnNajah University who follow a traditional educational system versus Al-Quds Open University Nablus city branch students, who follow a distance Educational System, to see whether these usages are affected by other related factors. In order to accomplish this aim, a (750) random sample of undergraduate students was taken from both universities: (399) form An-Najah and (411) form Al-Quds Open University. Students in both universities were surveyed by distributing a questionnaire, consisting of (35) items reflecting the possible social media usages in four domains: academic, social, cultural, and economic. The questionnaire also consisted of semi open questions asking students about certain personal information. The descriptive statistics by using means and percentages in one hand, and the analytic statistics by using "t-test" for dependent and independent samples, and the general "f-test" for the Two-Way ANOVA on the other, reveal the following results: 1- The average usage of students of the Open University which follows the Distance educational system was higher (x = 3.76) significantly (p<.000) than the average usage of students at An-Najah University which follows the traditional educational system (x = 3.50). 2- The An-Najah university students were using the(SMN) in the cultural domain (x = 3.84) significantly (p<.000) more than using them in social (x = 3.59), academic (x = 3.51), or economic (x = 2.81) domain respectively; whereas the Al-Quds Open University students were using the (SMN) in the academic domain (x = 3.80) significantly (&=.000) more than the cultural (x = 3.79), social (x = 3.75), or economic (x = 3.56) domain respectively. However, Al-Quds Open University students are still using the (SMN) more than AnNajah students in all domains except the cultural one. 3- There is a significant effect (p<.01) for all independent variables on students' usages of (SMN) in both universities. These effects could be summarized as follows: the females usages of (SMN) were higher than males; humanitarian and scientific colleges students usages were higher than other colleges; junior usages were higher than freshmen, sophomore and senior students; students who have a very good grade point average at university using them more than those who have a good, excellent, or weak grade point average; students who spend on (SMN) between 3-4 hours daily use them effectively more than those who spend less or more than 3 to 4 hours; and students who don't work during study use them more than students who work. These results came along with discussions, recommendations for further future studies.