Social Networking in Australia: Opportunities and Risks

Abstract

Social Networking (SN) and its associated applications have their opportunities and risks; however, if the implementation of this tool is appropriately planned and is adopted in higher education, students will obtain the necessary benefits to enhance their personal and professional skills. In this chapter, the author employed an online survey with 153 respondents from Australia to examine students' attitudes and behaviors towards Social Networking usage. The survey results produced four new opportunities and three risks associated with students' use of Social Networking in Australia. Further research will be carried out in future to examine more varied groups of students to reinforce the research findings.