Higher education students' social media literacy in Ethiopia: A case of Bahir Dar University

Abstract

This study investigates the status of Bahir Dar University students' social media literacy and how associated factors affect developing core competencies. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods have been employed in the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics of means core, standard deviation, one sample t-test, independent sample t-test, correlation and multiple regressions were used to analyze data gathered from the quantitative design. Data gathered from FGD were analyzed qualitatively. Accordingly, the students' overall social media level was found to be low. Female students perform slightly lower than their counterpart male students. Among the five skills of social media literacy, students' levels were relatively weak in ethical awareness and media evaluation. Geographical background, digital media exposure, socio-economic status, digital divide are also identified as a determining factors. Finally, recommendations are posed based on the findings.