IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/igg/jdldc0/v4y2013i2p13-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Italian Undergraduates Join Facebook, but Keep a Critical Distance: “It is Useless, but I’m Using It”

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo Ferri

    (Observatory on New Media NumediaBios & Department of Educational Sciences, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)

  • Nicola Cavalli

    (Observatory on New Media NumediaBios, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)

  • Andrea Mangiatordi

    (Observatory on New Media NumediaBios, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)

  • Marina Micheli

    (Observatory on New Media NumediaBios, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)

  • Andrea Pozzali

    (Observatory on New Media NumediaBios, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy & Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, Rome, Italy)

  • Francesca Scenini

    (Observatory on New Media NumediaBios, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)

  • Fabio Serenelli

    (Observatory on New Media NumediaBios, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)

Abstract

Facebook is the most popular social network site in Italy, and its usage is particularly spread among younger generations. This paper explores how undergraduate students use Facebook, and what meanings they attach to it. Research was performed in 2008 and in 2009 at a Italian university, with a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methodology. The authors’ survey data show the quick adoption of Facebook. In 2008 half of the students were completely unfamiliar with Facebook, while in 2009 59% of them were using it on a regular basis. Evidence coming from semi-structured interviews with randomly selected university students show that the massive adoption of Facebook goes hand in hand with a general critical attitude. Concerns about privacy issues were common, and they can also lead to a kind of detachment from this site. Implications on the perspective use of Facebook as an educational tool are discussed in the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Ferri & Nicola Cavalli & Andrea Mangiatordi & Marina Micheli & Andrea Pozzali & Francesca Scenini & Fabio Serenelli, 2013. "Italian Undergraduates Join Facebook, but Keep a Critical Distance: “It is Useless, but I’m Using It”," International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence (IJDLDC), IGI Global, vol. 4(2), pages 13-24, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:igg:jdldc0:v:4:y:2013:i:2:p:13-24
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve.aspx?doi=10.4018/jdldc.2013040102
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:igg:jdldc0:v:4:y:2013:i:2:p:13-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journal Editor (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.igi-global.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.