College students who spend hours scrolling through Facebook are actually more prepared for the real world than we once thought.
That鈥檚 according to 麻豆传媒 researcher David (Jingjun) Xu, who found that students who look at friends鈥� status updates and receive social feedback through likes and comments on Facebook are more confident in their ability to perform job-related tasks when they graduate.
Xu鈥檚 theory is that confidence determines how persistently and tenaciously people pursue their goals. And because college students鈥� main goal is career development, they selectively pay attention to incoming information that is relevant and important to that goal.
The confidence they gain through the vicarious experience and social persuasion of Facebook makes a big difference.
Vicarious experience is gained when college students observe someone else鈥檚 successes and failures and transfer those valuable lessons to themselves. Social persuasion affects college students鈥� confidence because they can internalize others鈥� feedback and comments about their competency level.
If, for example, a friend posts about earning a professional certificate, a fellow student may see that and be more encouraged to go after a similar accomplishment.
Who was surveyed
The online study involved 260 college students who are active members of Facebook. Their majors ranged from those offered at professional schools, such as paralegal studies, medical assistants, web design and computer graphics, to those offered at universities, such as business administration, computer science, psychology and philosophy.
Those selected for the study were full-time, students, 17-24 years old and active Facebook members (as opposed to lurkers).
Questions are related to students鈥� confidence in achieving academic goals, learning new skills, succeeding at job-related endeavors and effectively performing job-related tasks.
Two particular features of Facebook are at play: virtual people-watching and social support.
By watching friends鈥� status and updates, college students can learn from their observed social models and reflect that competency and social growth in their own posts. That, in turn, leads to strong social support, such as likes and comments, feeding the cycle of improved confidence.
鈥淎s a result of the social support of their contacts on Facebook, users feel more related to their contacts, which brings practical benefits for career adjustment in the form of mentorship and feedback," Xu says.
The study helps mitigate concerns about the negative impact of social media on academic performance and productivity, Xu says.
鈥淭he research is relevant as current college students remain the heaviest users of Facebook compared to any other age groups,鈥� says Xu, assistant professor in 麻豆传媒鈥檚 W. Frank Barton School of Business.
Xu conducted the research with Anna Argyris, an assistant professor at Michigan State University. The study was accepted earlier this year for publication by Computers in Human Behavior.