South African Generation Y students' self-disclosure on Facebook

Abstract

The advent of online social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, MXit, and the like have revolutionised communication. Facebook, in particular, has witnessed phenomenal growth and in South Africa, the site is especially popular among the youth aged between 18 and 24 years who form part of the Generation Y cohort (individuals born between 1986 and 2005). Unfortunately, the ease at which information may be disclosed and shared on Facebook has raised serious privacy and security concerns among scholars and social critics. Consequently, this study seeks to explore information disclosure on Facebook by Generation Y students in South Africa by ascertaining the kind of information they disclose, and the likely factors that will influence their self-disclosures on Facebook. Following a descriptive research design, self-administered questionnaires were completed by a non-probability convenience sample of 281 students registered at the campuses of two registered public higher education institutions in the Gauteng province of South Africa - one from a traditional university and one from a university of technology. The captured data were analysed using correlation analysis and structural equation modelling. The findings suggest that site trust and access concerns predict member trust, which, in turn, predicts the level of self-disclosure on Facebook among Generation Y students in South Africa.