Survey on Social Networking Site for Engineering Management Program

Abstract

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have gained much popularity as Web 2.0 technologies and have been widely adopted by different age groups from teenagers to students to working professionals. Consequently, social networking (SN) has potential to become useful tools for students in professional education for information sharing, communication and collaboration. Such a SNS, if designed for EMGT program, might lead to greater interaction among the students who are mostly full-time employees. A secondary research was conducted which included background on Web 2.0 technologies and literature review on SNS in professional education to understand how a SNS for academic programs could be beneficial. This helped in creation of a survey to capture students’ perceptions about EMGT SNS and the student responses to the survey are analyzed and discussed. The survey had a total response rate of 49% with survey results indicating 45% of respondents recommending EMGT SNS. The survey was evaluated based on important factors like level of exposure and potential benefits as these could influence students’ opinions about EMGT SNS. Findings of the survey are summarized in this report to understand the possibility for a dedicated SNS for the EMGT graduate program.