BASIC RESEARCH PROPOSAL BENEFITS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON STUDENTS EDUCATION INTRODUCTION:

The idea of Social Networking has existed for several decades as a way for people to communicate in society and build relationships with others. With the increase of technology used for communicating with others and the popularity of the Internet, Social Networking has become an activity that is done primarily on the Internet. Social networking websites are currently being used regularly by billions of people. The use of social networking sites has been widespread that they have not only caught the attention of academic and industry researchers worldwide but also us, in particular. Social networking sites are now being investigated by numerous social science researchers and an increasing number of academic commentators are becoming more and more interested in studying facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking services, because of their probable impact on society. While the social networking sites have the same key aspects, the cultures and responses around them that become apparent are varied. Most sites help strangers connect with others based on shared personal interests, political and economic views, or simply recreational activities. Some sites accommodate distinct viewers, while others attract people based on similarities, such as common languages or shared racial, religious or nationality-based identities. Nonetheless, social networking sites have only one common goal. It is to encourage new ways to communicate and share information. What is fascinating to me is the fact that an Internet invention has become such an important thing for these students. Now, communication is instant. Teens own cell phones that enable them to access social networking sites throughout the day.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

This research is conducted to analyze that how social networking sites help Karachi University students in their education and claim that social networking sites are beneficial for their academics.

RESEARCH SCOPE:

This study aims to explain the importance of the proper usage of social networking sites. Social networking sites are not only for you to communicate or interact with people globally but, this is also one effective way for students to enhance their skills. A lot of students these days are now resolve their queries. It isnt just a social media site used to socialize with your friends but also, represents a huge pool of information from day to day living.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
This research was created to know that how important social networking sites for students in comparison to their academics. This study is conducted in the arts faculty of University of Karachi. The population is registered and the gender breakdown of this University is 53% females and 47% male. Simple random sampling is used to generate the further data it is used because of the characteristics of the data. Students were selected randomly from the arts faculty as sample population is comprised of 4000 students so the sample size is 200. In carrying out my research work, 100 interviews and 100 questionnaires were used as method of data collection. Both interview and questionnaires are structured. The questionnaire was consisting of 20 questions, close ended questions and face to face interview has been taken from students. I need to consider all actors in the area of my research, their roles and expectations are required.

EXPECTED FINDINGS:
The benefits both the female and male students derive and what made them stick to social networking websites as they want to improve their learning experiences and they think there may be benefits for them who use these sites properly and appropriately. The responses showed that 37% of those who participated were male while 63% were female. Many students have started to use these sites to promote education, keep students up to date with assignments, and offer help to those in need, and help to improve their language skills by joining some English forum pages. In general, they believe that the Internet and social networking sites can be a positive influence on their education. Social networking sites provide an outlet for teens to express themselves in their own unique ways. Finally, students use these sites as tools to obtain information and resources for graduation preparation and future planning and to get updates about scholarships. Though many arguments can be made

about the possible risks of adolescent social networking, it is important to point out the benefits of these websites as well.

APPLIED RESEARCH PROPOSAL IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE INTRODUCTION:
The idea of Social Networking has existed for several decades as a way for people to communicate in society and build relationships with others. With the increase of technology used for communicating with others and the popularity of the Internet, Social Networking has become an activity that is done primarily on the Internet. Social networking websites are currently being used regularly by billions of people. The use of social networking sites has been widespread that they have not only caught the attention of academic and industry researchers worldwide but also us, in particular. Social networking sites are now being investigated by numerous social science researchers and an increasing number of academic commentators are becoming more and more interested in studying Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking services, because of their probable impact on society. While the social networking sites have the same key aspects, the cultures and responses around them that become apparent are varied. Most sites help strangers connect with others based on shared personal interests, political and economic views, or simply recreational activities. Some sites accommodate distinct viewers, while others attract people based on similarities, such as common languages or shared racial, religious or nationality-based identities. Nonetheless, social networking sites have only one common goal. It is to encourage new ways to communicate and share information. Teenagers are among the most prolific users of social network sites (SNS). Emerging studies find that youth spend a considerable portion of their daily life interacting through social media. Subsequently, questions and controversies emerge about the effects SNS have on adolescent development.

RESEARCH PROBLEM:
Society has been blaming that various social networking sites effecting students academic performance and cause decrease in their grade point averages. This emergent phenomenon aroused us to look into social networking sites and why they affect Karachi University students academic performance. I chose to do this research study because I think attention must be placed on KU students and the relationship between social networking involvement and their academic performance. The target population for this research was KU students who form the major chunk of users of these social networking sites

PROBLEM VERIFICATION:
It seems that only large amount of time spent on social networking

sites produce the greatest effect on outcome measures such as GPA. How these social networking sites can affect their mental health and well being. For teens in this generation, social networking has become sort of an addiction. A teenager has a facebook account. They open their account daily to check new updates. They spends hours checking new updates until they realize they have more important things to do like assignments they have missed doing because of signing in into a social network service. To prove social networking can be an addiction and could be a hindrance to a good performance in university a preliminary survey made to test around 10 students in the neighborhoods all of whom spend around 3 hours daily on facebook which shows that social networking sites are posing a great threat to the education of students. Since long it has been seen that KU students would miss class and access counseling services because of events that occurred the night before while on facebook or other social networking sites. Students were missing classes avoiding university, staying home in order to participate on social networking sites.

HYPOTHESES:
However, it is true that social networking does not enhance the good grades in students life, and this proves to be wrong that these sites are beneficial. It is indicated that use of new technology was the direct link to lower grades because of less studying" but students felt that it was an obvious connection to make. Thus, the following hypotheses were formed.

If students dont avail the new technologies involve social networking academic performance will increase. If there is a tax imposition on using these social networking sites that it will create a positive effect.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
This research project was created to measure and assess the amount of time the University students would spend on social networking websites, whether or not these activities were impacting their grades and school work. This section will describe the participants selected to participate in the study, the procedure used to measure and evaluate participants. This project was completed at University of Karachi. The total population is comprised of 25000. The cycle breakdown is juniors and seniors. These students were aged 19-23. Simple random sampling technique is used as to cover all characteristics and the size of sample is 250 students. To make the secondary data for my research I will take survey and the students were selected randomly from the university. I will take their idea, opinion and view about my topic through questionnaire. The survey was created through questionnaire which is structured and was composed of 14 questions. The survey was formatted with yes or no questions, close ended questions. This accumulation of data will help me to stand my ideas about the research topics, and can judge whether social networking sites slow down the performance of student.

EXPECTED FINDINGS:
There was general support for hypotheses 1. Students who have smart phones or other technology were more likely to both access social media tools and spend time engaging with others. From an educational standpoint, this means there may very well be a digital divide between those who are making connections with others, and those who might be left behind. There was partial support for this also among students. Seniors were more likely to use Twitter and LinkedIn, and read blogs, then their junior. However, other than Facebook, there was no significant difference in the amount of time spent accessing these sites. As expected tools such as Twitter and LinkedIn have more relevance to older students as they try to connect with others in their job search or find work. Similarly, perhaps younger students use Facebook longer as

they are building their social connections, whereas older students already have a well-established network of friends and colleagues. Finally, there was little support for students grades. GPA did not play a role in the use of any of the major social networking tools, and minutes spent on several of the sites did not differ. The major difference lay in time spent with Facebook, which did show a negative relationship between time spent on the social network and ones grades. As noted in preliminary surveyed, Facebook was the only social networking site where a majority of students spent more than 3 minutes of their time accessing. Students and teachers should be concerned about its impact on learning.