The Role of Social Communication Networks in Constructing Public Opinion among Students at Saudi Arabian Universities (Umm AlQura University as a model)

• Main Author: Osamah Ghazi Almadani
• Format: Article
• Language: Arabic
• Published: Sultan Qaboos University 2016-06-01
• Series: Journal of Arts and Social Sciences
• Subjects: Social Networks, Public Opinion, University Students, Role.
• Online Access: https://journals.squ.edu.om/index.php/jass/article/view/1127
• ISSN: 2312-1270; 2522-2279

The study aimed to investigate the role of social communication networks in constructing public opinion among students at Saudi Arabian Universities. This study is descriptive in nature and used the survey method. The sample of the study consisted of N 200 students from Umm Alqura university from the practical and theoretical colleges (College of social sciences- Colleges of medical sciences- Colleges of applied sciences). The tools of the study included a questionnaire – public opinion construction scale for the students at Saudi Arabian universities. The results of the study indicated that a high level percentage in constructing public opinion came from the students who used the social communication websites which was 41.86%, where the intermediate level was 55.23%, while the low level was 2.91%.The results showed also that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean score of the study sample in the scale of the role of social communication networks in constructing public opinion among the students according to the different levels in using different social communication networks. There is a statistically significant difference between the mean score of the study sample in the scale of the role of social communication networks in using social communication through the internet according to the different level of experience in using the internet among the participants.