Volume 12, Issue 7 (July 2025), Pages: 178-189

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 Original Research Paper

Social media use for everyday life information: Information-seeking behavior of Saudi university students

 Author(s): 

 Areej Saad Bader Alaskar *

 Affiliation(s):

 Department of Information Technology, College of Computer Sciences and Information, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

 Full text

    Full Text - PDF

 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2436-8057

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2025.07.018

 Abstract

This study explored how students at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Saudi Arabia use social media to find information for everyday life. It compared how often students use social media and how much they trust it, in comparison to other information sources. The study also identified which social media platforms are used most and what types of everyday life information they provide. In addition, it looked at how students search for information on each platform. The research further explored how gender affects the use of social media for these purposes. Data was collected through an online survey of 585 undergraduate students (363 males and 222 females) and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that social media was the second most used source of everyday information, after web search engines, but was the least trusted. WhatsApp was the most commonly used platform, while Twitter was considered the most trustworthy. The study analyzed information-seeking behavior across eight everyday life topics and ten social media platforms, showing different patterns of use for each. Gender had a significant effect: female students used social media more often, trusted it more, and found it more useful. Gender also influenced which information topics were important, which platforms were preferred, and how students searched for information.

 © 2025 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

 Social media, Everyday information, University students, Gender differences, Information trustworthiness

 Article history

 Received 14 January 2025, Received in revised form 3 June 2025, Accepted 25 June 2025

 Acknowledgment

No Acknowledgment. 

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations

The study followed ethical standards. Participation was voluntary with informed consent, and no personal data were collected. Anonymity and confidentiality were ensured.

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Alaskar ASB (2025). Social media use for everyday life information: Information-seeking behavior of Saudi university students. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 12(7): 178-189

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 Figures

  Fig. 1  Fig. 2  Fig. 3  Fig. 4  Fig. 5  Fig. 6  Fig. 7  Fig. 8  Fig. 9  Fig. 10 

 Tables

  Table 1  Table 2  Table 3  Table 4  Table 5  Table 6  Table 7  Table 8  Table 9  Table 10 

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