OCA Conference Paper

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS ON RECREATIONAL FACILITIES 1
Social Media Effectiveness on Usage of Recreational Facilities
Nick Cimoric
Julian Davis
Ricky Murphy
Jennifer Orr
Olivia Valentini
Nick Vitale
Youngstown State University
May 3, 2015

SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS ON RECREATIONAL FACILITIES 2
2
Abstract
Throughout this study we contrasted the use and involvement of Youngstown State
University’s fitness facility versus off campus fitness centers amongst current students enrolled
at the university. This study also focuses on how social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram influence awareness and use of the on campus facility. After approval from the
Institutional Research Board. Questionnaires were distributed randomly to 250 students of
which 197 were deemed valid subjects and 53 subjects were nullified. The results of the
questionnaires revealed that 79 of the students actively utilize the on campus fitness center.
While nine students used both on campus and off campus fitness facilities. The results showed
that students would be more likely to utilize the on campus facilities if its social media outlets
were frequently updated.

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Introduction
For the last few year, the prevalence of social media has grown larger and larger. With
the growing number of users on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, businesses have been offered
an opportunity to practically advertise their products and services for free. After forming a group
of college student researchers, we sought to find out if the frequency of social media posts
impacted how often students utilized his or her gym of choice. The idea of students venturing
elsewhere to exercise begs the question, “What is Youngstown State University’s fitness facility
missing?” This study is not only of use to our research team to complete our research project;
but could also be utilized by Youngstown State University’s fitness facility to improve student
utilization. After taking the results of this study into consideration, Youngstown State
University’s fitness center and its management team could decide to appropriate step to take in
order to improve student utilization in their facility.
Justification
As a group we wanted to address how Youngstown State University’s campus fitness
facility was utilized amongst current students, and if the usage of social media affected that
utilization. It also compared and contrasted if social media would change his or her use of the
facility versus off campus fitness centers. This research is important because we believe that this
campus can thrive greatly with more student involvement. Our research also aims to illustrate
how vital the use of social media is to promote and raise awareness, thus increasing student
participation. The University’s fitness facility social media outlets are not frequently updated
sources of information, which we felt caused concern. The usage of social media in this day in
age is at an all-time high. News and new information is processed and viewed more digitally

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than any other medium today. The lack of updates and adaption to the social media outlets that
the Youngstown State University fitness center failed to provide, may have played a drastic role
in not raising awareness and promoting itself. Therefore causing a lack of student involvement
at the on campus facility center. This research attempts to see how the use of social media plays
a role in raising awareness for campus students and increasing their involvement with the
campus fitness center. Since Youngstown State University is a very large commuter educational
institution, we also focused our ‘why’ approach on what other factors influence students to
participate or not participate in on-campus recreation events. As current Youngstown State
University students, we want to see a student friendly environment at our university. We believe
that discovering one possible way that Youngstown State University may not exemplify that
description is through this research and to hopefully enhance or set a foundation for future
researchers at this institution.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine some ways in which social media positively
affects the amount of students attending on-campus fitness facilities. Our research group
conducted a student across campus to see how effective social media is on influencing which
fitness facility to choose. By use of a questionnaire we wanted to ask: would an increase in the
frequency of social media posts related to fitness increase his or her use of fitness facilities?
Literature Review
Social media sites, primarily Facebook, have become extremely prevalent when it comes
to promoting marketing for campus recreational facilities and sport organizations. This article,

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“The Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing: The Impact of Facebook Status Updates on a
Campus Recreation Event” written by Bayne and Ciafrone (2013), explores the effectiveness of
social media marketing on college students in a campus recreation setting. This study narrowed
down how effective Facebook statuses were. They wanted to find out if these statuses had any
impact on the students of what events were coming up in the near future as well as to see if they
had any interest or intentions of attending these events. This study proposed four research
questions. The first, does social marketing influence college students’ awareness of campus
recreation? Secondly, does social media marketing influence college students’ interest in a
recreation event? The third research question, does social media marketing influence college
students’ intention to participate in a recreation event? Lastly, does social media marketing
influence college students’ participation in a recreation event? The methodology used to conduct
this study utilized 98 college undergraduate students, who were recruited at large urban
universities. This study included five stages: Pre-test Survey, Treatment Group Assignment,
Treatments, The Campus Recreation Event and Posttest survey. The participants for this study
were predominantly female, white or non-Hispanic or African-American and averaged 22 years
of age. The participants represented six different majors and 83% off of campus. After reviewing
the results of this study, researchers found the findings suggested that social media marketing
was effective in increasing awareness and that this study served as an empirical foundation for
future research.
In an article entitled “Assessing the Impact of New Student Campus Recreation Centers”
(Zizzi, et al, 2012), research results are outlined regarding the impact that newly constructed
recreation centers have on college campuses. It seeks to find the answer to why these recreation
centers have grown at such an exponential rate. Secondly it seeks the answer as to why these

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recreation centers have grown from being just a place where students come and lift weights and
run on the track, to a place where they also come to hangout with friends. Finally, it looks for the
answer as to how these centers are becoming “an overall high-powered recruitment tool”. (2011)
As the article goes on, the authors explain that the cost of constructing and running these centers
is a significant one; however, it is needed to encourage diversity among the student population.
They explain that it helps when it comes to training and conditioning student athletes as well.
They found that these centers encourage students to lead a healthy and active lifestyle, especially
at a time in his or her lives when it is so easy to become sedentary. Researchers utilized survey
data distributed to and collected from 655 undergraduate students at a large Mid-Atlantic
university. The researches then sorted the results into two categories: users and non-users. The
majority of the students were, in fact, users of the recreation center and were primarily Caucasian
males. The researchers then compared other data such as self-reported GPAs of users versus non-
users and finally, measured how exercise barriers impacted usage of the campus recreation
centers. The majority of the students who cited exercise barriers reported that they either didn’t
have the time to use the recreation centers or secondly, the students were just too tired to
exercise.
On October 21st, 1988 Vanderbilt University began building one of the top ten
recreational centers in the country. According to an article entitled “ The Role of the Campus
Recreation Center in Creating a Community”, (Dalgarn, 2001) the mission of the recreation
facility was to achieve the goals set by the NIRSA. There were several goals in constructing this
center. First, to provide participation in a variety of physical activities. A secondary goal was to
provide extracurricular opportunities; to contribute positively to institutional relations. A third
and final goal was to cooperate with academic departments. The researchers detail how the

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recreational facility will also help serve as a place of education for the patrons. Users have the
ability to build self-esteem, enhance social relationships, and improve his or her leadership,
communication and problem solving skills. President of the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, E.L. Boyer developed six principles that he felt defined a successful
community. With that being said, campus recreation centers can help create a sense of
community that his list of principles outlines. The article details how recreation centers can offer
a large variety of activities that can meet the needs, interests, and expectations of the students at
the campus. They found that recreation centers also have programs to help its members live a
healthy lifestyle by offering programs such as health assessments, and even offering flu shots.
Finally, they found that offering programs to students that live in the residence halls, helped to
teach awareness about issues like drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases and eating disorders.
In the article “The Effect of University Campus Recreation Programs on Student
Retention” (Bryce, 2014) a study was conducted on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University.
Those researchers viewed the correlation between participation in campus recreation programs
and student retention. This study examined not only the use of the campus gyms, but also the
participation in intramural sports and campus adventure programs. Information collected from
surveys they collected, revealed that students who participated in campus recreation programs
were also more likely to be retained as students. This, they determined, was most likely due to
campus recreation programs providing students with a sense of comradery and belonging, as well
as affording them a chance to relieve stress through physical activity and improve his or her
social life.

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An article entitled “Gym Bags and Mortarboards: Is Use of Campus Recreation Facilities
Related to Student Success?’’, by (Huesman Jr. et al., 2009) begins by explaining how the
popularity of campus recreation centers has grown over the years. The authors explain that not
only do these campus recreation centers provide a place for students to work out and improve his
or her physical health, but also offers a place to relieve stress, renew his or her body and minds
and improve our creativity. According to the information detailed in the article, campus
recreation facilities have been prime locations to meet new people and socialize with old friends.
Many centers not only offer meeting places for campus clubs, groups and classes, but also offer a
variety neutral gathering places such as lobbies, lounges, study areas, and dining facilities. These
places also attract new students and foster social interaction. With this being said, research was
conducted to see how these centers contributed to student retention. To begin this study,
researchers collected scans of students’ school identification cards. An identification card is
required to enter the center. Data from 5,344 students was collected, with 5,211 data samples
being complete and available to use to conduct the research. There were several variables taken
in to account to determine the results of this research. Researchers measured variables such as
grade point averages, academic performance and difficulty. The sample consisted of primarily
Caucasian males
Social media has crept its way into almost every aspect of a young adult’s life, and fitness
is no exception. Researchers at a Midwestern University recruited 34 students from five different
courses to examine the effects social media had on his or her gym usage and diet choices.
“Perceived Influence of Social Media on Young Adult Health Behaviors” (Vaterlaus et al.,
2014), looks at the results after the 34 students were separated into eight focus groups and were

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exposed to different types of social media stimuli. Through the focus groups the majority of
subjects claimed that social media could be more of an encourager to exercise and eat healthy
than a hindrance. The subjects claimed that apps that tracked progress, such as MyfitnessPal or
Nike+ could increase accountability; however, they also said that seeing pictures of delicious
looking deserts or people binge drinking could hinder his or her ability to stick to a healthy
nutrition plan. If I were to replicate this study I would attempt to find a larger number of people
to observe with a wider variety, this study had only 34 participants and only 7 males. This study
could also have been done on a broader scale perhaps examining the effect Social Media has in
different geographical locations.
“Approximately 32% of college students are overweight or obese, yet few weight loss
programs have effectively motivated this population to adopt a healthier lifestyle. A majority of
this population frequently uses the social networking site Facebook.” (Long Roth, "Facebook as
Social Support for a One-Time Weight Loss Intervention Among College Students") “Facebook
as Support for Weight Loss among College Students” (Long & Null, n.d.), details the methods
and results of this study, which was performed at a large Midwestern university. Researchers
took a sample of 22 female and 2 male college students, almost all with active Facebook
accounts and who were all overweight and split them into two groups. The first group was given
a one-time weight loss class and the second were given the same class, and then added to
Facebook support group. At the end of the four week study the group added to the Facebook
support group had lost and average of 1.95lbs more than the control group. While this may not
seem like a large difference, it does point to a chance that Social Media can help college students
stay motivated to become healthier individuals.

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Based on research conducted at Rutgers University, the article “Is It Really About Me:
Message Content in Social Awareness Streams” (Naaman et al., 2010), examines the
characteristics of social activity and interaction on Twitter. The authors apply message content
from over 350 Twitter users, applying human content and quantitative statistics to provide a
deeper understanding of the activity of individuals on the Twitter network. In particular, the
researchers developed a content-based categorization of the type of messages posted by Twitter
users, based on the examination of users' activity. The analysis shows that there are two common
types of user behavior in terms of the content of the posted messages, and exposes differences
between users in respect to these activities. The purpose of this research was to gain a better
knowledge and was conducted as a basic research method.
An applied research study details the results in “Examining the Role of Perceived Service
Quality in Predicting User Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions in a Campus Recreation
Setting.” (Osman et al., 2010) Researchers concluded that there was evidence, which supported
previous findings that service quality leads to user satisfaction. This study examined three
dimensions of service quality: Operations quality, staff competency, and facility ambiance.
Researchers administrated 249 usable surveys at a midwestern university. Results of this study
supported previous findings that service quality leads to user satisfaction. All three dimensions
of service quality were ultimate predictors of user satisfaction. The results relative to service
quality dimensions showed that users were primarily concerned with the upkeep and condition of
the facility rather than the support services and availability as provided by the staff. Findings of
this study suggest that management and facility workers of campus recreation centers should
focus on improving s=service quality which will lead to increased satisfaction levels within the
center.

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According to Miller in an “Impact of a University Recreation Center on Social Belonging
and Student Retention” (2011), “It is important to know why college recreation centers are
important to student life as well as to understand what overall benefits students receive from the
program as a whole.” This research proved that students who make use of the recreation center
as often as possible were more likely to experience campus life. They linked social belonging to
the recreation center as well as to the university. Hessel (20000, stated that a significant number
of future students considered the presence of a student recreation center campus as being a
crucial factor when deciding which university to attend. The methods they used for this study
was a twenty question questionnaire distributed to 534 student in which 453 were completed.
Eighteen of the questions were based on a Likert scale; the remaining two pertained to
demographics. The results showed that the student recreation center provided place bonding due
to strong emotional ties. According to Miller the ties were the result of student perceptions that
the student recreation center offered increased opportunities to interact with new people as well
as increased their self-confidence, leadership abilities, and time management. The results support
the contention that involvement with and attachment to places that epitomize significant
mechanisms. By which individuals construct affirm a sense of self. (Kyle et al,. 2004)
In the article, “Collegiate Recreation Participation and Retention” (Kampf & Teske,
2013), the main focus is on the rising costs of universities and colleges, and also their impact on
current and future students. Researchers discovered that the ability to recruit students based on
his or her programs is extremely vital when it comes to academic offerings. According to the
authors, “recruitment and retention both have an impact on the institution’s bottom line. This
article attempts to distinguish a correlation between collegiate recreation programs and student
retention. It also focused on the first year retention rates. Those rates were examined by studying

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students who are: involved in club sports, make use of the campus recreation facility and are
employed by the campus recreation center. The final results showed this study is valid to the
collegiate recreation practitioner to answer the question of “does your program have an impact
on retention?” This study hopes to prove true in the future, which would help further accentuate
the relationship of collegiate recreation programs and their positive relationship with retention.
Hall (2006) did a study at the University of the Pacific called “Participation in a Campus
Recreation Program and its Effect on Student Retention.” Researchers and university
administrators have realized that students often base their decision on which school to remain at
or to attend based on the universities extracurricular activities. In 1990 RJ Light found that more
involvement in collegiate activities was strongly correlated with higher satisfaction of college
life and academic success. Wade (1991) determined that an essential and critical component of
retention and persistence of students was their sense of belonging to a community. It is important
to note that there are more studies that take place in the campus recreation program that any
other student life program at the University of the Pacific, as of May 2005 78% of the student
body participated in at least one student recreation program. In this study, there were an equal
amount of men as there were women, and they were each asked seven questions. The director of
campus recreation was the lead researcher conducting this study. They were focusing on the
individuals’ physical activeness, diversity, socialization, meeting new people, friendship, sense
of community, faculty and student relationships, background/lifestyle, competition,
academic/major, fun and self-esteem. This study showed that many of students went to their
campus recreation center for friendship, socialization, and to be physically active. These
experiences were a result of participating in the recreation program and in turn helped the

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students develop a sense of community. This allowed them to socialize, develop friendships, and
be exposed to a diverse group of people.
Henchy (2011) wrote the article “The Influence of Campus Recreation Beyond the
Gym.” Researchers have found that nonacademic aspects of campus, such as the recreation
center, can positively improve success. Lindsey and Sessoms (2006) stated that “recreational
sports has received increased attention on college campuses across the U.S., and issues of
recruitment, retention, and student satisfaction have emerged as institutional priorities”.
Campus recreational activities and intermural sports provide opportunities for students to be
more involved. Participating in intermural sports has also showed a relation to students overall
satisfaction with college. Students’ involvement with their fellow peers both inside and outside
the classroom is related to both learning and persistence in a positive way. Students’
participation in campus recreation activities often leads to friendship that continues beyond the
initial formal social activities. Studies have showed that students gained the most in the areas of
personal social benefits and social group bonding. Students have reported that they have
benefited from campus recreation programs such as, physical well-being, stress reduction,
respect for others, friendships, and self-confidence. Results have also showed that campus
recreation facilities and program have influenced some students’ decisions on what university to
attend. 96% of the students have reported that using the recreations facilities and programs have
improved the quality of student life at the university. Students have reported that using the
campus rec center not only expanded their interest in staying fit, but it also helped improve their
overall health. The study also showed that students’ well beings improved as well as their stress
management all from using the campus recreation center. 81% of the students said that social
benefits from using the facilities have also made them feel more at home on campus.

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The study in the article, “Student Recruitment on Campus Recreation” (Lindsey &
Sessoms, 2006), was based on the impact that the campus recreation had when it came to
recruitment for the institution as well as how often the students participated in the recreational
sports offered. The journal goes in to great detail on how received information using differences
in gender, age, and ethnicity for their results. This journal was significant to me because we are
doing our group research project on campus recreation and this was another aspect of how the
campus recreation can affect students physically and academically. Students who took
advantage of the recreation on campus were doing better academically because they were more
involved and are more pleased with their college experience. The authors of this journal, Robert
Lindsey and Eugene Sessoms, gathered their data from scholarly journals. A few examples of
what information they gathered is from Kovac and Beck They studied how satisfied the students
were with recreational sports and other services offered. Kovac and Beck concluded that the
students were pleased with their recreational experiences on campus and the convenience of
facilities was a factor when deciding on which institution to attend. Kovac and Beck also studied
the difference of benefits of campus recreation and intramural participation based on gender.
Their research found women were happier with their recreational experience than males were.
For men it was only beneficial for self-reasons, whereas for the females it was beneficial for
them individually but also had a social factor. Lindsey and Sessoms received information for
their research by a convenience sample from students at a small southeastern university in the
Physical Education and Health Department. There were 244 surveys handed to students who
ranged between the ages of 18 and 25 to gather their information. Gender, ethnicity, class rank,

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student residence, grade point average and if the student was involved with Greek life all played
a factor in determining the information they were looking for.
The results determined that a low percentage of students considered the availability of the
recreational facilities was important when choosing an institution. A large number of the
students who participated in the survey utilized the facilities multiple times each week. For
gender, more males than females utilized the facilities more, whereas an extremely high
percentage of females would like to utilize the facility at least once a week. Class rank involved
mostly juniors and seniors. They stated the availability of the facility was important to them
when deciding to continue at the institution. The remaining topics Lindsey and Sessoms
surveyed the students on had a low percentage but all stated the same information stated above.
A study detailed in “Relationship Between Student Recreation Complex Use, Academic
Performance, and Persistence of First-Time Freshmen” (Belch et al., 2001) was conducted at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It was geared to examine the persistence rate and academic
achievement of three participants of first-time freshmen that used the recreation complex and
those freshmen that had not used the facility. The participants’ utilization of the recreation
center was recorded by using an electric system scanner that kept record of students’
identification cards every time they accessed the facility. These records were used to identify rec
center users among the three freshman participant groups and the number of visits each student
made during the fall semester. In order to determine the persistence of freshman rec center
participants based on level of activity during the fall semester, the rec center access control
database records were used to establish groups. Discrete categories emerged after a close
examination of the database records (i.e., 1-4 visits; 5-19 visits; 20-49 visits; 50+ visits). These
categories were determined by observing natural breaks or groupings that emerged while

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maintaining large numbers in each discrete group to preserve the meaning of this data. Of the
11,076 freshmen in the groups, 52% were female and 21% ethnic minorities. Finally, the results
determined that nearly 73% of students were recreation center users during their first semester.
Methodology
Once the literature was considered, we constructed a questionnaire for students on
campus regarding social media use and the effectiveness that it has on which fitness facility they
choose. All questionnaires were taken on a volunteer basis. Before distributing the surveys, the
participants were notified that if he or she were not comfortable answering the questions they
were not required to complete it. Each questionnaire was left anonymous and included
seventeen questions. It was a combination of age, demographic, and open-ended questions.
Before administering the questionnaires, approval was obtained from the university’s
Institutional Review Board (IRB). After receiving IRB approval, 250 students at Youngstown
State University were randomly selected to complete the questionnaire. Although 250
questionnaires were distributed, only 197 were deemed reliable.
For example, students were asked. “If you commute, within how many miles is YSU to
your home and how long does it take?” We wanted to gather this information because students
prefer to go to fitness centers that fits his or her convenience. For the social media aspect of the
questionnaire, we asked “How often throughout the day are you on social media?” asking them
to check less than one hour and up to three or more hours. Gathering this information informed
us on his or her availability to view promotion that fitness centers have to offer. We asked if the
off campus fitness centers he or she attends have social media sites and if they do, if it inclines
them to go to the facility more often. To get more in depth with social media usage of fitness

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facilities, we asked students. “What would interest you to see posted on your fitness centers
social media accounts?” We connected this question with applied research because many of the
students we distributed questionnaires to use the on-campus fitness facility. We would like to
turn the results re received from this study into the Youngstown State University’s fitness center
to see if it would increase the amount of students that utilize the campus fitness facility.
First, group members split into pairs and chose a location on where to distribute the
questionnaires. Group members distributed questionnaires to classrooms in the basement of the
Maag Library, common area of DeBartolo Hall, Kilkawley Center lounge areas, as well as the
common area in Kilkawley Center. These areas were chose because of the variety of students
gather at these location and the goal was to have a diverse sample. This will help determine
whether the research question and hypothesis can be accurately proved or disapproved.
Results
During our research we surveyed 197 students at a large urban university, of the 197
participants 107 (54%) were male and 90 (46%) were female. In order to better understand the
lifestyle of our participants we attempted to gain background information on them. Of our 197
participants we had 76 18-20 year olds, 64 21-22 year olds, 42 23-25 year olds, and 15 who were
25 or over. Rounding out our background information on participants we found that we had 190
who claimed full-time status at the university and 7 who claimed part time.
Our study was geared to find the best way to increase commuter use of the campus
recreation through social media, in order to begin to find that out we first had to discern the
number of commuter students vs the number of on-campus residents. We further needed to
understand which social media platforms he or she frequented and how much time they spent per

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day on social media. Our questionnaires revealed that 147 (75%) of our participants commuted
to campus leaving only 50 (25%) as on campus residents. As seen in the graphs below Facebook
had the largest solo user base, with 40 people stating they go to Facebook only for information,
the rest of the social media outlets showed fairly wide spread user base. Our data also revealed to
us that 99% of our participants spent 1 or more hours per day on Social Media with 21%
spending more than 3 hours per day on the Social outlets.
< 1 Hour
17%
1-2 Hours
37%
2-3 Hours
24%
3+ Hours
21%
None
1%
TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA

19
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
40
28
17
16 16
9
27
18
11
3
12
Preferred Social Media Platforms

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For the last basic information part of our survey we asked participants if he or she used
the campus rec, an outside gym, or no gym at all. Out of the 197 people surveyed 70 (35%) used
the campus recreation facility already, 61 (31%) utilized an outside gym, 9(5%) used both the
campus rec and an outside gym, and 57 (29%) claimed no gym usage at all. Then, in an effort to
better understand our participants fitness habits, we asked what time of the day he or she was
most likely to exercise in his or her gym of choice. Of those who utilized a fitness center the
most common time for reported use was the afternoon followed by the evening and then a
combination of afternoon and evening times.
We then moved into the main focus of our survey. We asked participants if he or she
would be more inclined to utilize on campus recreation facilities if the Campus Rec kept its
Social Media Accounts up to date and engaged with its audience. Out of the Questionnaires we
35%
31%
5%
29%
Gym Facility of Choice
YSU Rec Outside Gym Ysu Rec + Another None

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received an astounding 69% (136) participants said they would be more encouraged by Social
Media posts. The participants responded by saying that Social Media sites such as Twitter,
Facebook, and Instagram were his or her main source of information and the first place they look
when he or she has a question regarding the Campus Rec. They also elaborated that a stronger
Social Media presence, such as the way Planet Fitness utilizes Social Media, could be
motivational and encourage him or her to utilize the Campus Rec or even try out a new class. In
stark contrast to this, when asked if email blasts would be an efficient way to increase use of the
Campus Rec the answers were significantly more negative. Only 64 (32%) of participants in the
questionnaire answered yes, that email blasts would possibly encourage or increase his or her use
of the Campus Rec. The other 133 (68%) of participants answered no. The negative responders
cited that he or she did not check email frequently enough for this method to be effective. Also
cited was the reasoning that email blasts would become annoying and be treated as spam. Due to
a lifetime of being bombarded with spam emails most participants demonstrated a very low
tolerance to non-essential emails.s
Yes
69%
No
31%
ENCOURAGEDBY SOCIAL
MEDIA POSTS
32%
68%
Email blasts Encouraging
Use
Yes
No

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Discussion
Based on information we gathered from our data and research, the conclusion is that a
stronger Social Media presence would encourage commuter students to utilize Youngstown State
Universities Campus Recreation Facilities. After passing out detailed questionnaires to one
hundred and ninety-seven students on campus and examining the completed surveys, we
discovered that there were a variety of different responses. Some felt that Social Media was
going to be the best way to reach students and that Youngstown State needed to implement a
better Social Media policy, one student even said that she had unfollowed the Campus Rec’s
Instagram account because of the lack of posts. In contrast, there was a strong agreement among
those that participated that an increase in emails would not be beneficial, some even stating they
do not check their Youngstown State email at all. This led us to believe that the Campus Rec
should increase its activity on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in order to increase the
attendance and use of the facility. The one thing we do not feel like a Social Media blitz would
help is those students that declared they used an outside gym because of its proximity to his or
her place of residence. Students traveling over 15 miles were less likely to state that he or she
would use the Campus Rec if Social Media posts were increased due to the distance he or she
would have to travel to use the facilities.
Also, there are different ways to improve the study for future research. One of the main
challenges was leaving the questions about why those surveyed did or did not think email and
increased Social Media postings would encourage them to use the Campus Rec open ended. This
did not allow us to narrow down specific and certain reasons why or why not. The narrowing of

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these questions could have allowed us to better understand what specifically the Campus Rec
could do to increase its attendance over that of outside gyms. Additionally, it might helpful to
expand our sample size to include commuter students of college institutions other than
Youngstown State. It would be interesting to survey Students from different universities to better
understand what drives them to use, or not use, his or her Caampus Rec. Finally, offering an
incentive to take surveys would entice more people and increasing sample size as well as
accuracy of results.
Conclusion
The problem addressed within this research study is raising awareness of Youngstown
State University’s on-campus fitness center versus off-campus fitness centers that fellow campus
students may attend, through social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.) The purpose of
the study was to compare and contrast campus fitness center with other fitness facilities that
students use and how the campus recreation center’s social media raises awareness amongst
students. Within our questionnaire in which 197 random current campus students participated in,
we asked multiple questions which represented different variables and factors as to why the
campus rec may or may have not been utilized. Certain variables such as commute time,
convenience, and knowledge of what the campus fitness facility offers were all important factors
on why its usage may or may not have been utilized. However, some of the study remains
inconclusive and needs more data to make assumption. In the future, researchers should directly
interview participants to gain a better understanding of why or why not the campus recreation
facility is utilized and if social media would play any significant role in the utilization. We also
could presented survey participants which different question’s and question structures. We had
multiple open-ended questions within our survey, which we feel may turn some people away

24
from answering the question or not being completely honest within their answer. If more time
was available, we could have traveled to other commuter campuses to provide another spectrum
on how students participate within their particular campus recreation centers. As a result, the
research question was partially proven. Social media does indicate a positive relationship by
raising awareness but does not necessarily indicate that it increases campus fitness center
involvement. Based on other data that was collected, it is fair to make the assumption that
inconvenience and lack of spare time amongst students plays a vital role on why there is not
more involvement. It is also fair to assume that with the constant and frequent use of social
media, which was proven within the results, that social media outlets spread awareness if they
are used properly and can promote the use of any product; in this case, Youngstown State
University’s fitness facility. This study provided valuable insight on how social media is a
powerful awareness raiser and how important the use of social media is in today’s society. It is
vital because we want to see this campus thrive and have participation in activities amongst its
students and promoting through social media is one of the many essential ways to provide that.

25
References
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Practice/abstract Content, 38(2), 254-258.
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26
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