This document summarizes a study that examined the intended uses of social networking sites by students studying in Schools of Physical Education and Sports in Turkey. A survey was administered to 672 students from two universities to understand their reasons for using social media and whether usage varied by demographic characteristics. The results showed that gender and grade did not significantly impact intended use of social media, which was generally for communication, sharing information, publicity and education purposes. The study provides insight into how future sports professionals are utilizing social networking tools.

1. D.O.I: http:dx.doi.org/10.4127/ch.2014.0085
Levent Atali1
, Ku
..
rsad Sertbas2
, Zeynep Akkus3
1
Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Kocaeli, Turkey
2
Department of Physical Education and Sport,
Sakarya University, Turkey
3
Institude of Education Science, Sakaraya University, Turkey
Abstract
The purpose of the study is the determination of the intended
use of social networking sites of students studying in the School
of Physical Education and Sports (S.P.E.S.) and demonstration of
the current situation. In line with this purpose, answers were
sought for the questions 'What are the intentions and aims of
students studying in the School of Physical Education and Sports
to use social networking sites?' and 'Do intended uses of stu-
dents studying in the School of Physical Education and Sports
differentiate in accordance with their demographic characteristics
(gender, department, grade)?' The study population consists of
students of the Schools of Physical Education and Sports of Ko-
caeli University and Sakarya University who have been studying
in these schools in 2013-2014 academic year. 672 students were
chosen from the study population by use of convenience sam-
pling method. "Social Networking Sites Intended Use Scale" is
the general screening model because of the reason that the ex-
isting situation was determined as a result of analysis of the ob-
tained data with quantitative method. Frequency measurement,
Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis test techniques were used
for the analysis of data obtained from students. Consequently,
the findings of this study have shown that gender and grade do
not create a significant difference in the intended use of social
networking sites of students who are studying in the Schools of
Physical Education and Sports and the intended use of students
can be classified in the issues including communication, shar-
ing, publicity, recognition, education and enlightenment.
Key Words: Social media, social network, Physical Education
and Sports.
SSoocciiaallNNeewwoorrkkiinnggSSiitteessUUssaaggeeooffSSttuuddeennttssSSttuuddyyiinnggiinn
tthheeSS..PP..EE..SS..

2. Social media can be defined as conversation and/or online chatting of peo-
ple around a topic. There are many ways to establish close relationships with
people online for a long or short term. Social media is defined as one of
these ways and a place where people can chat with the others online. Fouts
stated that there were many ways of being involved and engaged in social
media and lots of social media tools have been developed for this purpose
(Fouts, 2009). Social media, also known as a digital community, is defined as
an application which brings people together in a central place to allow them to
talk, share their ideas, opinions and information and have new friends (Mar-
keting Leadership Council, 2008). In addition, Blossom (2009) defines social
media as highly scalable and accessible communication technologies or tech-
niques which allow each individual to affect other individual groups easily.
The most fundamental reason to usage of social media for institutions and
businesses as well as individuals is the fact that it connects people to each
other. Social media offers a medium that allows sharing important information
required by companies to do their works faster and better with a better com-
munication and collaboration (Juan, Alcala and Kassostakis, 2010).
Also social media has taken its place in the field of sports in conjunction
with technological innovations in particular. Computer technologies have be-
gun to show themselves in many areas of the Olympic Games and a boom
has been experienced in the field of social media, especially. 291 million
people visited the website of the Olympic Games held in Vancouver in 2010.
The number of people who had joined to the Facebook page of the Olympic
Games was 1.1 million. Users downloaded 1.25 applications related to
Olympic Games in digital media (Andrews, 2011). Social media has begun to
be used effectively for major sports organizations such as the Olympic
Games and this spread to the other fields of sports.
The social media tools such as Facebook have become useful for practi-
tioners in terms of sports science, sports science communication and sports
education. The social media tools such as Facebook have been suggested
to be useful and envisaged that the purpose of efforts of sports scientists
should be aimed to recognize the existence of social media and promote it
in the future (Williams, 2011).
It is important to conduct studies about social media applications for the
field of sports because their usage is rapidly expanding in every level and
dimension. Especially, these kinds of studies on students who are studying
in universities where sports education is provided about usage of social me-
dia have a great importance because of the reason that all these students
will be sports managers, coaches, experts and scientists in the field of
sports in the future.
The purpose of the study is the determination of the intended use of social
networking sites of students studying in the School of Physical Education and
Sports and demonstration of the current situation. In line with this purpose, an-
46 SMIJ – VOL. 10, Number 1, 2014

3. swers were sought for the questions 'What are the intentions and aims of
students studying in the School of Physical Education and Sports to use social
networking sites?' and 'Do intended uses of students studying in the School of
Physical Education and Sports differentiate in accordance with their demo-
graphic characteristics (gender, department, grade)?'
Method
RReesseeaarrcchh MMooddeell
"Social Networking Sites Intended Use Scale" is the general screening
model because of the reason that the existing situation was determined as a
result of analysis of the obtained data with quantitative method.
SSttuuddyy PPooppuullaattiioonn//SSaammppllee GGrroouupp
The study population consists of the students of the Schools of Physical Edu-
cation and Sports of Kocaeli University and Sakarya University who have been
studied in these schools in 2013-2014 academic year. 672 students were chosen
and enrolled from the study population by use of convenience sampling method.
DDaattaa CCoolllleeccttiioonn TTooooll
"Social Networking Sites Intended Use Scale" that is used for this study
is a 14-item scale developed by Karal and Kokoc (2010). It has the aim of
determining the intended use of social networking sites of university stu-
dents and consists of three factors. These factors have been named as
"Use for the purpose of social interaction and communication", "Use for the
purpose of knowing and meeting somebody" and "Use for educational pur-
poses" respectively. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of
the scale developed was found 0.83. The Cronbach Alpha internal consis-
tency coefficient was found 0.84 in this study. Alpar (2010) stated that a val-
ue within that range is the proof of the high reliability of the scale.
DDaattaa AAnnaallyyssiiss
Data obtained from students within the scope of study were analyzed by
SPSS 18 statistical software package program and frequency measurement,
Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test techniques were used in the study.
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USAGE OF STUDENTS STUDYING IN THE S.P.E.S. 47

4. Findings
In this part of the study, the distribution of students studying in the School
of Physical Education and Sports has been specified according to their de-
mographic characteristics (gender, department, grade) and their intended use
of social networking sites and whether intended use of them differentiates ac-
cording to the variables have been presented after being analyzed.
Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Participants.
Demographic Characteristics f %
Gender
Male 349 51.93
Female 323 48.06
TOTAL 672 100
Department /Program
Sport Management 226 33.63
Physical Education and Sport Teaching 220 32.73
Coaching 124 18.45
Recreation 102 15.17
TOTAL 672 100
Grade
1st Grade 184 27.4
2nd Grade 176 26.2
3rd Grade 178 26.5
4th Grade 134 19.9
TOTAL 672 100
51.93% of participants are males and 48.06% of them are females. The lev-
el of participation of males and females are close to each other. The partic-
ipation rates in terms of departments were realized as follows: 33.63% of the
48 SMIJ – VOL. 10, Number 1, 2014

5. overall participants attended from the department of sport management,
32.73% from the department of Physical Education and Sport Teaching,
18.45% from the department of Coaching and 15.17% from the department
of Recreation. Considering the grade levels, 27.4% of overall participants
attended from 1st Grade, 26.2% from the 2nd Grade, 26.5% from 3rd Grade
and 19.9% from 4th Grade.
Table 2. Social Networking Sites Intended Use of Students Studying
in the Schools of Physical Education and Sports.
SSttrroonnggllyy
NNeeiitthheerr
SSttrroonnggllyy
IITTEEMMSS
ddiissaaggrreeee
DDiissaaggrreeee aaggrreeee oorr AAggrreeee
aaggrreeee
ddiissaaggrreeee
UUssee ffoorr tthhee ppuurrppoossee ooff ssoocciiaall iinntteerraaccttiioonn aanndd
ccoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn
ff %% ff %% ff %% ff %% ff %%
I use it because it offers me to create an area
specific to me (profile, personal page...).
88 13.1 48 7.1 158 23.5 253 37.6 125 18.6
I use it to maintain my communication with my
existing friends.
43 6.4 38 5.7 122 18.2 247 36.8 222 33.0
I use it to examine and investigate the lives of
people who I am interested in or the lives of my 52 7.7 129 19.2 194 28.9 209 31.1 88 13.1
friends.
I use it to get into contact with my old friends
again.
29 4.3 65 9.7 140 20.8 254 37.8 184 27.4
I use it to share my thoughts with the others. 37 5.5 110 16.4 198 29.5 211 31.4 116 17.3
I use it to join groups that I am interested in. 47 7.0 97 14.4 167 24.9 244 36.3 117 17.4
I use it to share objects which I like (videos,
photos, notes...) with the others.
37 5.5 77 11.5 157 23.4 266 39.6 135 20.1
UUssee ffoorr tthhee ppuurrppoossee ooff kknnoowwiinngg aanndd mmeeeettiinngg
ssoommeebbooddyy
ff %% ff %% ff %% ff %% ff %%
I use it to meet with new people and to esta-
blish new friendships.
76 11.3 168 25.0 152 22.6 193 28.7 83 12.4
I use it in order to be recognized and to be
known by the other people.
121 18.0 198 29.5 151 22.5 125 18.6 77 11.5
I use it to meet with other people from different
cultures.
80 11.9 144 21.4 181 26.9 151 22.5 116 17.3
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USAGE OF STUDENTS STUDYING IN THE S.P.E.S. 49

6. UUssee ffoorr eedduuccaattiioonnaall ppuurrppoosseess ff %% ff %% ff %% ff %% ff %%
I use it to do research about my school projects
and homework.
62 9.2 82 12.2 178 26.5 201 29.9 149 22.2
I use to investigate groups and events with the
purpose of education and training.
34 5.1 75 11.2 160 23.8 249 37.1 154 22.9
I use it to meet, know about and experience
up-to-date information, ideas and opinions.
29 4.3 75 11.2 142 21.1 264 39.3 162 24.1
I use it to develop my knowledge of foreign
languages.
79 11.8 153 22.8 213 31.7 142 21.1 85 12.6
At the dimension of "Use for the purpose of social interaction and com-
munication" of students; those who use social networking sites because of
the reason that it offers them to create an area specific to them (profile, per-
sonal page...) were found (56.2%, f = 378) and those use social networking
sites to maintain their communication with their existing friends were found
(69.8%, f = 469) and those who say that they use social networking sites to
examine and investigate the lives of people who they are interested in or the
lives of their friends were found (44.2%, f = 297) and those who use social
networking sites to get into contact with their old friends again were found
(65.2%, f = 438) and those who use social networking sites to share their
thoughts with the others were found (48.7%, f = 327) and those who say
that they use social networking sites to join groups that they are interested
in were found (53.7%, f = 361) and those who say that they use social net-
working sites to share objects which they like (videos, photos, notes...) with
the others were found (59.7%, f = 401).
At the dimension of " Use for the purpose of knowing and meeting some-
body" of students; those who say that they use social networking sites to
meet with new people and to establish new friendships were found (41.1%,
f = 276) and those who say that they use social networking sites in order to
be recognized and to be known by the other people were found (30.1%,
f = 202) and those who say that they use social networking sites to meet
with other people from different cultures were found (39.8%, f = 267).
At the dimension of "Use for educational purposes" of students; those
who say that they use social networking sites to do research about their
school projects and homework were found (52.1%, f = 350) and those who
say that they use social networking sites to investigate groups and events
with the purpose of education and training were found (60%, f = 403) and
those who say that they use social networking sites to meet, know about
and experience up-to-date information, ideas and opinions were found
50 SMIJ – VOL. 10, Number 1, 2014

7. (63.4%, f = 426) and those who say that they use social networking sites to
develop their knowledge of foreign languages were found (33.7%, f = 227).
Table 3. The result of the Mann-Whitney U Test of the scores of stu-
dents that they had got from the Social Networking Sites In-
tended Use Scale by their Genders.
Gender N Mean Rank Mean Total U P
Male 349 332.11 115907.00 54832.00 .542
Female 323 341.24 110221.00
When Table 3 is examined; a statistically significant difference was not
observed and/or found between scores of female and male students
(U = 54832.00, p K .05) according to the results of the Mann-Whitney U test
which was made in order to find and demonstrate that whether there is a
significant difference between the scores of 349 male and 323 female stu-
dents studying in the School of Physical Education and Sports according to
their genders which had been found as a result of the Social Networking
Sites Intended Use Scale that had been made on a group of 672 people.
Table 4. The result of the Kruskal Wallis Test related to the scores
of students that they had got from the Social Networking
Sites Intended Use Scale by their departments.
Departments N Mean rank Sd. X2
P
Significant
difference
1. Sport Management 226 335.04 3 37.11 .000 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 3-4
2. Coaching 124 384.65
3. Recreation 102 236.73
4. Physical Education
and Sport Teaching 220 357.12
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USAGE OF STUDENTS STUDYING IN THE S.P.E.S. 51

8. As can be seen in Table 4, there is a significant difference (X2
(3) = 37,11,
p I .05) between the scores of students studying in the School of Physical Ed-
ucation and Sports which they had got as a result of the Social Networking
Sites Intended Use Scale which had been made on a group consisting of 672
students including 226 students from the department of Sport Management and
124 students from the department of Coaching and 102 students from the de-
partment of Recreation and 220 students from the department of Physical Edu-
cation and Sports Teaching according to their departments. The Mann-Whitney
U Test that is preferred for paired comparisons was applied in order to find the
group which is the cause of this significant difference. As a result of series of
analysis, this differentiation was found to be between the departments of Sports
Management and Coaching, Sport and Recreation Management, Coaching and
Recreation, Recreation and Physical Education and Sports Teaching.
Table 5. The result of the Kruskal Wallis Test related to the scores
of students that they had got from the Social Networking
Sites Intended Use Scale by their grades.
Grades N Mean rank Sd. X²² P
1st Grade 184 362.62 3 6.59 .086
2nd Grade 176 336.40
3rd Grade 178 332.04
4th Grade 134 306.69
As can be seen in Table 5, a significant difference could not be found be-
tween the scores of students studying in the School of Physical Education and
Sports as a result of scores that a group with 672 students including 184 stu-
dents from 1st grade and 176 students from 2nd grade and 178 students from
3rd grade and 134 students from 4th grade had got from the Social Networking
Sites Intended Use Scale according to their grades (X2
(3) = 6,59, p K .05).
Discussion and Conclusion
This study is conducted to determine the intended use of social network-
ing sites of students studying in the Schools of Physical Education and
52 SMIJ – VOL. 10, Number 1, 2014

9. Sports and demographic characteristics of students have been determined
and it has been questioned whether their intended use differentiates accord-
ing to the variables of gender, department and grade.
According to the results of the study, those who say that they use social
networking sites with the purpose of maintaining their my communication
with their existing friends and to get into contact with their old friends again
and say that they use social networking sites to share their thoughts with
the others come to the forefront. As a result of a study conducted by Karad-
uman and Kurt (2010), it was concluded that students have no hesitation to
share their comments and opinions in social media and prefer social media
on the internet to communicate with their environment. Bilen, Ercan and
Gu
..
lmez (2014) found that usage of social media is the most important and
the most effective state in order to communicate with friends according to
the results of their study. As a result of the series of studies of Kobak and
Bicer (2008) on the reasons of usage of Facebook social networking site,
finding old friends and spending time were found to be among reasons of
joining and being member of Facebook. "Finding old friends" was also
among the reasons of social media usage as in the study conducted by
Cetin (2009). As the result of the study, social communication networks were
found to be a new communication type/method and this new communication
type/method was found to be a new type of relationship between individuals
which have different characteristics when compared with face-to-face rela-
tionships. The results of the study show similarities with the results that
have been found at the dimension of "Use for the purpose of social interac-
tion and communication".
Those who say that they use social networking sites to meet with new
people and to establish new friendships and those to be recognized and to
be known by the other people and to meet with other people from different
cultures come to the forefront for the use for purpose of knowing and meet-
ing somebody.
Those who say that they use social networking sites to investigate groups
and events with the purpose of education and training and those to meet,
know about and experience up-to-date information, ideas and opinions come
to the forefront for the use for educational purposes. This results show sim-
ilarities with the studies conducted by Ada, Cicek ve Kaynakyesil (2013) on
social networking sites and also indicates that social media is mostly used
by students in order to get more information. In addition, Tarantino, Mc-
Donough and Hua (2013) stated as a result of their studies that social media
has many ways of usage related to learning in terms of use of these sites
for educational purposes and expressed that these sites establish bridges
between students and educators for an open communication.
A difference was observed in usage of social networking sites of stu-
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USAGE OF STUDENTS STUDYING IN THE S.P.E.S. 53

10. dents according to their departments. This differentiation was found to be
between the departments of Sports Management and Coaching, Sport and
Recreation Management, Coaching and Recreation, Recreation and Physical
Education and Sports Teaching. These differences may be interpreted as
the result of differences between programs of the departments.
The variable of gender can be said to have no significant effect on usage
of social networking sites which is the subject of the research. Bilen, Ercan
ve Gu
..
lmez (2014) stated that the gender is not effective on the social net-
works during the adoption process of Facebook.
That the variable of grade has no significant effect on usage of social
networking sites which is the subject of the study can be argued as a result
of the study.
Consequently, the findings of this study have shown that gender and
grade do not create a significant difference in students' intended use of so-
cial networking sites who are studying in the Schools of Physical Education
and Sports and the intended use of students can be classified in the is-
sues including communication, sharing, publicity, recognition, education and
enlightenment.
This study is limited to the characteristics of the sample group, the types
of variables and the data obtained. This study will contribute to the studies
which may be conducted in the future with different groups and different
variables by researchers.
References
54 SMIJ – VOL. 10, Number 1, 2014

11. Address for correspondence:
Levent Atali
Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality,
41100, Kocaeli
Turkey
e-mail: leventatali@gmail.com
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USAGE OF STUDENTS STUDYING IN THE S.P.E.S. 55

12. 56 SMIJ – VOL. 10, Number 1, 2014