University Students Faced with the Formative Challenges of Social Networks: Colombian Case Study

Abstract

principal aim of this research is to identify their use of the social networks. Seventyone surveys and 12 focus groups were carried out. The results show that students in the sample use the social networks as complex tools that allow them to train, inform, participate, cooperate, work and entertain themselves. The students demonstrate a high critical level and an important knowledge of the advantage and disadvantages of the networks. The conclusions demonstrate that social networks are a formative challenge for the new generations of Communication students. Their effectiveness, immediacy and efficiency make them a fundamental journalistic source that needs to be taken into account by faculty of future journalists.