Using Social Media: Determinants and Social Impact on Rural Families in Gharbia Governorate

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Rural Society, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt

2 Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt

Abstract

The research mainly aimed to identify the reality of rural families' use of social networking sites in terms of determinants and social Impact. The research was conducted on a sample of 370 heads of households in three villages randomly selected from Gharbia Governorate. The research relied on the descriptive analytical approach, and data were collected by a questionnaire through a personal interview. The level of use of social networking sites was average for both modern and old families. There were significant differences in the use of social networking sites by rural families in favor of modern rural families, the social Impact of using social networking sites on both modern and old rural families was average. There are four variables that contribute uniquely morally to explaining the variance in the use of social networking sites by modern rural families, and these variables are: social perception, family responsibility, duration of marriage, and educational gap, as they contribute 46.9% of the variance in the use of social networking sites by modern rural families. There are also four variables that contribute uniquely morally to explaining the variance in the use of social networking sites by old rural families, and these variables are: age gap, family support, social perception, family responsibility, and they contribute 55.4% of the variance in the use of social networking sites by old rural families.

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