Abstract
The growing use of social media provides people with an amazing opportunity for online networking and connection. Social media is the term for web-based and mobile applications that make creating, communicating, and sharing content in a digital setting possible. Since mobile phones are more widely available for internet access, social media use is increasing in India’s higher education institutions. Young people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter more frequently than ever because of the widespread use of smartphones and reasonably priced internet connection. A large amount of study has been done on the significance of social media usage, but not much of it examines the factors that influence social media usage in developing countries such as India, especially when it comes to undergraduate students in Odisha. This study aims to investigate the characteristics that motivate Odisha undergraduate students to utilise social media and develop a social media usage scale using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and second order Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and a second-order Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), therefore, provided an opportunity to illuminate the intricate structure of social media activity, showcasing its diversity and may be unveiling hitherto unnoticed trends. Four dimensions were found in the study that comprises the reasons why students use social media platforms: “Socialisation,” “Information,” “Education,” and “Entertainment”. Socialisation had the largest factor loading, showing that it was the key motivator for student involvement, followed by Entertainment, Information, and Education in descending order of influence.
Keywords: Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Social Media Usage, Structural Equation Modeling, Undergraduate Students.