Students' Cognizance of the Dangers Linked with them Being on Social Media

Technology has enable individuals to communicate with anyone instantly, irrespective of where they may be in the world. Social Networking Sites (SNS) has enable people to communicate at a much cheaper way as compared to communication mediums of the past. This paper looked to assess whether students are aware of the dangers linked to social media, such as, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, etc. Most higher education institution offers free Wi-Fi to, their staff, students and guests, enabling access to social media whenever they are at the institution. Social media sites allow one to post information, pictures, videos, and comments. There are various social media sites which are easy for everyone to sign up as long as they have access to the internet. The proposed paper looked to establish if students are aware of the risks associated to using social media and to establish why students post various information on social media websites. The Users and Gratification Theory will be used as the theoretical framework for this paper. Though this paper is a desktop paper, however, statistics will be mentioned and analysed. Higher Education Institutions should host workshops and seminars so as to make cognizance of the dangers linked with them being on social media.