2016 Volume 40 Issue 3 Pages 165-174
This study aims to investigate the causal relationships between college students’ media/social media usage and their Internet literacy, controlling for the effects of social skills and gender differences on them. We conducted a panel survey targeting Japanese college students and analyzed based on 107 students’ responses. The following results were clarified. (a) The college students perceived that they can make new friends through the usage of Twitter and Facebook, and they did communicate with those whom they never knew before by using Twitter and Facebook. (b) For male students, improving their Internet literacy about Facebook use help them increase their frequency of making posts on Facebook, and also help improve their social skills. (c) For female students, increasing their frequency of making posts on Facebook help contribute to their Internet literacy.
