The role of social media in promoting Saudi university students' awareness of the concept of the knowledge economy

Alsahafi, Waseem

doi:10.21608/jsb.2022.228627

The role of social media in promoting Saudi university students' awareness of the concept of the knowledge economy

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Waseem Alsahafi

School of Media and Communications - University of Jeddah

10.21608/jsb.2022.228627

Abstract

Today, the world is witnessing an unprecedented revolution in the field of information and Communication Technology, in which information has become an essential element of the transition to a knowledge economy, a real source of development and the creation of additional value for societies. There is no doubt that the digital media have an active role in contributing to the foundations of this new economy, known as the knowledge economy.Therefore, based on studies and statistics that showed that young people in Saudi Arabia rely heavily on social media as platforms for acquaintance, exchange of views and interests, sharing of knowledge and experiences, this study sought to identify the role that social media contributes to enhancing the awareness of Saudi university students about the concept of knowledge economy, by relying on the descriptive approach of the survey on a sample of (400) Saudi university students.
The study reached several results, most notably: Saudi university students' emphasis on the prominent role in which social media contributes to developing their awareness of the concept of knowledge economy. The results of the study also revealed that among the reasons for young people's heavy reliance on social media platforms are that the use of social media enable users to learn and become familiar with everything new in different fields, and social media are distinguished by a crowd of others interested in the same subject. The results of the study showed that factors such as: poor awareness of the culture of the knowledge economy, lack of clear mechanisms for the development of cognitive behaviors among young people, digital illiteracy, violation of intellectual property rights, and cybercrime are the most prominent obstacles to the requirements of the knowledge economy through social media platforms.

Keywords

Main Subjects

The new media

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