The level and motives of using social media among Students of the University of Nizwa in the Sultanate of Oman

The study aimed to reveal the level and motives for using social networking programs among students of the University of Nizwa in the Sultanate of Oman, in the academic semester 2020/2021, the study sample consisted of (385) male and female students from the University of Nizwa in the Sultanate of Oman. SPSS and Microsoft Excel for data analysis. The results showed that the level of use of social communication programs came to a medium degree, and that the average number of hours students spent using social communication programs was (4.5) hours, and the results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the level of using social communication programs due to the gender variable in favor of females. The results indicated that the most used communication programs by university students are WhatsApp (96%), followed by Instagram (66%), YouTube (45%), and Snapchat (40%). For a sample of university students, Facebook was the least used, then Twitter. The results indicated that entertainment came at the forefront of the motives for use, followed by the motive of knowing the latest news, then culture, then expressing an opinion. And came to the back of the motives of use: trade, then acquaintance. The study recommends activating the role of student counseling in helping students to benefit from social communication programs, address negative aspects, and invest these programs in the educational process.