Principales motivaciones en el uso de redes sociales en estudiantes de Comunicación: perspectiva comparada entre Colombia, Ecuador y España

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents original results of an investigation carried out in three countries (Colombia, Ecuador and Spain) with 300 Communication students who reflected on the importance, motivations and informative value of social networks. The research presents the results of the last quarter of 2019, and is part of a research project that analyzes the main trends in the use of young Ibero-Americans regarding social networks. The work concludes that users make use of social networks in ubiquitous environments in order to be constantly informed and find out about events in a context of glocality through alternative sources to traditional media companies. In addition, they consider that the networks are emerging spaces for false news that demand a permanent verification of sources (fact-checking) and, therefore, evidence the need to promote media literacy initiatives in university academic environments.