Online content sharing: preferences of students attending a Portuguese higher education institution

The topic addressed in this article is based on the fact that we are currently experiencing a paradigm in which the Internet has become a crucial element. New generations were born in a technological universe and got used to finding everything they need on the Internet. They have developed new lifestyles and new forms of socialization and everything revolves around screens, especially around teens’ smartphone which have rapidly become an indispensable extension of the Gen Y members’ body. Life has become Internet-mediated and those who master it are the faces of tomorrow. What do we know about these generations? How do they behave online? What do they share? These are pertinent issues that support the research conducted as part of the 0014 CI & DETS Project whose aim was to analyse higher education students’ internet consumption habits and the kind of contents they use to share. In particular, this article presents the partial results related to online file sharing carried out by students who were attending the Instituto Politécnico de Viseu (Polytechnic Institute of Viseu). Methodologically speaking, this is a case study supported by an online questionnaire that was available between June 5th and September 30th 2017. The sample was composed of 195 students, mostly female, who were attending the 1st year of their chosen course and who had a mean age of 22.16 (SD = 6,91). The results obtained suggest that higher education students frequently share photographs and posts on social media. In fact, social media stand out as their favourite tools for content sharing. In descending order, students’ favourite social media are Instagram, Facebook, Skype and Messenger.