Development and testing of tools for measuring social media active level (SMactive) and engagement level (SMengage)

Purpose: This study described the development and testing of two scales measuring social media active and engagement levels among potential SM early adopters.  Methods: An online survey was administered to a sample of adults in higher education settings.  Three SM indexes were used to measure SM active levels (SMactive).  Each index was calculated via a composite score of four key SM platforms.  Two indexes were used to measure SM engagement levels (SMengage), which included 9 SM-basic and 4 SM-pro behaviors.  Results: A total of 372 adults participated.  About 60% were females, 71% had college education, and mean age was 28.5 years.  The means of the SMactive level were 2.31 (SD=1.02; range 1-4) for SM index, 15.03 (SD=5.08; range 4-28) for SMfreq index, and 14.44 (SD=4.44; range 4-24) for SMyr index.  The means of SMengage level were 33.3 (SD=11.79; range 9-54) for SMengage-basic, and 1.44 (SD=1.27; range 0-4) for SMengage-pro.  All indexes of both measurement tools showed positive linear correlation with participants’ view towards social media (all p<.001).  Conclusion:  Participants were overall somewhat active on social media utilization.  Data also showed they were somewhat engaged in common SM behaviors such as “read”, “like”, “follow”, or “share”.  Results showed, however, relatively low levels of more advanced SM behaviors such as hosting events, or creating SM page / channels, etc.  The study has implications on assessing SM active and engagement levels for examining SM utilization patterns, and for identifying early adopters to develop strategies and testing social media health communication campaigns or programs.