Students' experiences of using virtual social networks in terms of usefulness: studying of Cyberspace users at the University of Razi Kermanshah

The purpose of this study was to express of Students' experiences of using virtual social networks in terms of usefulness. The research method was qualitative of phenomenological type. The statistical population of this study was student users of virtual social networks at the University of Razi Kermanshah. To determine the sample size because of the adequacy of the data, sampling to saturation stage and purposeful sampling method was used. Finally, the sample size reached 21 by considering the saturation. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed by open, axial and selective coding. The findings revealed 98 initial conceptual propositions with 12 sub categories and 2 propositions of the main categories and the relationships between them were presented in the form of a structural pattern. The results showed that students had a lot of positive and negative experiences in interacting with virtual social networks. A review of student’s experiences can adequately recognize the benefits and disadvantages of using virtual social networks and, consequently, planning to make good use of these networks Leads.