Guidelines for using online social networks for communication and propagating Buddhism for monks-novices in Chachoengsao Province

Abstract

This article is part of the research with the objectives to study the behavior of using online social networks province and to find the guidelines for using online social networks for communication and propagating Buddhism for monks-novices in Chachoengsao province. The research population was the monks-novices in Chachoengsao province with a number of 357. The key informants were monks and Buddhist scholars with a number of 7. The research tools were questionnaire and in-depth interview question. The research results were: 1. The behavior in using online social networks for communication and propagating Buddhism for monks-novices in Chachoengsao province mostly was mobile phone. There was all day long usage of online social networks. The duration in using was approximately 30 minutes to.

1.  hour. The most frequent time in using online social networks was 16:01 – 24:00 hours. The most often used Accounts were Facebook, Line, YouTube and Google. The main purpose in using was for communication and education/academic. The reasons in using online social networks were expressing and exchanging opinions.
2. The opinion toward using online social networks for communication and propagating Buddhism for monks-novices in Chachoengsao province was in high level in overall picture. When considering in each dimension, it was found that dimensions of communication, education/academic, and propagation was in a high level. For recreation dimension was in a middle level.
3. For the usage of online social networks for communication and propagating Buddhism, monks-novices should have knowledge in Buddhism, understating in using online social networks, know how to use the considerate well-arranged language with the scrutinized objective and clear target group for communication. These factors would make communication and propagation of Buddhism to be more efficient and effective.