Understanding the Relationship between Communication Competence and Social Media Use

ABSTRACT In the last couple of years, a high number of employers started raising concerns about the lack of soft skills in recent college graduates. Many have pointed to social media as hurting our face-to-face communication. Following these concerns, the purpose of our study was to examine the relationship between communication competence and social media use. One hundred and eighty-nine adults, ages 18 to 73, completed a survey rating their social media use and self-perceived communication competence. We measured communication competence using McCroskey and McCroskey scale, which measures communication competence in a variety of settings. The results showed that Instagram and Facebook were used for social compensation purposes, especially among participants who perceive themselves to have low communication competence skills. Generation-wise, older individuals were more competent when communicating in a variety of settings.