This article discusses a study on empowerment of a group at risk via social media in Malaysia which focuses on five important dimensions namely economy, social and cultural, legal, political, and psychology. The group at risk focused in the study refers to women. The study employed a survey that uses a set of online questionnaire distributed to women who are actively using social media, particularly social networking sites. This study involves a sample of 1,307 respondents in an exploratory study, in which a 5-factor 24-item instrument to measure empowerment comprising of the five hypothesised dimensions were being developed. Results confirm factor structures of the empowerment model and suggest a more parsimonious instrument for each; a 5-factor 15-item scale for social media empowerment, as compared to the result of pilot study conducted. Goodness-of-fit indices for the model are presented. The result shows that the five dimensions are significant to the empowerment model of women in Malaysia. The findings can contribute greatly to a better understanding of the empowerment mechanism behind social media issues pertaining to women.

This study aimed to seek an in-depth understanding of digital trends among Islamic university students to use their literacy well and balanced on the positive internet. We believe that students' success using the facilities of digital technology is closely related to their proficiency in ICT. In order to understand easily, we chose the research method of research on the data findings that have been published in several journals that we can access with the Google Scholar data search engine published from 2010 to 2021. We involve analytical studies under the phenomenological approach to finding valid and reliable data. In the data review process, for example, we analyze data, evaluate, and critically interpret before drawing conclusions that answer the questions of this study. So one of the findings is that students can access lecture material using digital media skills to understand digital literacy. Their digital literacy is present positively and wisely because they have received training and use digital technology in a balanced way to make digital media an additional source of reference for proper and balanced lecture, game, and entertainment materials. These findings should be helpful in the development of future studies.

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Social media are playing an increasing role in today’s living. The social media platforms allow users to search, create, share, collaborate, and organise contents among them, and at the same time provide virtual self-presentation and self-disclosure of oneself. Social media were also claimed to give implications to human beings with regards to personality, yet these variables have not much been emphasised in previous studies. Thus, it is important to highlight the implications of social media on users’ personality. Given the issues and challenges faced by the country in profiling the adoption of social media and its implications in view of the perspective of personality, it is timely and significantly important to undertake this research in Malaysia. The objective of this chapter is to discuss a research conducted recently to determine the relationships between social media and personality traits. The specific objectives of this study are to identify the profile of social media adoption among students in Malaysia, including duration, frequency of use, purpose, and person/s that introduced the social media, and to determine the relationships between social media and personality traits.

Investigative journalism nowadays plays a crucial role in the democratization of a nation. This paper discusses a study conducted to examine the challenges of investigative journalism in Malaysia, the significance of journalism ethics and rules in Malaysia in the investigative journalism practices, and to suggest and recommend the ways and method to handle any future challenges in the investigative journalism world. The study employed a qualitative method in which an in-depth interview was carried out with three investigative journalism experts in Malaysia. The subjects were carefully selected through purposive sampling. In addition, the interview questions were constructed based on data collected from document analysis. It is important to gain an initial data on investigative journalism in Malaysia. Three main themes selected for the studies are communication, empowerment and governance. The incorporation and collaboration between these three themes influenced and moulded the practices of investigative journalism in the country. Results revealed that there are similar and different traits of investigative journalism practices in Malaysia. For the alternative media, passion is a must in coming down as a journalist and try to take a more courageous act in telling and serving truth to the public. Investigative journalism can continue to exist in the world of ubiquitous media and information overloaded.

Apathetic and disconnected from the political world, these are just two of the titles scientists, journalists and politicians have been attributing to youth. Hence, what factors weaken or encourage youth to participate in politics is forefront in academic and non-academic researches. Hence, in view of this context, the role of political socialization agents in engendering political activities among youth cannot be overstated. However, not much research is being carried out in this area. Thus, this study assessed the influence of family communicative environment and peer norms as political socialization agents on media and political participation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on social sciences students of Pakistani universities. Questionnaire ( 228) was used to collect data which were analyzed by using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed that among other political socialization agents, peer norms was found to be more significant for youth's media consumption and political behavior. In particular, results revealed that information consumption through traditional newspaper; TV and online newspaper led to political participation, centering political expression via interpersonal communication. Moreover, interpersonal communication is found to have direct influence on Pakistani youths political participation. This study provides an empirical justification for the potential of peer group as agent of political socialization for enhancing political activities among youth in Pakistan.

This paper outlines the research conducted to test a measurement model of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in an attempt to develop a framework for 'Knowledge Society' (KS) in the Malaysian context. In discussing the KS, one of the most important enabling aspects is ICT. ICT is a powerful driver for social change. The content domain for the ICT measure was developed based on the Delphi technique and semi-structured interviews with experts, and previous literature on ICT. It was then empirically tested using a sample of 450 respondents from government, private sector and NGOs. Six factors were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis based on 39 items proposed in the survey questionnaire. 37 items loaded into the six factors, while two items were cross-loaded, therefore deleted. The factors were labeled as Usage, Electronic Government, Application, Content, Provision and Skill, and Adoption. The measurement model was validated using Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS 16.0. The CFA results suggest that holistically, the ICT measurement model provides a reasonably good fit and thus it is necessary to use it as a guideline in the development of ICT towards achieving a KS in the Malaysian context.

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