Social and Conventional Media Patronage Among University Students: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The study was conducted to comparatively analyze the patronage of social and conventional media among students; a case study of University of Maiduguri. The study is significant because it helped in unveiling the paradigm shift in respect of social and conventional media patronage. The objectives of the study are to examine the level of patronage of conventional and social media by students of University of Maiduguri, to find out the reasons for the preference of either social or conventional media by University of Maiduguri students, to determine the reliance of the students on either social media or conventional media. Uses and gratification theory was adopted as philosophical guide. Survey was the research method used, with questionnaire as instrument that was purposively distributed among 200 respondents. The survey established that patronage of media (either social or conventional) among students is absolutely positive. Simply put, every student patronizes either social or conventional media. Social media has higher level of patronage compared to the conventional media among the students and their patronage. There is high commitment of the students to the type of media they patronize. According to this finding, the higher number obtained from patronage of social media influence level of commitment in this finding. This further means that degree of patronage of social media is higher than conventional media. The amount of time audience allocates to the patronage of media either social or conventional is huge. This finding is also influenced by the first finding regarding the number of those that patronize conventional and social media. This means the amount of time spent on social media is higher than the conventional media by the students. There is exorbitant preference to the social media than conventional media. There is still significant number of audience who prefer the conventional media to social media. Audiences prefer conventional media because of accuracy and reliability of information. Professionalism and standard in ethics, spelling and grammar are also influential reason on their preference of conventional media. Audiences prefer social media for instant messages and updates found on the platforms. However, interactivity and participatory nature play significant role on their preference of social media. Each of the media influence its audience based peculiar characteristic and features which pilot the level of patronage. Because some like more interactivity and participation, the social media is waxing strong in this respect while the conventional media keep soaring higher among those who prefer reliable and accurate information that been professionally verified. Most of the audiences rely on information they receive from the social media even though significant number (39.5%) still doubt the reliability of such information. Almost all audiences rely on conventional media. The number (6%) of those who do not rely on such information is less or no significance. The degrees of reliance vary across the audience.