Social Media Use among Students of Universities in South-East Nigeria

Abstract

The use of social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is a prevalent phenomenon among Nigerian university students. This work particularly examined the use of social media among students of selected universities in South-East Nigeria. The study was conducted using survey research method, with 300 as sample; multi-stage sampling technique was applied to draw the samples and questionnaire was the measuring instrument. Tables, mean, a pie chart and standard deviations were used for data presentation and analyses. The study found out that students use social media for purposes of getting entertainment, education/information; they use social media to discuss national issues, engage in cyber crimes and expose themselves to pornography. So, the students’ use of social media reduces the time they devote to their studies. From these findings, the researchers recommended that there ought to be social media Acts that would stipulate the dos and don’ts in the students and public uses of social networking sites in Nigeria.