CHAPTER ONE
1.0
INTRODUCTION
The invention of the
internet brought a new dimension to the media landscape. It marked the
beginning of technological transformation and socialization with a higher
desire for information about everything. This slowly developed into social
media, which essentially is information about people.
The internet has taken
the process of information dissemination to a higher platform thereby going
beyond being a mere medium of socialization or information seeking and has
become something much more. With this development, users are driving content
(Dominick et al., 2013) in ways never seen before. This has
led to the transformation in not just one medium; there is more to come as new
trends emerge continually.
Shapiro cited in Croteau
and Hoynes, (2003) argues that the emergence of new, digital technologies
signals a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information,
experience and Covenant Journal of Communication.
Social Network usage by
students is so rampant recently because of easy access to devices such as smart
phones, iphones, black berry, tablets, ipad and laptops which are connected to
the internet (Griffiths, 2011). Addiction to the usage of social network has
extremely increased in recent times. The perils of its effects on the academic
performance of the over-involved students are disturbing. Academic performance
which is depicted by the grades of students (Jenkins, 2006), is a great concern
to Benue State University, Makurdi. Students that spend excessive time on
social networks become dependent on it and it is believed that their academic
performance diminishes proportionately. It is perceived that school grades will
suffer when spending too much time on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter
and My space as valuable study time is lost (Sherry et al., 2008).
These therefore
necessitate the study of the effects of social network usage on university
students’ academic performance. The social network overuse certainly has some
negative impact that may counterbalance the potential benefits and poses grave
consequences to the academic performance of its victims. Students spend quality
time to comment, update, read and share posts on social networks. Turkle et
al., (2007), justifies that a statistically significant negative
relationship exist between time spent by students on social networks and their
academic performance.
According to Adelabu,
(2011), The high rate of social networking sites, and the impact they have on
young people‘s lives, offers striking testimony to the global impact of today‘s
Internet. Some treat this new medium as a danger, and others treat it as the
road to utopia.
On the internet, people
engage in a variety of activities some of which may be potentially addictive
kuss and Griffiths, (2011). The mass appeal of social networks on the internet
could be a cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually
increasing amount of time youths spend online. Social networking sites are
virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact
with real life friends and meet other people based on shared interests. They
allow individuals to Neuman & Robinson, (2001), construct a public or semi
public profile within a bounded system, Zhang, (2008) articulate a list of
other users with whom they have a connection and view and traverse their list
of connections and those made by others within the system (Hoynes et
al., 2003).
Social networking sites
offer individuals the possibilities of networking and sharing media content,
therefore embracing the main web 2.0 attributes against the framework of their
respective structural characteristics (Jenkins, 2006). The internet has an
indescribable power to influence, connect and mobilize youths. Some youths have
lost their control over social media usage and begun having problems with their
functionality in social, vocational and personal circles as the internet has
taken over total control of their lives.
Idakwo, (2011), posit
that school work and social interaction have been affected at the advent of
these social media. Undergraduates spend more time on Facebook, Twitter and
other social networks through smartphones that are now in abundance among these
youths. Many youths cannot go for two-three hours without checking and updating
their profiles on these social networks even at the detriment of other activities
such as educational and career pursuit. MorahanMartin and Schumacher (2000)
explain internet addiction as the excessive use of the internet and the failure
to control this usage which seriously harms a person’s life (Dominick et
al., 2013).
The high rate of social networking sites, and the impact they have on young
people‘s lives, offers striking testimony to the global impact of today‘s
Internet. Some treat this new medium as a danger, and others treat it as the road
to utopia. The truth is somewhere in between. In view of the seeming students
activeness on Facebook, Blackberry Messenger, WhatsApp etc, it became
imperative to understand what Twitter was used for and the dynamics of such
usage. In addition, the research was borne out of an observation from audience
participation in some programmes on the which indicates that only a fraction of
the students use Twitter compared to responses generated from using other
platforms. This study will therefore aimed at determining the usage of twitter
among student (A case study of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti).
1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Over the years,
social networking sites have metamorphosed from few-user-based sites into
phenomena that have become niches for billions of users. The growth and
popularity of social networking sites have generated concerns among school
authorities, communication experts and socio-psychological researchers about
the benefit and potential risks facing undergraduates, as they engage in online
social networking to cater for their social and information needs rather than
oral or face-to-face communication. Throwing further light on the risk of
social networking sites on oral communication among their users, Sherry,
(2012), the founder and director of the MIT initiative on technology and self,
asserted that the convenience the social networking sites give users to
communicate with one another can damage their interpersonal communication.
Also, social networking
sites make the users see one another as “objects” to be accessed and only for
the parts that the users find useful, comforting amusing. What is more,
addiction to social networking sites can establish feelings of loneliness and
increase feelings of insensitivity to disconnection, according to John J.
Cacioppo, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago (Cacioppo, 2009).
Hence, there is the need to fashion out some means of selecting and using the
right social networking site responsibly. This study is concerned with the
trend of use of the twitter, what benefits students derive from using twitter,
the dangers associated with it and ways to avert such dangers (Moeller et
al., 2010).
1. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The general
purpose of the study is to find out the perception and usage of twitter by
undergraduate students of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. The specific
purposes of the study are as follow:
i.
To examine the
perception and usage of Twitter by the undergraduate students of Afe Babalola
University.
ii.
To examine the
purpose of the usage of twitter by undergraduates students of Afe Babalola
University.
iii.
To determine
benefits of using twitter.
iv.
To identify the dangers
associated with social network sites.
v.
To proffer
strategies of ameliorating the dangers of using Twitter.
1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This paper shall be
guided by the following questions:
i.
Why do students use
Twitter?
ii.
How do student’s
accesses twitter?
iii.
What is the most
engaging activity of students on Twitter?
iv.
To what extent do the
undergraduate students of Afe Babalola University uses twitter?
v.
What are the purposes
for using twitter by these students?
1. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is expected that the
output of this research will benefit students and the administration of
University of ----- as this will show the level of the students’ usage of
Twitter. This shall help them to understand how best to sustain the students
attention on using social networking sites. Also this work will be of immense
benefit to the field of Library and information sciences as it will be on
addition to existing literature. And shall also add to the available academic
literatures on social networking. Also the findings could be used by academic
advisers and counselors proffer professional advice to the university
authorities on how to regulate the social network usage among undergraduate
students in Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. Again, the findings of this
study would provide facts that will enable the ministry of communication
technology to know what arises from students’ use of the social networking sites.
This will help the ministry, to know how to control social network usage upon
successful completion of this research; it shall be very relevant to various
people, across Nigeria
1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study is limited to
the perception and usage of twitter among student of Afe Babalola University,
Ado Ekiti. Geographical scope: it covers the perception and usage of twitter by
the undergraduate students of Afe Babalola University, benefits of using twitter,
purposes of using twitter and dangers involved in the use Twitter (Boyd et
al., 2007).
Department | Education |
Project ID Code | EDU0136 |
Chapters | 5 Chapters |
No of Pages | 60 pages |
Reference | YES |
Format | Microsoft Word |
Price | ₦5000, $15 |
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Contact Us On | +2347043069458 |