CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Sources of the Literature

This chapter deals with related literature relevant to the study. It was sourced

mainly from secondary sources i.e journals, textbooks, internet and seminars.

2.2 Social Media: A Conceptual Analysis

Social media is not a new thing in this modern generation, its influence on human

day to day activities cannot be overemphasized. Many scholars have managed to

give their own views as regards to the concept of social media. Qualman (2009)

refers to social media as the age of instant communication and transparency calling

it the glasshouse effect. He defines it as the tool to deal with the excess information

on the Internet: a way to “filter” the information you actually are searching for”.

Jacob (2015, p.34) in his study revealed that “Social media is a new forum that

brings people to exchange idea, connect with, relate to, and mobilize for a cause,

seek advice, and offer guidance”. He believed that Social media has removed

communication barriers and created decentralized communication channel and

open the door for all to have a voice and participate in a democratic fashion

including people in developing countries. Cox &Rethman, (2011) was of the view

that social media is a form of electronic communication through which users

interact among people and discuss information, ideas, personal messages, and other

content about each other . They opined that social media have changed different

aspects of people’s lives. Shabnoor& Singh (2016, p.98) stated that Social media

are “computer tools that allow people to share or exchange information,

ideas, images, videos and even more with each other through a particular network”.

They were of the view that social media plays a vital role in transforming peoples

lifestyle. In the same vein, Dewing (2012, p.57) stated that social media is “a wide

range of Internet based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online

exchanges, contribute user created content, or join online communities”. This

supports the claim by Sandra & Ismail (2011) which states that Social media are

web-based services that give individual the opportunity to create either a public or

semi-public profile within a bounded system, add a list of others to which they

share a connection and view and transvers their list of connections and those made

by others within the system. Hartshon (2010) believed that social media is the tool

used to communicate with mass audience, he further opined that social media is the

platform that gives individuals the opportunity to interact, using two way

communication. This supports the argument of Asad, Shankar &Sisson (2016) that

the world became a global village due to social media. In the same vein social

media was described by Asur&Huberman (2010, p.107) as “a category of online

discourse where people create content, share it, bookmark it and network at a
prodigious rate". They believed that because of its ease of use, speed and reach,

social media is fast changing the public discourse in society and setting trends and

agenda in topics that range from the environment and politics to technology and

the entertainment industry. They further argued that due to the invention of social

media, young men and women now exchange ideas, feelings, personal information,

pictures and videos at a truly astonishing rate. According to Smith (2010, p.89),

Social media sites are virtual platforms for interactivity and information exchange

where issues are debated and defined.

Martn, (2008) and Lusk, (2010) share the same concept of social media. To them

social media is “the use of certain media platforms for the purpose of

communication, sharing photos as well as videos”. From these studies it is

pertinent to say that nowadays social media is rapidly influencing people’s life,

from shopping to electronic mails, education and business tool and that social

media plays a vital role in transforming people’s life style.

2.4 Relevance of Social Network in Education

Education is the transmission of knowledge, both mental and physical from one

person (teacher) to another (learner). (Dosumu, 2003)

Education is very essential part of an individual’s life, for every teenager education

is more important than anything. Education teaching practices have evolved over
the last twenty years, with more emphasis on student-centered pedagogy. There is

an increased expectation placed onto the role that technology can play to harness

effective learning. However, one could argue that there remains disconnect

between our ambition for interactive learning through technology and the realities

of our practice (Roblyer 2010).

Greenhow and Gleason (2012) explore the use of Twitter as a new literacy

practice. They suggest that when used in higher education, it may lead to increased

engagement and better interaction between students and teachers. This view is also

shared by Fusch (2011), who argues that the tools of the trade are as important as

the learning objectives, and that tools are needed which promote social presence,

create a more interactive learning environment and foster collaborative study.

Dunn (2012) realizes that more emphasis must be placed on learning with

technology. The default setting for many academics remains on teaching with

technology. The two perspectives, when not aligned, can create very different

experiences for students. Laird and Kuh (2005) support this argument. They argue

that active learning and deep interaction between students and their teachers

requires an extended degree of technological engagement. How the technology is

used and how it is integrated into the learning process is important. Zepke and

Leach (2010) suggest that motivation and student dispositions will influence their
ability to engage in interactive learning, where the line between online learning and

socialization is becoming blurred.

Today teenager show very much interest for using social networks but

unfortunately social networks affect education badly. It is obvious that more than

90% of college students use social networks. Technology has shown a fast

development by producing small communication devices but these small

communication devices can be used for accessing social networks any time

anywhere, these devices include pocket computers, laptops, iPods and even simple

mobile phones (which support internet) etc. Technology step towards betterment,

no doubt but any technology which can provide ease of social networks can be

dangerous for social network addicts. Providing ubiquitous facility of social

networks is a straight invitation of addiction to any teenager and even an adult, as

academic satisfaction is not enough for those students who suffers from social

isolation. Social Networks grab the total attention and concentration of the students

and diverts them towards non educational, unethical and inappropriate actions such

as useless chatting, time killing by random searching and not making use of the

educational packages. Social network has introduced many attractive tasks like

gamming, advertisements, pornographies etc. So that people can never get enough

of these things.
It has been proved in the field of psychology and linguistics that process of the

store information or vocabulary in human mind is determined by the nature of the

psychological state of the recipient. We also find that this idea is supported by the

Greek philosophy of Aristotle when he emphasized in his theory of knowledge on

the need to use some form of entertainment during the process of giving lessons. In

a rethink, there is need to consider individual differences because what one find

interesting might not in anyway be interesting to another. Individual differences

refer to the uniqueness that exists in each individual and among people

(Amaokehinde 2000).

Overall, the social network sites focus heavily on building online communities

bound to together with common interests or activities. Thereby provide them with

tools that help them to do so. In the field of E-Learning, the social network sites

handled the big problem raised by educators in the recent period. For example, a

lack of humanitarian aspect and described it as teaching lacks spirit. However,

Social networks have helped to resolve some of these problems, by adding

interactive side with a human, and make the participation of the human element in

the educational process something important (Adebanjo 2002). That led to an

increase to attract people toward e-learning and some of researcher in the field of

social sciences and education carrying out studies to examine this phenomenon and
to clarify the reason behind the attraction educated about social network sites

(Firpo&Ractham, 2011) and (Jiang & Tang, 2010).

Social media technologies such as whatsapp allow members to participate in a

learning environment and also to acquire information from the world in general,

where the learning process can occur interchangeably from both inside and outside

of the classroom. The results, there are benefits for successful use of Whatsapp in

education for both students and instructors. For students: some degree of informal

learning through informal communication, support for collaboration, feedback on

thoughts and collaboration independent of space and time. For instructor: gaining

feedback from students and constant communication with students and produce an

effective instructional technology for them. So, networking technology can be used

effectively to foster a culture of learning, as a learning tool for both students and

teachers. Furthermore, in the future, the social-networking sites will have the

significant potential to expand teaching and learning out of classroom.

Different researchers addressed how to use the Whatsapp social network to support

education to build pedagogical model by using Whatsapp social network and the

study tried to identify the balance between developing individual creativity with

group activity of collaboration. This model is created based on a traditional

instructional model and gains the characteristic of design education. The Whatsapp
social sites have become the main means of communication between the students

and teacher. However this model predicted to enhance learning efficiency.

Evaluations of e-learning strategies have found Whatsapp services as a platforms

that allow for the extension of learning discussion outside the formal classroom

setting, therefore promoting deeper learning as young people not only engage with

the material given to them in classroom for longer but are more likely to relate to it

and incorporate it into their everyday lives by getting more information online

about that topic taught (Notley 2009).

It is important to note that the educational benefits of Whatsapp services are not

experienced equally by all young people. Certain groups of learners, such as

Indigenous young people, those from low socio-economic backgrounds and those

living in remote areas, face persistent challenges of internet access and literacy

(ACMA 2009). Maximizing the benefits of Whatsapp services for these groups

specifically requires addressing access and digital literacy. Yet, where access and

skills are promoted, by Whatsapp services and social media can enhance the

interactions of marginalized young people with their teacher and increase their

confidence in educational activities (Blanchard, 2007).

This can be achieved by putting some of these into consideration:

2.5 Summary of Literature Review

In view of the foregoing, WhatsApp, like every other product of technology has

dual implications of both positive and negative status. There are many issues

concerning students and social media site participation. On one hand, there may be

benefits for students who use these sites properly and appropriately. Other research

suggests that there are clear risks involved when students become too consumed

with the Internet and social media websites like WhatsApp. It was discovered that

social media sites are the most common used social media networks among

students and also Wikipedia has the main resort point for students for research

purposes. Students engage themselves with one activity or the other on WhatsApp

group chat on day to day activities. However, Undergraduates spend more time on

WhatsApp and other social media through smartphones that are now in abundance

among these youths. Many students cannot go for two-three hours without

checking and updating their profiles on these WhatsApp group chat even at the

detriment of their studies.

2.6 Theoretical Framework

The Uses and Gratification Theory

This theory was postulated by Elihu Katz, Jay Blumler& Michael Gurevitch in

1954 (Akakwandu, 2012). They synthesized that the Uses and Gratification theory
was focused on “the social and psychological origins of needs, which generate

expectations of the mass media or other sources which lead to differential

exposure (or engaging in other activities), resulting in need gratification and other

consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones” (Katz, Blumler&Gurevitch, 1974).

This theory stipulates that media audience determines what they do with media and

not the vice versa. It assumes that individuals have power over their media usage

rather than positioning individuals as passive consumers of media. The media do

not do things to people rather people do things with media (Baran 2002). This is

not the era of the bullet theory which claims that the media is a powerful tool at

influencing individual attitudes and thoughts, this is the era whereby individual

audience members choose or do what they want with the media. Individual

audiences are able to do what interests them most with the media. Audiences can

for instance consider type of media that enhance their knowledge, social

interaction, relaxation, companionship, and diversion (Tuurosong& Faisal, 2014).

This is when audience carefully chooses their media from competing sources for

diverse reasons. Using students as an example, a student might consider being

online on social media, and chooses to chat with WhatsApp, he/she knows what

exactly interests him/her on WhatsApp, the companionship he/she gets from

WhatsApp. There are other social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagrametc that

he/she could choose but rather chooses WhastApp from all. Viewers are goal
oriented and attempt to achieve their goals through the media source. People use

the media to their advantage more often than the media uses them. The individual

opinion is more powerful than what the media is portraying. In this theory, the

media competes with other sources of need satisfaction. This focuses on the idea

that each individual has several needs. In response to this, they have created a wide

range of choices that will meet these needs. Audience members use these media

forms to shape their own identities and it is the audience members who make the

decision to view the media; therefore, they place the value on it by their individual

decision to view it. Katz et al. (1974) argued that available media choice compete

to satisfy individual needs. Thus, there exists competition not only between the

internet and other traditional media, but among each option in the internet itself as

well. For example, individual audience might choose WhatsApp from other social

media such as Facebook, Twitter etc and at the same time choose whether to be on

WhatsApp group chat or make WhatsApp calls or videos. He/she chooses exactly

what he wants at that particular time in other to satisfy his/her needs.