SOCIAL MEDIA UTILIZATION AND STUDENTS

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN TERTIARY

INSTITUTIONS IN ENUGU METROPOLIS

BY
OZOCHIKELU, CHINENYE O.
IMT/MC/H2018/079

SUPERVISOR
Dr. josephat i. okoye
Background of the Study
Social media are seen as beneficial socialising tools especially among young people in
today's global village. However, students most times abuse the use of these very
socializing tools by neglecting the informative and educating benefits they offer. A
student's primary objective in the university is career building and development;
therefore, the need to take their studies and reading much seriously cannot be
overemphasized. The neglect of educational benefits has endangered students to
becoming victims of sexual predators, cyber bullying and harassment, posting or
downloading of inappropriate pictures and other materials. This could affect them
negatively in their reading habits, academic and social life due to the amount of time
dedicated to the social world. Ibrahim (2012, p.4), further adds that most students
prefer being on the site than reading their books. Students are often observed during
school time in various places either discussing social networks or browsing with their
phones.

It is so common these days that many young people are addicted to social networking
activities, abandoning homework and reading time in preference to chatting with
friends, even during lecture hours; many students are on the phone engaged in one
form of chatting or the other which can be quite distracting. This leads to loss of
concentration. It is against this background that the researcher in this study sets to
appraise the level of influence social media use exerts on the academic performance
of tertiary institution students.
Statement of the Research Problem
The increased use of social media and social networking sites has become an
international phenomenon in the past several years. What started out as a
hobby for some computer-literate people has become a social norm and way
to connect with their peers, share information, reinvent their personalities,
and showcase their social lives.
Most observers and social critics have continued to discuss the likely
influence of the social media on youth discordantly. While some believe that
the social media have an unprecedented negative influence on the academic
life of young people considering the continuous failure of Nigeria's
educational system, others believe that social media may not be responsible
for such failure.
Unfortunately, statistics from the Federal Ministry of Education support the
fact that there is perpetual students' poor outing across all levels in Nigeria.
What is not immediately clear is whether the social media are responsible for
these failures as there are limited literatures to draw reasonable conclusions.
Therefore, this study is an effort to understand the possible influence social
media have on students’ academic performance of students in tertiary
institutions, using Enugu metropolis as a case in point.
Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study was to investigate the
influence of social media on students' academic performance
in tertiary institution in Enugu metropolis.

The specific objectives are to:

• Find out the social media sites mostly used by students of

tertiary institutions in Enugu metropolis.
• Examine the kind of activities students of tertiary institutions
engage in on social media platforms.
• Determine whether students engage more in social activities
on social media than academic activities.
• Find out whether spending time on social media interfere
with academic activities.
Research Questions
The following research questions were put forward to
guide the study:

• What social media sites are mostly used by students

of tertiary institution in Enugu metropolis?
• What kind of activities do students of tertiary
institutions in Enugu Metropolis engage in on social
media platforms?
• Do students engage more in social activities on social
media than academic activities?
• To what extent does spending time on social media
interfere with academic activities?
Research Hypotheses
Hi: Students of tertiary institutions in Enugu metropolis engage in
social and academic activities on social media.
Ho: Students of tertiary institutions in Enugu Metropolis do not
engage in social and academic activities on social media.

Hi: Students of tertiary institutions in Enugu metropolis engage

more in social activities on social media than academic discourse.
Ho: Students of tertiary institutions in Enugu metropolis do not
engage more in social activities on social media than academic
discourse.

Hi: Spending time on social media interferes with students'

academic activities.
Ho: Spending time on social media does not interfere with
students' academic activities.
 Significance of the Study
• The study will determine if the utilization of social media has
enhanced students' academic performance in Enugu
Metropolis. The study will also reveal the extent of such
influence.
• Practically, the research will expose students' knowledge on
social media or social networking sites and its influence, hi so
doing, it will promote understanding of the negative influences
the social media may have on the academic pursuit of students;
and provide a useful guide to students; lecturers, university
administrators and the general public to curtail the risks
associated with social media use among young people.
• The study will serve as reference material for future research in
the direction of social media and academic performance of
students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Operational Definition of Terms
• Social Media: This is operationalised in this study as the various
internet and satellite communication-based services like Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube used by students for
different purposes like chatting, making friends, sharing the
information etc.
• Utilisation: In this study, this is operationalised as the use of the
social media for different purposes like chatting, making friends,
sharing the information etc.
• Students: These are the people who study a particular academic
subject like mass communication, computer science, engineering
etc., in the higher institutions in Enugu metropolis.
• Academic performance: Academic performance is the extent to
which students in the higher institutions in Enugu metropolis have
achieved their short or long-term educational goals by reason of
exposure and/or non exposure to social media platforms
Theoretical Framework
This study was anchored on two mass communication
theories, namely:
• Diffusion of Innovation Theory.
• Technological Determinism Theory.
Theoretical Framework CONT’D
• Technological Determinism Theory
Technological determinism theory was propounded by Marshal McLuhan in
1962. In his view, technologies shape how people as individuals in a society
think, feel, act, and how a society operates as it move from on technological
age to another. Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that
presumes that a society’s technology drives the development of its social
structure and cultural values. The term is believed to be coined by Thorsten
Veblen, an American sociologist. The technological determinist’s view is a
technology led theory of social change. Technology is seen as the “prime
mover” in history. In the view of technology determinists, particular
technological developments, communication technologies of media, or most
broadly, technology in general are the role or prime antecedent causes of
changes in society, and technology is seen as the fundamental condition
undying the pattern of social organisation
• Relevance
This theory is appropriate for this study because technology shapes not only
the individual, but the society at large. The advent of social media and social
network has altered the patterns of communication in our society. It has
defined not only the speed but the frequency of communication.
Theoretical Framework CONT’D
• Diffusion of Innovation Theory
The Diffusion of Innovation theory was propounded by Everett Rogers in
1962. The process of adopting new innovations has been studied for
over 30 years, and one of the most popular adoption models is
described by Rogers in his book, Diffusion of Innovations (Sherry and
Gibson, 2002). Much research from a broad variety of disciplines has
used this model as a framework. Dooley (1999) and Stuart (2000)
mentioned several of these disciplines as political science, public health,
communications, history, economics, technology, and education, and
defined Rogers’ theory as a widely used theoretical framework in the
area of technology diffusion and adoption
• Relevance
Five qualities determine between 49 and 87 percent of the variation in
the adoption of new products. These five qualities make a valuable
checklist to frame focus group discussions or project evaluations. They
can help identify weaknesses to be addressed when improving products
or behaviours
Research Methodology and Design

The research methodology for this study is the survey

research methodology. The research design is the qualitative
research design.

The particular qualitative design that is used is the non-

experimental research design, which does not involve a
manipulation of the situation, circumstances or experience
of the participants.
 Area of Study
The area of study for this work Enugu urban.
Population, Sample Size and Sampling Technique

The population of this study was drawn from Enugu urban.

The sample size is 400 derived from the population using

the Taro-Yamane formula.

The researcher adopted the simple random sampling

technique.
Measuring Instrument

The instrument of data collection in this study is the

questionnaire.

The questionnaire is a structured one and is designed

with close-ended and open-ended questions.
Method of Data Collection
The methods of data collection adopted by the researcher
in this study are primary and secondary data collection
methods.

The primary source of data includes interview, discussions

and observations. The secondary source of data includes
the consultation of books, related and relevant works on
the subject matter of this study.
Summary of Findings
• Students of tertiary institutions in Enugu metropolis use variety of
social media like Facebook, WhatsApp. BBM, Twitter, Badoo, Blogs
and Linkedln among others.
• Students use social media to engage in diverse social and academic
activities like relating with peers; discussion of national issues like
politics, sports, and also to find study materials and ideas available
on the internet, to keep vigilant about happenings in the world; to
watch movies and cybercrimes.
• Students of tertiary institutions in Enugu metropolis participate
more in social activities on social media than the academic
components of it.
• Students use social media to motivate themselves to study.
• Students spend a lot of time on social media, including during
classes.
Conclusion
Students seemingly engaged themselves more on social activities offered on
social media than the academic choices. Although the internet have become
the tool used for many academic activities such as finding study partners and
materials, discussing assignments or topics that students write in the
university, social media have become the centre of communication between
people, as well as being their prime source of entertainment rather than
studies.
The implication of this is that the length of time spent on social media has a
great influence on academic performance. It has become a common practice
for students to have more time for social media activities at the expense of
academic activities that would be of long term benefits. As a result, students’
focus has been diverted to being more successful and popular in the social
media than academic activities. This, no doubt, has implication for academic
performance of students’ of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This is because a
large majority of university students, who a few years back were unlikely to
have heard of the internet, cannot easily be dragged off the internet today. It
remains to be seen how the addiction can be curtailed since they use social
media platforms regularly, and almost everywhere.
Recommendations
• Tertiary institution management together with the parents/guardians of
the students should provide incentives that will be used to orientate
students towards educational content of the social media.
• The management of tertiary institutions should be more alive to their
responsibilities by ensuring conformity to the university laid down rules
and regulations on student's use of mobile phone device during class
sessions, in order words, universities should ban the use of GSM during
classes.
• Universities should only allow access to educational site in ICT and e-
libraries.
• The need to provide counseling to students on self-discipline on the use of
social media is imperative. Students should therefore be encouraged to
strike a balance between the time they spend on social media platforms
and time spent on their academic work.
• While the use of internet enabled phones by students cannot be
outlawed, students should be continuously informed during lectures on
the negative influence of their over-dependency and unregulated use of
their mobile phones.
THANKS