CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Social media is all about communication. Human being will always communicate among themselves. Communication is as old as man is. Sen (2015) said communication represents essential and very important human need as well as basic human right. The least and most prominent is the mouth and other parts of the body. When the receivers are far away some other media would be necessary. Early among man’s media of communication are drum, trumpet, whistle etc. With event of time and technology, radio, television, mobile phone and computer with the aid of internet became popular modern means of communication. These modern communication devices have made dissemination of information easy. Afolabi (2012) shared the view that the world is a global village where information, ideas products and designs travel from one part to the opposite end speedily. This is made possible through the modern information and communication technology equipment. Katz, Levin and Hamilton (2009) expressed the same view by saying that information that usually takes many days or weeks to disseminate now takes seconds or minutes. It is now possible for people to make interpersonal communication with others to get desired information as quickly as possible from other areas of the country or from other countries with the use of social media without leaving their immediate environment. This phenomenon is referred to as global village. Webster (2014) defined global village as a community in which the distance and isolation has been dramatically reduced by all forms of electronic media. The development of technology towards the end of 20th century has made possible the emergence of the internet, satellite and so on. led to what is called social media. This has become wild growing at the inception of the 21st century. Communication can be a fun with social media platform. Social media is a group of mobile marketing application that allows the creation and exchange of users generated content. A social media is an online service or platforms that focus on facilitating the building of social network among people who share interest and activities on real life connections. Also,, social media is a form of electronic communication which facilitates interaction based on certain interests and characteristics. That means not only the essential or necessary information could be communicated. Social media can give room to friends, colleagues or groups to chart, discuss, joke and so on. These have a way of leasing stress and boredom. Thus, it makes one to become lively and active. Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media makes use of web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social dialogues and examples of such are Facebook, Twitter, Eskimi, and 2Go social networking, Instagram and so on. Kaplan (2012) in Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) attempted the classification of social media into four categories: Space – timers- These are location and time sensitive. It gives consideration to exchange of message with relevance for specific location and time. In this category are Face book, 2go, BB chat. Second category is the quick–time. This is time sensitive. They deal with transfer of traditional social media application to mobile services by decreasing the time and thereby increase quick delivery. These include posting twitter messages, and updating display picture (dp), status update [2go]. The third category according to Kaplan (2012) is the space– locators. This is location sensitive. This can exchange message with relevance for one specific location which are tagged to certain place. Finally we have the slow–timers. These are neither location nor time sensitive. They transfer traditional social media application to mobile devices, e.g the wiki-pedia entry. Facebook was developed by Mark Zuckerberk a student of Harvard University and was launched on February 4, 2004 for the student community to create fun. It was improved upon and made use of in other universities and by 2006, facebook.com was launched to the rest of the world. In less than one year of its worldwide launching, the registrants have millions. According to Facebook Statistics (2012), Facebook has grown to become the biggest and most popular social networking site with a population of above 500 million active users. As at 2014 Apampa (2014) reported 750 million users of Facebook. 2go is a South African owned online company which was founded in 2007 in Cape Town by two computer science students- named Wolf and Peters. Since then 2go has grown very fast that in just one year of operation it has reached 10 million users in Nigeria alone. There are millions more in other African countries and beyond. Some social media are best used on the social network site. Social network site is any website that enables users to create public profiles within that website and form relationship with other users of the same website who access their profile. It is used to describe community base website, online discussion forum, chat rooms and other social space online It is a website that allows users to share information within a selected group. It consists of a representation of each user (profiles), social links and a variety of additional services. Different social media operates different and with different characteristic features on the social network site. Boyd and Ellison (2007) cited Sundens (2003) in classifying and describing some features of some social media. Some of the sites accept profiles of the users. Such profile may include name, location, occupation, career or profession LinkedIn. Some site allows users upload pictures’, add multimedia content or modify the look of their profile, for example, 2go allows the user to update their status and change profile pictures. BB chat allows users change displayed picture, name and status. Some allow users to search for co-users and share a list of contact and there are sections dedicated to comments from friends and other users, such example is Facebook. Devices are used to protect users’ privacy in order that the user can choose who or who cannot see his profile..

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Social media; since its inception has affected the way of life of youths in terms of communication, lifestyle and dissemination of information from one person to another and connecting people. Despite the contribution of social media to social wellbeing, there are some issues as regard the use of social media. Some of these issues could be addiction; it could also prevent students from studying which may affect their academic performance. Secondly there have been series of students on social media and academic performance but not even a single study has tried to determine correlation between social media and academic performance of students.

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main aim of the research work is to determine the influence of social media on students’ academic performance in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A. Other specific objectives of the study are:

1. to determine the extent to which social media usage affect the academic performance of Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A
2. to examine the level of exposure to social media networks among Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A
3. to determine the most used social media sites among Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A
4. to determine the relationship between social media addiction and the academic performance of Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A
5. to proffer solution to the above stated problem

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study came up with research questions so as to ascertain the above stated objectives of the study. The research questions for the study are:

1. To what extent does social media usage affect the academic performance of Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A?
2. What is the level of exposure to social media sites among Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A?
3. Which is the most used social media sites among Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A?
4. What is the relationship between social media addiction and the academic performance of Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A?

1.5 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: there is no significant the relationship between social media addiction and the academic performance of Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A

H1: there is significant the relationship between social media addiction and the academic performance of Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A

1.6 SCOPE OF STUDY

The study covers on social media and academic performance of Students in the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A. There are so many social networking sites but the researcher will focus on facebook, instagram and twitter for this study

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study on social media and academic performance of Students will be of immense benefit to the community secondary school, Demekpe, Makurdi L.G.A, Nigeria in the sense that it will educate the teachers and the school administrators on the frequency of the use of social media among students in secondary schools. The study will also serve as a repository of information among other researchers that desire to carry out similar research on the above topic. Finally the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge in this field of study and provide a basis for further research

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF SIGNIFICANT TERMS

Social Network: Social networks are the web of social relationships that surround individuals, the linkages between people who may or may not provide social support and who may serve functions other than providing support. These relationships can enhance an individual’s ability to access new contacts and information and to identify and solve problems (Heaney & Israel, 2002).

Well-Being: Well-being includes an individual’s own goals, aspirations, and values, such as leading a life according to one’s religious values (Liptak, 2008).

Social Networking Site: A web-based service that allows individuals to (a) construct a public or semipublic profile within a bounded system; (b) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection; and (c) view and transverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).

Influence: the capacity of social media to have influence on the academic performance of students.