CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

We are entering a totally new sort of society, which may be a quantum step change from the twentieth-century industrial age. Due to the entire and pervasive connectivity of humans round the globe, we've entered the age of hyper connectivity and therefore the 24/7 information society. This is a revolution in humanity with limitless communication. For many thousands of years, humans lived in hunter-gatherer societies where it's estimated we communicated within small groups of roughly 150 people, supported Dunbar’s social brain hypothesis (Dunbar 2009).

With the increase of the web and social networks, we now have the power to speak with anyone within the world, anytime. The amount of possible communication for humans has thus effectively become limitless. In some respects, our society is returning to more traditional group-oriented cultures, like ancient Athenians, where everybody would know everything about one another constantly. Similarly, we can also know everything about one another in real time, but this data has become global in reach. The critical and direct effect of this on Dunbar’s hypothesis however remains to be explored.

Social networks date back to earliest societies of both humans and animals. Communication is a key concept that applies to all animal species though the ability to communicate verbally remains a preserve of humans only. Various means of communication have therefore been developed by different species, ranging from body language, specific movements, or generation of odors to sounds of different frequencies (Creative Displays 2015).

Over the centuries, human communication has metamorphosed through cave drawings/paintings and signing to the various manners during which we communicate within the twenty-first century. From the press, through letter writing, radio, telephone and telegraph, photography, television, and telephone, we've received the web which has born to social media, with a reworking effect on the way during which we communicate within the twenty-first century.

However, though the advent of social media has transformed the conception of what social networks were in earlier societies, Apicella et al. (2012) noted that characteristics expressed are essentially the same. They noted reciprocity, assortment, skewness of distribution, homophily, and degree assortativity among other factors as common to both sorts of networks.

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Although a social networking site can be a good way of connecting to people with similar interests, the ever-increasing number of OSN users leads to a growing amount of available data related to social relations. The availability of massive amount of personal information has attracted the attention of malicious users and motivated them to initiate attacks against social networkers by gaining access to the information shared by the users.

Therefore, the privacy of social network users can be at risk. Indeed, social networking might become a tool that opens up new ways for criminals and hackers to perform undesired or fraudulent activities such as spamming, attacking through viruses, phishing, etc., which often results in information and identity theft.

Finally, several researches has been carried out on security and privacy of social networking in Nigeria but not even a single research has been carried out on the behavioural analysis in social networking (a case study of facebook).

1. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The aim and objectives of the study is to examine behavioural analysis in social networking. Other specific objectives of the study include;

1. to determine the factors affecting social networking.
2. to determine the effect of social networking on the behavioural pattern of the users.
3. to determine the extent to which social networking influences the capacity building of a society.
4. to proffer possible solutions to the problems.
   1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the factors affecting social networking?

1. What is the effect of social networking on the behavioural pattern of the users?
2. What is the extent to which social networking influences the capacity building of a society?
3. What are the possible solutions to the problems?

1. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study on the behavioural analysis in social networking will be of immense benefit in the sense that social networking will help to transform human life through social interaction and communication which brings about changes in all aspects of human behaviour and introducing new ways of doing almost everything.

Social networks have seen a rapid increase in the number of users, especially in the last few years. Being a strong communication channel, online social media has become a popular tool to comment on worldwide events, improve information discovery, and facilitate social interaction.

In addition, social networking is powerful tools to not only stay connected with friends and family members but also to connect with professional groups. Additionally, they can be used for marketing and advertising purposes and for enhancing business reputation. Finally, the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge to this field of study and basis for further research.

1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study on the behavioural analysis in social networking is limited to Facebook.

1. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Time Constraints: One the challenges experienced by the researcher is the issue of time; the research will simultaneously engage in departmental activities like seminars and attendance to lectures. But the researcher was able to meet up with the deadline for the submission of the project.

Financial Constraints: Every research work needs funding; however lack of adequate funds might affect the speed of the researcher in getting materials for completion of the project.

1. DEFINITION OF TERMS

Behavioural:   Involving, relating to, or emphasizing behaviour.

Analysis:         Detailed examination of the elements or structure of something.

Social Networking:         Social networking is the use of Internet-based social media sites to stay connected with friends, family, colleagues, customers, or clients.