CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Alfred et al (2010) Says Communication is a basic human needs and for that reason, man needs either through interpersonal or mass communication.
Unlike in the past, the people of the world are today living in a global village because of various breakthroughs in information technology. According to a Canadian professor of English Marshall Mcluhan, “The World is now in a global village where the World is now compressed into a single electronic chat room”.
The media, which is an umbrella term for various means of communication has become an integral part of human life around the World. The earliest forms personal media speech and gestures, had the benefits of being easy to use and did not necessarily need complex technology.
Katz (2009) Opines 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 as quickly as possible from other area of the country or from other countries with the use of Social media without leaving their immediate environment.
The weakness of not being able to communication to large audience led to the development of mass media such as writing with these developments, the roles of the mass media in the society became more and more significant. John Dewey emphasized the role of media for education as James Agee and Walter Lippmann also highlighted the functions of the Media for entertainment and information, New Media, New technologies can lead to new types of Media and the ability to use its related technology.
Social Media is a form of electronic Communication which facilitates interaction based on certain interests and characteristics. Social media are media for social interaction. Social media use Web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social dialogues.
Social media are elements of the new media and according to Daimy Shea in the Huffington post accessed 20th June 2010 have become the highest activity on the internet. The rapid growth of social media activity that has been observed over the last two to three tears is indicative of its entry into mainstream culture and its integration into the daily lives of many people. In parallel with this, Social Media have also gained considerable attention from the academic business worlds.
The growth of technology towards the end of the 20th Century propelled by the emergency of the internet, satellite etc led to what is called social media, while social media on the other hand is a term in this present world which means the encompasses of the emergency of digital, computerized or networked interactive information channel. It should be noted because Social media is a form of electronic communication which facilitates interaction based on certain interests and characteristics.
Social media is’nt really “new”. While it has only recently become part of mainstream culture and the business world, people have been using digital media for networking, socializing and information gathering- almost exactly like now- for over 30yrears. Sean Carton in his July 2009 blog posting: Defining social media in click. Social media started as a concept many years ago but has evolved into sophisticated technology. The concept of social media can be dated back to the use of the analog telephone for social interaction.
Therefore facebookstarted as a local social network made for the students of Harvard. It was developed by a sophomore, mark Zuckerberg. Facebook was actually made by hackingharvards data base, containing identification images of students people. The initial idea was actually to compare the faces of students with images of animals for entertainment purposes.
However, the application was shut down but the idea of creating an online community of student came to existence. The platform was then improved and sooner than they expected facebook was released in campuses other than Harvard. Thereafter,high schools were already starting to get altracted to the idea of having online communities, thus opening the website to the younger population. In 2010, facebook.com ultimately offered the opportunity to the rest of the World Facebook has grown to become the biggest and most popular social networking site today with a population of above 500 million active users ( facebook statistics, 2012).
Also 2GO, formally 2GO Travel, is a fery company which is based on Manila, phillipines and part of 2GO group, a private company owned by the Chinese government through the china Asean investment co-operation fund. It is the largest ferry company in the Phillippiness with its main hub located in Eva Macapagal super terminal in pier 15 in the Manila South Harbor.
Until 2012, 2GO became known as Negro’s Navigation. It changed its name following a significant realignment of ferry transportation in the philipiness which saw long standing companies super ferry, Cebu Ferries and supercat first merged into super- ferry, under the Aboitiz transport system and then purchased by Negros Navigation in December 2010, for US $105 million.
1.2 Statement of the Problems
It is recorded that at least four million,seven hundred and fourteen Nigerian are on facebook with a good number of them being young. (facebook statistic, 2012).
However, there is no comprehensive knowledge of their activities as well as how this form of media can impact on various aspects of life. This thesis examines the relationship between social media and its usage by students.The study specifically focuses on the usage habits of young Nigerians and how social media has affected their academic performance and also socialization habits.
Today, million of people are now on social media. Such as facebook, radio, 2go, twitter, blackberry messenger and other exchanging news, idea and other related matter with a good number of them being young. Effect of social media on the academic performance of the student with specific focus on Federal College of Education, Abeokuta.
The future of communication has been predict to depend to a great degree on electronic modes. Social media is among the numerous means which the people interact and communicate online. The study wants to find out the extent which social media has been used and its effect on students academic performance.
1.3 Research Questions
1. Do students make use of social media?
2. Do social media influence students academics performance?
3. What activities do students engage on social media?
4. Of what importance is social media to students?
5. What is the impact of social media on the social lives of students?
1.4 Significance of the Study
Fundamentally, it is essential we understood current usage and behaviour and identify potential problems so that they can bead dressed. This can be seen on the amount of academic studies on social media within the last seven years.
However, Danah Boyd has gathered a collection of research about social networking sites that lists approximately one hundred and fifty research papers, three books and seven research reports. Published in the years 2009-2013 (Boy 2013) none of these paper covers Africa. This shown a lack of research that concerns the African region and especially Nigeria where this form of media is greatly used.
Therefore, the overall motivation for conducting this study is to contributes to research about social media in Nigeria.This research should also create platform from further research in the field and how it affects business processes as well as other sphere of life.
This research should provide useful data for market researchers, marketing and product development professionals as well as educators as to how they can maximize social media for optimum benefits in their various fields.