The Use of Social Media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Transcription

1 The Use of Social Media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri, Nigeria. Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso* and Aisha Kolo** *Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri **Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri Abstract This study examined the use of social media by students of Capital School Maiduguri with the following objectives, to examine the use of social media by the students, to examine the reasons for their use of social media, and to find out the gender differences in the number of social media users in Capital school, with survey as the method. The findings indicates that they use the social media to interact with friends and family, they use it to chat, reconnect with old friends, make new friends, track the activities of friends and in the course of using the platform. They encounter the following challenges: poor network, inadequate power supply and the high cost of data. The findings also show that more females than males use the social media in Capital School Maiduguri. Keywords:Use, Social Media, Challenges, Students, School. Introduction The social media has been a platform for interaction among the young and the elderly. Thus, people use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, 2go, MySpace, WhatsApp amongst others to create and sustain relationships with others (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). These social media sites enable those who use them to create personal profiles, while connecting with other users of the sites. Users can upload photographs, post what they are doing at any given time and send personal or public messages to whoever they chose. In this information age social media sites seem to be growing in popularity rapidly, especially among young adults (Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2008) Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, and Zickuhr (2010) noted that social media sites have created new non-personal ways for people to interact with each other and young adults have taken advantage of this technological trend enhance communication. In recent years, social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn have become the most visited websites in the world, with Facebook topping the list. With over 90 million active users in 2009, Facebook boasted an 85% market share at universities and colleges in the United States (Hendrix, Chiarella, Hasman, Murphy, & Zafron, 2009). In 2010, Facebook increased its traffic by nearly 70% with more than 115 million unique visitors. MySpace ranked second while Twitter soared immediately after it (Friedman, 2010; Nielsen Market Research, May 4, 2010). Today, Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Tu, Blocher, and Robets (2008) assert that Web 2.0 technology is shaping human communications and is impacting on how people present themselves in their interactions with one another. The linkage between individuals on SNSs has opened up channels of communication with people one may not have the opportunity to meet face-to-face. The voluntary messaging function, commonly known as status on Facebook and MySpace, or tweets on Twitter, allows real-time instant messaging anytime and anywhere in the world. In many occasions, one-to-many communication pattern is observed if the users choose to invite their friends into a conversation loop or multiple mentions using symbol to include more than one recipient for a message.

2 Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso & Aisha Kolo 2 Thanks to the invention of social media, young men and women now exchange ideas, feelings, personal information, pictures and videos at a truly astonishing rate. Seventy-three percent of wired American teens use social media websites in 2010 (Oberst, 2010). Schill (2011) states that the social media sites encourage negative behaviours for teen students such as procrastination (catching up with friends), and they are more likely to drink and drug. However, every day, many students are spending countless hours immersed in social media, such as Facebook, MySpace, World of Warcraft, or Sim City. At first glance this may seem like a waste of time; however it also helps students to develop important knowledge and social skills, and be active citizens who create and share content. At present, whether social media is favourable or unfavourable, many students utilize these sites on a daily basis. As social media sites continue to grow in popularity it is our contention that technology is a vital part of today s student success equation. Many researchers have been diving into a considerable amount of research on how social media influences student retention at colleges. Many parents are worried that their college students are spending too much time on Facebook and other social media sites and not enough time studying. (Wang, Q, Chen, W.,& Liang, Y., 2011). Most college students would prefer to use social media and therefore spent vast hours checking social media sites. Facebook is very popular among college students, even though students would use it when they had classes. Ninety percent of students spent their time on entertainment; there were not too many college students who preferred using social media to doing their homework (Wang, Q, Chen, W.,& Liang, Y., 2011) This paper therefore examined student s use of social media in Maiduguri Capital School because apart from being one of oldest private schools in Maiduguri it has the largest concentration of students in the state capital. Statement of the Problem Social media has become a forum for the young and old to interact and share experiences. Thus, students seem to have formed the bulk of social media users. In spite of the inherent advantages of the social, it is observable that fraudsters and killers seem to have found their way on the platform to dupe and exploit unsuspecting members of the public. This paper is design specifically to elicit information on how students use the social media in Capital School Maiduguri. The study was informed by the fact that the social media platform is often use by the students for interaction and to engage one another on local and national issues. Apart from these many researchers have been diving into a considerable amount of research on how social media influences student retention at colleges. Many parents are worried that their college students are spending too much time on Facebook and other social media sites and not enough time studying. (Wang, Q, Chen, W.,& Liang, Y., 2011). The concerned by parents on the amount of time spend by their wards on social media therefore makes it imperative to find of the use of social media by Students of Maiduguri Capital to fill the gap created by the seeming lack of a study on the issue under investigation. Objectives of the Study The aim of the study is to examine the Student s Use of Social media by students of Capital School Maiduguri. The study has the following objectives i to examine the Use of social media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri. ii to find out the reasons for their use of the social media. iii to find out the challenges in the use of social media by the students. iv to find out the students use of the social media in relation to gender.

3 The Use of Social Media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri, Nigeria. 3 Research Questions i Do students Capital School Maiduguri use social media? ii what are the reasons for the use of social media by students Capital School Maiduguri? iii what are the challenges in the use of social media? iv what is the use of social media in relation to gender by students of Capital School Maiduguri. Literature Review Use of Social Media College students have great interest in social media. For the purpose of this study, social media was defined as Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn (Martin, 2008). In the last ten years, the online world has changed dramatically. Thanks to the invention of social media, young men and women now exchange ideas, feelings, personal information, pictures and videos at a truly astonishing rate. Seventy-three percent of wired American teens now use social media websites (Oberst, 2010) Reasons for the Use of Social Media On one hand, the positive aspect of online communities is that youths can utilize them for academic assistance and support (Lusk, 2010). Due to the ability of social media to enhance connections by making them easily accessible, social media can yield many benefits for the young, including providing a virtual space for them to explore their interests or problems with similar individuals, academic support, while strengthening online communication skills and knowledge. Students who may be reluctant to speak up in class are participating in book discussion blogs and writing for real audiences. In particular, college students form a large proportion of users on social media networks. Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, and Zickuhr (2010) found that 72% of all college students have a social media profile with 45% of college students using a social media site at least once a day. Many of these young adults use social media networks to communicate with family, friends, and even strangers. Social media sites have created new and nonpersonal ways for people to interact with others and young adults have taken advantage of this technological trend. As found in a research done by Sheldon (2008) and Quan-Haase and Young (2010), majority of college students visited their social networking sites several times a day, and this shows that the extent of usage of social media sites is frequent. Several reasons were given as to why college students were using social networking websites. The most important reason given was to communicate with family and friends. Other reasons were for entertainment and absence of things to do at home after school. Challenges in the Use of Social Media Oluwalanu, et al (2014) identified the following as some of the challenges in the use of social media in Nigeria. Lack of basic Amenities: Nigeria, like many Third World countries constantly battle outage of power across the country so much that even when the learner has the means to access information through these social sites, the unavailability of power supply has always had a debilitating effect on the desire to source for information on the internet. Lack of Conducive environment: Again, because there are no constant power supply, learners may not have access to the site as and at when due; and when they do they may be doing so at internet cafe which may not be conducive for learning purpose. Access to computers: despite the prevalence of computers in the Nigerian market, not many Nigerians have access to computers, and when they do it is but for a few working hours except for few who have laptops and modems at home.

4 Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso & Aisha Kolo 4 The Influence of Gender in the Use of Social Media Many studies have found that women are more likely to use either specific SNSs such as Facebook than men (Acquisti, A., & Gross,R., 2006, Johnson, A.N.,2009)or MySpace(Lenhart,A., 2009,Salaway, G., & Caruso,J.B,2008, Caverlee, J. & Webb,S.2008) or SNSs in general ( Tufekci, Z., 2008) However, (Lenhart, A., 2009) found out that Facebook as well as LinkedIn users were more likely to be male Researchers who have examined the gender of users of multiple SNSs have found contradictory results. Hargittai's groundbreaking 2007 study examining race, gender, and other differences between undergraduate college student users of SNSs in the University of Illinois found that women were not only more likely to have used SNSs than men but they were also more likely to have used many different services, including Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster; these differences persisted in several models and analyses. Although, she only surveyed students at one institution the University of Illinois, Chicago. Hargittai selected that institution intentionally as "an ideal location for studies of how different kinds of people use online sites and services."(hargihhai, 2007) In contrast, data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that men were more likely to have multiple SNS profiles. Although the sample sizes of the two surveys are comparable 1650 Internet users in the Pew survey (Lenhart,A., 2009) compared with 1060 in Hargittai's survey (Hargittai, E., 2007) the data from the Pew survey are newer and arguably more representative of the entire adult United States population (Pew Internet & American Life Protect). Theoretical Framework This study is guided by the uses and gratification theory. Uses and gratifications is a receiver-based communication theory. Evans (1990) defines uses and gratifications as a theory in which audience...gratification [is] primary and media consumers [are] seen as rational agents whose various uses of media offerings depend upon how these offerings serve various social-psychological functions. Levy and Windahl (1984), notes that uses and gratifications is a receiver-oriented concept, presupposing an active audience (p. 51). Katz s (1959) seminal discussion of the tradition states concisely that, in a uses and gratifications framework, the question is not What do the media do to people? but rather, What do people do with the media? In fact, almost any consideration of media from a uses and gratifications standpoint explicitly asserts the central maxim of the active, goal-seeking audience. Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch (1974) offer an oft-cited, classic seven-point précis of the uses and gratifications tradition. They define uses and gratifications studies as follows:[they are] concerned with (1) the social and psychological origins of (2) needs, which generate (3) expectations of (4) the mass media or other sources, which lead to (5) differential patterns of media exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in (6) need gratifications and (7) other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones. Certain corollaries follow from uses and gratifications central assumption of an active,goal-driven audiences, and these, too, are often cited as essential to the school of thought. One corollary is the idea of functional alternatives, summarized by Littlejohn (1992) as the idea that media compete with other sources of need gratification (p. 365). Functional alternatives provide audience members alternate means of achieving the same ends of satisfying some need(s) or gaining some gratification(s) (Katz, Gurevitch, and Haas, 1973; Rubin and Rubin, 1985;) In this case the students of Capital School Maiduguri may be using the social media to gratify certain needs.

5 The Use of Social Media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri, Nigeria. 5 Method: The study population includes all students of Capital School Maiduguri. The Capital School located in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital Nigeria. The study purposively selected 100 students who are regular users of the social media platform. Data Presentation Table 1 shows that majority of the respondents are females, which invariably means that more females use the social media as compared to males. On the age of respondents, the table indicates that majority of the respondents are within the age range of years, which means that they are a bit older as compared to the few ones that are within the age brackets of 10-14years. Table 1 : Characteristics of Respondents Gender Frequency Percentage Male 48 48% Female 52 52% Age % % Educational Level JSS III 6 6% SS % SS II 46 46% SS III 30 30% The study measured knowledge in three categories namely: adequate knowledge where respondents report that they know a lot about social media, moderate knowledge where respondents indicate that they have limited knowledge of social media, and inadequate knowledge where they agreed that their knowledge of social media is insignificant. No knowledge where they acknowledge that they have no knowledge of the social media. Table 2 indicates the level of knowledge in using social media. Table2 : Knowledge on the use of Social Media Knowledge Frequency Percentage Adequate 34 34% Moderate 44 44% Inadequate 11 11% No knowledge 11 11% TOTAL % On knowledge of Social Media majority of them indicated having knowledge of social media, however only a negligible number claim not have inadequate and no knowledge of social media. This implies that the students are conversant with the issue under inquiry. Table 3 indicates that majority of the respondents prefer Facebook and WhatApps, a negligible number of them prefer twitter, 2go, BBM. The preference for Facebook and WhatApps is informed by its popularity amongst their peers. According to the respondents most of their classmates have account on Facebook and WhatsApp and tend encourage them to join and be part of the trend.

6 Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso & Aisha Kolo 6 Table 4 : Social Media Preferences Social Media Frequency Percentage Facebook 31 31% Twitter 2 2% MySpace 4 4% 2go 6 6% Whatsapp 40 40% BBM 6 6% None 11 11% TOTAL % On the reasons for their use of social media as indicated on the table, majority of the respondents use social media sites mostly for chatting with friends, entertainment and accessing news. A negligible number however use it to connect with old friends, gossip, make new friends and track the lies and activities they engage in. Chatting seem to dominate because that is what most of them use it for. They access news because the school is located close to a military facility, and the school has witness series of attack on the military barracks by insurgents in the recent past, they go online to monitor the news platforms to check breaking news particularly when there are rumours of possible attacks from insurgents, because sometimes these rumours turn out to be true. According to the respondents they have been save the trauma of attacks in the past because they got wind of it before it occurred. Table 4 shows respondents reasons for using the social media. Table 4 : Reasons for the Use of Social Media Reasons Frequency Percentage To chat with friends 46 46% For entertainment, 18 18% To access news 16 16% To gossip 3 3% To connect with old friends 2 2% To make new friends 1 1% To learn about the latest trends 0 0% To track friends lies and activities 3 3% None 11 11% TOTAL % On the frequency of visits to social media sites majority of them indicated that they visit social media networks often, while a negligible number don t visit at all. There was also a category of respondents who are however indifferent. The frequency of such visits is informed by the desire to find out about current issues and important developments on the national and international scenes. The state capital is worst hit by insurgent activities which makes it imperative for them to be abreast with what is happening around in order to stay safe. While some of the them make such frequent visits to update their status and chat with friends as frequent as possible. Table 5 shows respondents frequency of the use of social media. Table 5: Frequency of Social Media Use Use Frequency Percentage Often 31 31% Very often 24 24% Not so often 34 34% None of the above 11 11% TOTAL %

7 The Use of Social Media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri, Nigeria. 7 On the challenges as indicated on Table 6, majority of the respondents indicated the inadequacy of time as a result of academic commitments, inadequate power supply and high cost of data as the major challenges. Only a negligible number mentioned poor connectivity and hacking of their accounts by fraudsters. These are common challenges that affect most users of social media in Nigeria, especially if they always want to be online. The least data plan is the one that costs N100 which can hardly last an hour especially on android phones. The hacking of account has become so rampant according to the respondents who relayed one or two experiences of their accounts being hacked, with the hackers trying to extort money from their friends or posts phonographic materials on the walls of those using Facebook. Table 6: Challenges in the Use of Social Media Challenges Frequency Percentage Poor connectivity 10 10% High cost of data 40 40% Hacking of my account by 2 2% fraudsters Inadequate `power supply 48 48% TOTAL % On the access time, majority of respondents as indicated on Table 7 access the social media around five o clock to seven o clock in the evening. The number of those who access it in the in the morning and afternoon is also high as reflected on the table partly because as discussed in table below is because it is private and dominated mostly by the children of the well to do. The timing of access is after school hours. This is informed by the fact it is then that they have the free time to chat freely without obstruction or being bugged down by school work. Table 7: Access Time Time Frequency Percentage 8-10am 22 22% 11-1pm 7 7% 2-4pm 2 2% 5-7pm 37 37% All the time 32 32% Total % On whether respondents are allow to use phones in school, almost all the respondents agreed that they were allow to use their phones in school. This is partly based on the fact that the school is a private school and seem to accommodates children of the well to do in the society as such there is nothing the school can do to stop students from bringing the phone to school, because doing so may result in the students leaving the school for other schools that condone the use of phones in school and since the school survives on the fees paid by students. The large population in these classes also makes it difficult for the teachers to see what the students are doing, hence it difficult locate phone users during classes. All of the respondents agreed that the use of social media affects their studies; this is because they are at all times eager to chat, check their status and other friend s status to read their updates. They indicated that chatting takes away a great chunk of their time thus, leaving them with little or no time for their studies. Only a negligible number said it does not affect their studies. These are students who spend more time on their studies than engage in social networking.

8 Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso & Aisha Kolo 8 Discussion The findings indicates that students of Capital School Maiduguri do indeed use the Social Media to interact with family and friends, especially in the capital city which has been ravaged by the activities of Boko Haram. This is consistent with the findings by (Martin 2008) and (Oberst, 2010) who noted that College students have great interest in social media. In the last ten years, the online world has changed dramatically. The invention of social media encourages young men and women to exchange ideas, feelings, personal information, pictures and videos at a truly astonishing rate. Seventy-three percent of wired American teens now use social media websites (Oberst, 2010) On the reasons for the use of social media by students Capital school Maiduguri,the findings shows that the students use the social media to make friends, to make friends, to be entertained, gossip, to be abreast with trends, to connect with friends and track the activities of friends and check their latest status updates. This agrees with what Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, and Zickuhr (2010) who noted that many of these young adults use social media networks to communicate with family, friends, and even strangers. Social media sites have created new and non-personal ways for people to interact with others and young adults have taken advantage of this technological trend. The challenges in the use of social media include inadequate power supply, high cost of data, poor network connection as the major challenges in the use of the social media. The issue of power has been so endemic. For A greater part of this year, the state capital has been without power supply due to the activities of boko haram insurgents who destroyed the power lines that supply power to the state capital from the national grid. On the issue of network, most of the network masts were destroyed by the insurgents also as a result the service is epileptic or not available at all. This tend to affect internet services within the state capital. This is consistent with (Oluwalanu, et al. 2014) who noted that the cost of internet connection: the cost of connecting to the internet is high in Nigeria as most telecommunication providers now see it as a new way of making more money. What this means is that, only a selected few may have access to computers outside their offices, while those that don t have access in the office may still not have access outside their working environment. Beyond that, those who could access it through their mobile phones are often handicapped by the monthly subscription to be paid to the service providers, and until the subscription rate is reduced access to these social sites may be greatly affected. The use of social media in relation to gender by students of Capital School Maiduguri shows that more females use the social media than the male gender, this may be due to the fact that women appear to be attracted to the platform particularly to the various chat room that enable them communicate with their friends, exchange pictures and videos. It has become a norm according to some of the respondents for the females to send their nude pictures and other phonographic materials to their boyfriends. Thus many studies have found that women are more likely to use either specific SNSs such as Facebook (Acquisti, A., & Gross,R., 2006, Johnson, A.N.,2009)for MySpace(Lenhart,A., 2009,Salaway, G., & Caruso,J.B,2008, Caverlee, J. & Webb,S.2008) or SNSs in general ( Tufekci, Z., 2008). Conclusion This study which examines the use of social media by students of Capital School Maiduguri, concludes that the students use the social media in their interactions with friends and members of their family. They mostly use facebook, whatsapp, Myspace, Twitter, 2go and BBM. That they suse the platform to chat, gossip, tract the activities of their friends, reconnect with their friends whom they have lost contact for a long time and in addition make new friends. This is because the activities makes it imperative to use the social media platform because of the prevailing security challenges in the state to keep tap of what is happening in the environment and take precaution where necessary. Some of the respondents have confirmed how it has save them from visiting areas under attack by insurgents.

9 The Use of Social Media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri, Nigeria. 9 However, in the cause of using the platform they encounter challenges such as inadequate power supply, high cost of data, poor network problem which makes it impossible for them to use the medium. The most endemic being lack of power supply and poor network. For instance the insurgency has drove away many of the network providers and a lot of the facilities of the network providers were either destroyed or vandalized by insurgents thus, worsening the already bad situation. On gender differences in the use of the platform, it was found that more females than male use the platform more. This may be partly due to the fact that they enjoy chatting more than the male and appear to be more passionate about relationships.

10 Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso & Aisha Kolo 10 References Baldwin, T. T., Bedell, M. D., & Johnson, J. L. (1997). The social fabric of a team-based M.B.A. Program: Network effects on student satisfaction and performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 40(6), doi: / Brydolf, C. (2007). Minding MySpace: Balancing the benefits and risks of students' online social networks. Education Digest, 73(2), 4. Domine, V. (2009). A social history of media, technology and schooling. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 1(1), Evans, W. E. (1990). The interpretive turn in media research: Innovation, iteration, or illusion? Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 7(2), Gerlich, R., Browning, L., & Westermann, L. (2010). The social media affinity scale: Implications for education. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 3(11), Hendrix, D., Chiarella, D., Hasman, L., Murphy, S., & Zacfron M. L. (2009). Use of Facebook in academic health sciences libraries. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 97(1), Pempek, T. A., Yermolayeva, Y. A., & Calvert, S. L. (2009). College students' social networking experiences on facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(3), doi: /j.appdev Jacobsen, W. C., & Forste, R. (2011). The Wired Generation: Academic and Social Outcomes of Electronic Media Use Among University Students. Junco, R., Merson, D., & Salter, D. W. (2010). The Effect of Gender, Ethnicity, andincome on College Students' Use of Communication. Katz, E. Blumler, J. and Gurevitch, M. (1974). Utilization of Mass Communication by the Individual, in J. Blumler and E. Katz (eds), The Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications Research, Beverly Hills and London: Sage. Kalpidou, M., Costin, D., & Morris, J. (2011). The relationship between Facebook and the well-being of undergraduate college students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior &Social Networking, 14 (4), doi: /cyber Littlejohn, S. W. (1992). Theories of human communication (6th ed). Belmont, CA:Wadsworth. Loges, W. E., & Ball Rokeach, S. J. (1993). Dependency relations and newspaper readership. Journalism Quarterly, 70(3), Lusk, B. (2010). Digital natives and social media behaviors: An overview. Prevention Researcher, Lenhart, A., Purcell, L., Smith, A., & Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social media and young adults. Pew Internet And American Life Project. Retrieved June 20, 2011, from

11 The Use of Social Media by Students of Capital School Maiduguri, Nigeria. 11 Margaryan, A., Littlejohn, A., & Vojt, G. (2011). Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students' use of digital technologies. Computers & Education, 56(2), Oberst, L. (2010).The 6S Social Network. Retrieved from: Rosen, L., Lim, A., Carrier, L., & Cheever, N. (2011). An empirical examination of the educational Impact of text message-induced task switching in the classroom:educational implications and strategies to enhance learning. (2011). Psicologia Educativa, 17(2), Rubin, A. M., & Rubin, R. B. (1985). Interface of personal and mediated communication:a research agenda. Critical Studies in Mass communication, 2, Schill, R. (2011). Social Networking Teens More Likely to Drink, Use Drugs, StudyFinds. Retrieved 4/4/15 from: Sheldon, P. (2008). Student favorite: Facebook and motives for its use. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 23(2), Oberst, L. (2010). The 6S Social Network. Retrieved from: Tu, C., Blocher, M., & Roberts, G. (2008). Constructs for Web 2.0 learning environments: a theatrical metaphor. Educational Media International, 45(4), Urista, M.A., Dong, Q., & Day, K.D. (2009). Explaining why young adults use myspace and facebook through uses and gratifications theory. Human Communication, 12(2), Wang, Q, Chen, W.,& Liang, Y.(2011) The Effects of Social Media on College Students Johnson & Wales University ScholarsArchives@JWU.

12 Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso & Aisha Kolo 12