CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Universities are facing class filled of digitally native students who are demanding a new kind of teaching. They have been brought up under the influence of audiovisuals and the web. The new technological social Media networks such as Facebook, 2Go, twitter and whatapp etc; has become a thing of constant usage by undergraduates of university students, this has given the students the power to share, create, inform and communicate and have become an essential element in their lives through the use of social media, therefore, Social media refers to all web-based applications and mobile communications technologies that allow users to design and exchange ideas, often in real time.
1.1 Background of the study
Over the last three decades, technology redefined social interaction. Internet connectivity demolished geographical barriers to communication. At the same time, new devices and greater access to more advanced computers and mobile phones certainly accelerated the process of bringing the world together, no matter how disparate the cultures may be. Some social media such as facebook and 2Go etc has become a common phenomenon(constant) way of communication among undergraduate , and this form of interaction is not even hindered by geographical location.
Users share a variety of information about themselves on their Facebook profiles, including photos, contact information, and tastes in movies and books. They list their friends”, include friends at other schools. Users can also specify what courses they are taking and join a variety of groups” of
people with similar interests. The site is often used to obtain contact information, to match names to faces, and to browse for entertainment. Facebook which is one of the social media used today by many youths was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerburg, then a Harvard undergraduate. The site is unique among social networking sites in that it is focused around universities ,Facebook” is actually a collection of sites, each focused on one of 2,000 individual colleges. Users need an @college.edu email address to sign up for a particular college’s account, and their privileges on the site are largely limited to browsing the profiles of students of that college. Over the last two years, Facebook has become venture at campuses nationwide, and Facebook
evolved from a hobby to a full-time job for Zuckerburg and his friends. In May 2005, Facebook
received $13 million dollars in venture funding. Facebook sells targeted advertising to users of its site, and parters with firms such as Apple and JetBlue to assist in marketing their products to college students.
All data fields on Facebook may be left blank, aside from name, e-mail
address, and user status (one of: Alumnus/Alumna, Faculty, Grad Student, and Summer Student). A minimal Facebook profile will only tell a user’s name, date of joining, school, status, and e-mail address. Any information posted beyond these basic fields is posted by the will of the end user. Although the required amount of information for a Facebook account is minimal, the total amount of information a user can post is quite large. User-configurable setting on Facebook can be divided into eight basic categories: profile, friends, photos, groups, events, messages, account settings, and privacy settings. For the purposes of this paper, we will investigate profile, friends, and privacy settings. Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and by July, the social networking site was launched. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over 500 million registered users as of 2012, generating over 340 million tweets daily and handling over 1.6 billion search queries per day. Since its launch, Twitter has become one of the ten most visited websites on the Internet, and has been described as “the SMS of the Internet.” Unregistered users can read tweets, while registered users can post tweets through the website interface, SMS, or a range of apps for mobile devices.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Social media constant usage among the undergraduate student of this modern day has become an increasing habit among students. These students constantly rely on using this media for chatting with different types of people across the globe though, this might have affected these students either positively or negatively, since these students use this media for pleasure, getting in touch with old friend and new ones; this in the same way may have improve the educational ability of the students in that some of these students make use of this media in acquiring information such as educational information and news information etc and use of this social media is greatly increasing each day among undergraduates.
In view of this, the study tend to evaluate the effects the use of this social media like Facebook, 2Go,twiter, MySpace and Whatsapp could have on undergraduate student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University student. The study also tends to ascertain the level of usage of this media among these students.
1.3 Significance Of The Study/ importance
The study of social media phenomenon among undergraduates’ students is significant because it will provide the empirical basis that supports the idea that hyperactivity along the time of social networking may steer students away from academically helpful activities like visiting social media sites and gaining insight from them. Furthermore, the relevance of this study is to adequately find out the impact the constant (phenomenon) usage of social media among student could have on their educational pursuit, and in their daily life. The research also try to find out the degree of involvement of these undergraduate; the most commonly used social media and the reasons for such high degree of usage among the students. This research would also prove to be a base for academic use if the use of social media has impacted a high level of educational values to the student. Therefore, this study will help to ascertain the implication of social media phenomenon among undergraduate students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State.
1.4 Research Question
In order to give direction to this study the following research questions were posed
- Are you aware of social media network?
- What extent are you currently using social media?
- Which of the social media are you currently using ?
- To what extent has social media have impact on you?
- How much of your time do you spend on social media?
- What extent has social media helped you in your academics?
- What is the extent that you have access to social media?
- Do you have access to social media?
- Which channel do you use in accessing social Media Networking site?
- Which of the social media do you use most?
1.5 Objective of the study
This study sought to investigate or examine the rate of usage of social media among Nnamdi Azikiwe University Undergraduate Students as outlined below.
- Ascertain the level at which these students engage in social media chatting.
- To know the reasons why they participate in social media networking site.
- To find out the effects of these social media networks on undergraduate students.
- To ascertain the most frequently and commonly used social networking sites, used by Nnamdi Azikiwe University Students.
- To find out how much of their time is being used in chatting in social networking sites.
1.6 Scope of the study/Delimitation
The internet provides a platform for a variety of activities like blogging
E-transaction, E- publication, online journals etc.
For the purpose of this study, The scope of this study shall be limited to only Nnamdi Azikiwe University Student Awka, Anambra State. The limitation is to enable the investigator (researcher) to gather reliable information as regard the project topic under investigation; in view of this, only the student of the above mentioned school is used for the research.
- Delimitation
The study unit was selected randomly from various academic level in Unizk (Nnamdi Azikiwe University) Awka Anambra State.
1.7 Conceptual Definition Of Terms
For the purpose of clarity, some key concept words used in the content of this research work are listed below and properly defined.
- Social media.
- Facebook, MySpace, tweeter, whattsapp and 2Go
- Internet platform.
- E-transaction.
- E- publication.
- Online journalism.
Conceptual Definition of Terms Used.
- Phenomenon: constant usage of social media (hyperactivity).
- Social media: social media refers to all web based applications and mobile communication technologies that allow users to design and exchange ideas often in real time e.g., Facebook, MySpace, tweeter, whattsapp and 2Go.
- Internet platform: This implores the internet as a faculty for online activities.
- E-transaction: online group or single interaction made for business purposes.
- E- publication: published online materials.
- Hyperactivity: Over indulgence in a particular activity.
- Online journalism: this is simply an online new reporting.
