The Use of Social Networking Service among Nigerian Youths between Ages 16 and 25 Years U. M. Mbanaso1, PhD; E.S. Dandaura1 PhD; G.N. Ezeh2 PhD; U.C. Iwuchukwu2 1. Centre for Cyberspace Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria 2. Electrical & Electronic Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
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Abstract - This paper presents an investigation of the use of
social networking service among youths aged 16 through 25 years, in Nigeria. The convergence of information systems and networks, the internet and mobility has brought about a fundamental shift on how people generate and share information. Specifically, social media has emerged as a powerful tool in a digitally connected world, touching every aspect of human existence. This paradigm swing cuts across people of diverse age albeit affects each age category differently. This work presents the outcome of a study conducted in select towns in central part of Nigeria between January and June 2015. The focus was to determine how youths (age 16 through 25) use social media platforms in terms of the frequency, and purposes of social networking site usage. The survey revealed that, 99% of the respondents have social media accounts out of which 95.2% use smartphones to access various social media platforms. 46.4% from the respondents fall under the category of those very likely to use social platforms in a week, while 26.8% account for those who are extremely likely to use the social networking service within same time frame. Only 0.7% of the respondents were not likely to use social networking service within a week. Among the twelve social media platforms surveyed, Facebook ranked top as the most commonly used social networking channel with 91%, followed by WhatsApp (87%) and Tango ranked last at 1%. Based on the analysis of the result, it is highly likely that social media may have severe impact on young people who have no form of restrains with consequences of huge distractions and privacy intrusions. Conversely, the fact that social media is rapidly building social and communications habits into the youths point to its potential to enhance their learning habits if properly harnessed and formalize to aid pedagogy at secondary and tertiary levels. Keywords: Social media, young people, social networking, social sites, cyberspace, smart phones.
I.
INTRODUCTION
The Cyberspace has brought about a socially connected digital society, which resulted from the evolution of the internet, information systems and networks, mobility and receptiveness of the people. Social media is fuelling a peopledriven democracy with liberty and freedom of participation globally, which is beginning to affect our economic, political, social and relational fabrics of personal and business lives. The recent award of the 2015 Nobel Prize for peace to the It is fast becoming the most powerful social change of human history with ubiquitous and absorption of its tools across diverse ages, cultures and geography [1].
The receptiveness of the populace has continued to increase the power of social media that even now most businesses and organisations have adopted the platform to gain competitive advantages [1]. What appeals to people is that it presents higher possibility of powerful information digestion, that is, it delivers apt and direct short messages to its audience in a fashion that aid easy absorption of the content. Aside the social interconnection and influence, social media is fast replacing other traditional business tools used for marketing, advertisement, profiling, etc. due to the fact that cybercitizens spend much time using cyberspace domain for almost everything. Major brands are migrating to social networking platforms for competitive advantage [1]. Likewise, some security and intelligence agencies have indicated that social media platforms can aid in solving crimes within their jurisdiction [1]. However, one of the factors popularizing the social media platforms is how they connect people worldwide to interact, share content and engage in discussions of mutual interest that know no geographical boundaries. Conversely, young people essentially are interested in establishing their profiles, pushing their ideological beliefs, sharing assorted contents for diverse intents and purposes. Most youth primarily use the tools to re-connect with old friends, find new friends, share pictures and videos, seek for lovers and participate in engaging gossips. Behind all these incredible gains is the exposure of such youths to diverse risks, which can affect diverse people and culture in distinctive ways. As most traditional crimes now have digital equivalent, criminal minded elements are exploiting social media platforms for many nefarious activities to harm others. Invariably, being essentially vulnerable youths can easily be impacted negatively. This paper presents an investigation of the use of social media among Nigerian youths aged between 16 to 25 years. The choice of this age grade is informed by the fact that the minimum age for enrolment into Nigerian Universities as contained in the regulations of the Joint Matriculation Examination Board (JAMB) is sixteen years, which means ages 16-25 represent the common period the average Nigerian youth is in the tertiary institution as an undergraduate. The analysis of the result identified commonly used social networking platforms and frequency, the extent of usage, purposes as well as possible risks.
II.
LITERATURE REVIEW: SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
Social media as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is a form of electronic communication through which users can create online profiles and network within online communities to share content including photographs, videos, music, ideas and personal messages. This phenomenon has revolutionised the way people communicate, share information and human skills.[1]. Social networking service which is closely linked to social media deals with the sharing of information and multimedia content between users on similar platforms over electronic networks especially the internet and cyberspace. There are several social media platforms being used in Nigeria today and some popular ones such as Facebook and WhatsApp are discussed in this paper. A. Facebook Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms used by both the young and the old. It is an online social media platform which provides several services such as social networking, online advertising, voice calls, instant messaging, video calls, video sharing and viewing, online market place, virtual gifts and notes. Facebook is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his Harvard College roommates and fellow classmates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes [2]. The founders had initially limited the website's membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students in various other universities and later even to high-school students. Since 2006, anyone who is at least 13 years old was allowed to become a registered user of the website, though the age requirement may be higher depending on applicable local laws [3]. Upon registration on the website, users create their profiles and can add other users as friends. Users may join common interest groups and network with friends and friends of friends. Facebook had over 1.18 billion monthly active users as of August 2015 [4]. Because of the large volume of data users submit to the service, Facebook has in recent times increasingly come under scrutiny for their privacy policies. B. WhatsApp WhatsApp Inc. based in Mountain View, California, was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both veterans of Yahoo! [5]. WhatsApp is a cross-platform internet-based instant messaging application that allows iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia smart phone users to exchange text, image, video and audio messages for free. WhatsApp is especially popular with end users who do not have unlimited text messaging. In addition to basic messaging, WhatsApp provides group chat and location sharing options. The application operates under a subscription business model. Upon installation, it creates a user account using one's
phone number as the username. All the phone numbers from the device's phonebook are automatically compared with the central database of WhatsApp users and phonebook contacts already using the application are added to the user's WhatsApp contact list. In January 2015, WhatsApp introduced a voice calling feature for Android, iOS and Windows app; this helped WhatsApp to attract a completely different segment of the user population [6]. The application was equally made available on web browsers, although the user’s mobile phone needs to be connected to the internet for the application to function. WhatsApp Inc. was acquired by Facebook on February 19, 2014, for approximately US$16 billion [7]. In January 2015, WhatsApp became the most globally popular messaging app with more than 600 million active users. In April 2015, WhatsApp reached 800 million active users. In September 2015 the user base grew to 900 million [8]. C. Twitter Twitter was founded in March, 2006 by Jack Dorsey and is based in San Francisco. It is a social network platform that enables users to write and read short character messages called tweets. Twitter revolves around the principle of followers who are equally users, who choose to follow another Twitter user and can thus view tweets sent by that user. Whereas unregistered users can read tweets, one must be registered to send tweets. Tweets are visible by default but users can restrict message delivery to followers. These tweets can be re-tweeted when forwarded via Twitter by users and can be monitored to discover those that are popular and trending. Users can update their profiles via text messages or with apps on smart phones. The platform was ranked third most-used social network in the world resulting from 6 million unique monthly visits and 55 million monthly visits. By 2015, Twitter recorded over 302 million active users [9]. Since inception, Twitter has been used for various purposes ranging from serving as a quick communication tool for political protesters as seen in the 2011 Egyptian protests, as a means of disseminating information rapidly as by the Boston Police to announce the arrest of the Boston Marathon Bomber, to celebrities sharing news with their fans, among many others. D. Youtube YouTube is another very popular social media platform. It is a video sharing service that allows users to watch videos posted by other users and upload videos of their own. With the ubiquitous use of smart phones this platform has become the first choice in personal broadcasting and video sharing. Headquartered in San Bruno, California the service was created by three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in February 2005. In November 2006, it was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion and now operates as one of Google's subsidiaries. Members and website visitors can share YouTube videos on a variety of web platforms by using a link or by embedding HTML code. Videos that have been uploaded to YouTube
may appear on the YouTube website and can also be posted on other websites, though the files are hosted on the YouTube server. While several companies and organizations use YouTube to promote their businesses, the vast majority of YouTube videos are created and uploaded by amateurs from all over the world. Thus, there are wide range of videos available on YouTube. Some examples include amateur films, homemade music videos, sports bloopers, and other funny events caught on video. People also use YouTube to post instructional videos, such as step-by-step computer help, do-ityourself guides, and other how-to-do videos. As Google offers revenue sharing for advertisement clicks generated on video pages, some users have been able to turn YouTube into a profitable enterprise [10]. E. Flickr Flickr is an image and video hosting website and web services suite that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by photo researchers and by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media. The Verge reported in March 2013 that Flickr had a total of 87 million registered members and more than 3.5 million new images uploaded daily[11]. In August 2011 the site reported that it was hosting more than 6 billion images and this number continues to grow steadily according to reporting sources [12]. Photos and videos can be accessed from Flickr without the need to register an account but an account must be made in order to upload content onto the website. Registering an account also allows users to create a profile page containing photos and videos that the user has uploaded and also grant users the ability to add another Flickr user as a contact. Flickr has official mobile apps covering a wide range of mobile phone platforms. F. Google+ Google+ launched in June 2011 is an interest-based social network that is owned and operated by Google Inc. It is a platform focused on bringing all of Google together for users to experience. Google's efforts in social networking are many, and while none of them has seen the kind of global acceptance that its search, video, and email services have enjoyed, Google's most recent efforts in this space has advanced the state of the market in some unique ways. Google+ experienced strong growth in its initial years, although usage statistics have varied and user engagement have been relatively low [13]. Google+ Circles is a core feature of the Google+ Social Platform. It enables users to organize people into groups or lists for sharing [14] across various Google products and services. Once a circle is created, a Google+ user can share specific private content with that circle. For example, work themed content can be shared with only colleagues, and friends and family could see more personal content. The option to share Public or with Everyone is always available.[15] Since September 26, 2011 users can share Circles; it's a one-time share, so if the creator of the Circle updates the members, people's shared copies won't be updated.
G. Viber Viber was founded by four Israeli and Belarusian partners: Talmon Marco, Igor Magazinnik, Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha, with Marco as its CEO [16]. It was initially launched for iPhone on December 2, 2010, in direct competition with Skype. Viber is a mobile application that allows phone calls and text messages to all other users, whether mobile or landline, for free. It is available over WiFi or 3G with sound quality much better than a regular call with mobile carrier charges applicable when used over a 3G network. Once the application is installed, calls can also be made to numbers that do not have Viber at low rates using ViberOut. Viber works on most android, iphone, blackberry, windows, mac, nokia and bada devices. Once Viber has been downloaded on a mobile phone an access code is received via SMS or a callback to activate it. This ensures that only the real owner of the phone number can get it registered and prevents others from obtaining the access code and placing calls with the caller ID. Viber first requires installation on a phone in order to work on a desktop operating system environment [16]. Viber has over 100 million monthly active users from its 280 million global registered users. H. Tango Tango was developed in September 2009 by Uri Raz and Eric Setton of TangoMe Inc. and is based in Mountain View, California. It is a third party voice over internet protocol (VoIP) social media platform which offers video calls, voice calls and text messages over 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi networks. Tango is free except when used over 3G and 4G networks where data plan charges by the mobile carrier apply. Tango can be deployed using iphones, ipads, windows, and android devices. As at March 2014, there were over 200 million user and it was rated the twelfth most downloaded android phone app by PCMag. It has a simpler interface and does not require usernames and passwords and once installed the app searches through existing phone contacts to pinpoint contacts already using Tango and highlight them as those reachable via the app. On the other hand, there are some key issues with Tango as it has poorer voice and video quality especially when video calls are being made. To use this app, both the sender and receiver must be registered on the social media platform with no possibility of calls to non-Tango users and landlines. Unlike the situation with some popular VoIP social media apps, Tango has no integration with other social media platforms, no conference calling and no instant messaging capability. These are some of the disincentives to the mass acceptance of Tango [17] [18]. I.
LinkedIn This social media platform was launched in 2003 in Mountain View California and was founded by Reed Hoffman, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly and JeanLuc Vaillant. Available in twenty-four languages, LinkedIn has been described as the most popular tool for professional networking. It is a social networking tool available to job seekers and professionals where users can invite other users
and even non-users to connect. Inviters who get several rejections from invitees risk having their accounts restricted or closed. On this platform, users can get introduced to networks of contacts, new job and business opportunities, display products and services in their company profile pages, list job vacancies and search for potential candidates [19]. J.
Myspace Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson founded Myspace, which is headquartered at Beverly Hills, California, in 2002. It is a social networking website offering an interactive, usersubmitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos. It was the biggest social media platform up till 2008 when it was overtaken by Facebook. Its influence on pop culture and music was widespread and is credited with the creation of unique URLs for companies and artistes. A major issue leading to the loss of popularity of Myspace was the inability to build an effective spam filter which led to vandalism, phishing, malware and spam. Myspace was re-launched in 2013 and has bulletin, instant messaging and access to radio stations as some of its features [20]. K. Blackberry Messenger Blackberry Messenger (BBM) was launched by blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion in 2006. It is a proprietary internet-based pin instant messenger, video and telephony application included on blackberry devices, that enables messaging and voice calls between one or several users on the platform. Developed initially for only blackberry devices, by 2013 it became available to android and ios phones. With the release of BBM 5.0, users can send a QR Code to add each other to their respective contact lists rather than using an alphanumeric pin or an email address associated with the users’ blackberry [21]. L.
Skype First released in August 2003, Skype was created by Dane Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström in partnership with Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, who developed the backend. It is an IP telephony service provider that can be used to make free voice and video calls over the Internet to any Skype subscriber or to any other non-user at low calling rates. It is relatively simple to download and install the software, which works on most computers and phones. A dedicated Skype phone can be used or desktop computers, notebooks, tablets, mobile phones and other mobile devices fitted with a headset, speakers, microphones or USB phone. Skype also enables file transfers, texting, video chat and videoconferencing. In September 2005, eBay acquired Skype for $2.6 billion [22] [23]. III.
METHODOLOGY
This research was conducted by administering the questionnaire to three hundred and twenty-two (322) participants, selected randomly from five tertiary institutions within Plateau and Nasarawa States in central Nigeria. Two hundred and ninety-one (291) responded, which represents
approximately 95% success rate. The design of sample questions took into cognizance the time it will take an average respondent to complete the questionnaire. The initial design was remodelled after a test-run on twelve participants to achieve an average of thirty minutes for a respondent to complete the questionnaire. This test-run helped gauge the participants’ understanding of the questions posed, reaction and time it took to read before responding to each question. The outcome of the pre-test enabled the scaling of the questions to adapt to the psychology of the target population. The survey instrument aimed to discover what characterised the frequency of and purpose for using different social media platforms by the youths as well as the impact such social media engagements has on the youths. The questions focused on finding key variables that can help determine the use and impact of social media on young people in these two states in Nigeria. The survey relied on measuring variables such as weekly usage, hourly usage, which specific social media platforms the respondent frequently uses and for what purpose to determine the potential effect of social media service on young people. The interrelationship between the questionnaire design, administration, processing and analysis provided factual information taking into account the factors that underpin component variance. Copies of the questionnaire were administered under strict confidentiality and privacy, although each respondent was given a pen as an incentive to take part in the survey. Statistical and quantitative methods were used to analyse the responses to evaluate and validate the important indicators relating to the investigation. IV.
RESULTS
The results obtained from analysis of the questionnaire retrieved are presented below. A.
Smart Phone Possession amongst Youths The youths within the research area were critically reviewed to discover the number of those with smart phones, which is one of the essential devices needed to access social networks and social media. This data is tabulated in Table 1 and depicted in Figure 1 below. Table 1: Smart phone possession. Do you have a smart phone?
Frequency Total
Percent
Cumulative Total
Percent
Total
291
100
0
0
Yes
277
95.2
277
95.2
No
12
4.1
289
99.3
Not Applicable
2
0.7
291
100
Table 3: Table on distribution of social media platform usage.
Fig. 1: Pie chart of smart phone possession. B.
Registration of a Social Media Account
Social Media Platform
User
Non User
FaceBook
265
26
FaceBook
91
Non User (%) 9
Twitter
142
149
Twitter
49
WhatApp
254
37
WhatsApp
Google+
97
194
Google+
User (%)
Social Media Platform
Use %
FaceBook
27.1
51
Twitter
14.5
87
13
WhatsApp
25.9
33
67
Google+
9.9 0.7
LindkedIn
7
284
LindkedIn
2
98
LindkedIn
YouTube
40
251
YouTube
14
86
YouTube
4.1
Flickr
6
285
Flickr
2
98
Flickr
0.6
Viber
10
281
Viber
3
97
Viber
1.0
Skype
23
268
Skype
8
92
Skype
2.3
Myspace
8
283
Myspace
3
97
Myspace
0.8
124
167
BBM
43
57
BBM
12.7
288
Tango
99
Tango
0.3
BBM
In order to access social networks and share social media content, the intended user must have a registered and active social media account. Table 2 and Figure 2 presents the collated data analysed from the sample population of youths.
Social Media Platform
Tango
3
1
Table 2: Registration of a social media account. Do you have any social media account?
Frequency
Cumulative
Total
Total
Percent
Percent
Total
291
100
0
0
Yes
288
99
288
99
No
2
0.7
290
99.7
Not Applicable
1
0.3
291
100
Fig. 3: Usage distribution across each of the 12 reviewed social media platforms.
Fig.2: Pie chart on social media account registration. C.
Social Media Platform Usage
This result, as presented in Table 3. Figures 3 and 4 show analysis of the usage of the various social media platforms by sample population of youths investigated. Fig.4: Usage distribution over the population of respondents.
D. Weekly Usage of Social Networks
F. Common Uses of Social Media Platforms
Table 4 and Figure 5 below show respondents’ rate of weekly usage of social networks services.
As discussed in this paper, there are many uses to which users deploy social networking service. Highlighted in Table 5 and Figure 7 are some key purposes for which youths within the research area use these platforms.
Table 4: Table on the weekly usage of social networks. Weekly Usage
Frequency
Cumulative
Total
Percent
Total
Percent
Extremely likely Very likely Moderately likely
78 135 63
26.8 46.4 21.6
78 213 276
26.8 73.2 94.8
Slightly likely Not at all likely Not Applicable
10 2 3
3.4 0.7 1
286 288 291
98.3 99 100
Table 5: Uses of social media platforms. Purpose
Myspace
Youtube
BBM
Flickr
Whatsapp
Social
2
10
37
2
134
Studies
1
5
20
1
32
Gossip
1
2
7
1
16
Dating General Information
0
0
9
0
21
1
21
51
1
51
Others Not Applicable
1
2
3
1
5
286
251
164
286
32
Purpose
Fig. 5: Column chart depicting weekly usage rates. E. Impact of Social Media on Youth Education
Twitter
Facebook
Google+
Viber
Skype
Tango
Social
51
196
8
5
17
2
Studies
12
11
54
1
1
1
Gossip
6
8
1
1
1
2
Dating General Information
7
11
0
0
1
0
54
44
46
0
2
0
2
1
1
1
0
0
159
20
181
283
269
286
Others Not Applicable
Data was collected and analysed critically to discover the perceived distractive impact of social media and social networking on education of the youths in the research area considered. Figure 6 graphically portrays this.
Fig. 7: Line chart on the common uses of the social media platforms investigated. Fig. 6: Pie chart on impact of social media on studies.
V.
DISCUSSION
From the results depicted in Table 1 and Figure 1, 95.2% of the respondents have smart phones. This clearly underlines the fact that Nigerian youths are becoming increasing technology savvy and have a strong yearning for access to social networks and social media. They obviously have the desire for constant ubiquitous internet access which the mobile phone industry has rapidly keyed into by providing affordable smart phones in the Nigerian market place. Not to be left behind, the communication companies which are the major providers of internet access in Nigeria have progressively rolled out cheaper data plans and bundles to take their own market share. Since the youths make up more than fifty percent of the Nigerian population, they are readily a dynamic and investment worthy sector for the mobile phone industry and communication companies. To protect the youths from the exploitative tendencies of these big organisations and companies whose major concern is driving up their profits even to the detriment of everything else, checks and balances must be put in place to cap their excesses and ensure consumer protection, reasonable tariffs and quality products and services at all times. Furthermore mobile phone companies should be encouraged to manufacture, if not develop, the smart phones sold in Nigeria within the country to give gainful employment to the youths. Registration of social media accounts among the youths investigated is 99% as portrayed in Table 2 and Figure 2. This shows that Nigerian youths of today desire an online presence, a forum where they can air their views on diverse topics, share information, knowledge, pictures, videos, music and other social media content, meet and interact with other people and keep up to date on current affairs and trending events both locally and globally. This is simply a natural extension of human behaviour as man is a social being seeks to, and thanks to internet access, relate and interact as closely and regularly with people in his immediate environment as with people on any continent of the world. Therefore to shield youths from the criminality associated with cyberspace and internet usage, a suitable monitoring system must then be put in place to safeguard the various means of social networking, to ensure the privacy of cyber space users are not violated and that basic human rights are not infringed upon. Data and multimedia uploaded to personal online profiles should remain private except on the decision by the user to publicize same. Table 3, Figures 3 and 4 reveal the distribution of usage of the twelve social media platforms under investigation. The platforms investigated were Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Viber, Skype, Myspace, Blackberry Messenger and Tango. The result shows that Facebook with 91% is the most popular social media platform amongst the youths surveyed. This is closely followed by WhatsApp with 87%. The least used social media platform is Tango, followed by Flickr with 1% and 2% respectively. The widespread popularity of Facebook is mainly due to its range of features like wall post, chat, call, video, gaming, like and share capabilities. The ease of its registration process, the multiple avenues through which connections can be made to
its platform and its user friendly web interfaces have also greatly aided its wide adoption. With Facebook having over 1.18 billion active monthly users spread across the globe, it has proven to be the most effective means by which users can locate long lost relationships and foster new ones. Business and employment opportunities also abound on this social network service, thereby adding to its appeal to the youths. Policy must thus be put in place to guide against the identity, security and privacy issues that abound with having such a dominant social networking entity. Cyberspace criminals who hack into user profiles and steal information, which they use for their nefarious activities, need to be checked in such a way as to guarantee a safer social networking service for the youth. One way to do this is for Facebook Inc. to ensure that registered users are duly informed of any changes in the security and privacy settings of their accounts before such changes take effect, giving them an opportunity to disallow changes not initiated by them. Facebook Inc. also needs to closely monitor and deregister social networking accounts used for fraudulent activities. The weekly usage of social networks among the surveyed youths was investigated and results obtained are as shown in Table 4 and Figure 5. From the result, 46.4% of the respondents were found to be very likely to use social networks and 26.8% of them to be very likely. This shows that over 70% are active users of social networking services. Depending on the purpose of this significant percentage of users, it could be a healthy or unhealthy habit. The survey shows that a great number of youths frequent social network sites on a regular basis, thus it is important to discover the impact of such usage on the education and studying habits of the youths as the catchment age of this research are those in the 16 to 25 years bracket which in the ideal Nigerian Education setting is the period when said youths are transiting from secondary to tertiary learning institutions. In this regards, a total of 53% of the respondents agree that social networking sites were sources of distraction to education and hindered good studying habits of the users. Besides the above revelation, there is also another concern about the possibility of these social networking services being used by criminal elements of the society to fraud unsuspecting users. The age bracket studied is highly vulnerable and can easily fall prey to abuses or even be psychologically held hostage or groomed into nefarious activities by unsuspecting co-users. This fact is perhaps most disturbing as there are already enough media reports of cases of youths in Africa who have ben radicalised, via such social networking sites, by Islamic fundamentalist groups like the Al-Queda and ISIS. To counter this negative effect, youths should be encouraged to use social networking sites constructively and taught how to apply reasonable restraints. To this extent, institutions should create the necessary awareness to inculcate social networking discipline, as well as, formally create social media tools that can engage students in their school works by sharing and discussing topical issues. Social networking sites can help students to form study groups to support effective
communications between students on the one hand and students and lecturers on the other. By doing so, the adverse impact of social media on youngsters can be reduced when they use the same tools for engaging in their studies. Gaming, idle chatting and other excessive social activities highlighted in Figure 7 can equally be minimised as much as possible. Conversely, social media can enhance students’ perception of community, if the young people use it as productive tools. VI.
CONCLUSION
Social networking services have emerged as powerful, interactive and frequently used cyber-platforms that have many-sided impacts, which to a large extend depend on how the individual users deploy them. When used correctly, social networking sites can enhance the quality of life of the users in many respects. However, when abused, they could have overwhelming negative consequences, particularly on youths who are still impressionable. The study has shown an upswing in the use of social networking services by Nigerian youths using smartphones and mobile networks. This work concludes that notwithstanding that young people are developing social communications habits, with correct discipline, it can help students study collaboratively and efficiently. Social networking services can help in the summation of collaborative knowledge of a study group or class thereby enhancing more efficiently and timely information flow to every stakeholder within the learning environment
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