CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The invention of the internet brought a new dimension to the media landscape. It marked the beginning of technological transformation and socialization with a higher desire for information about everything. This slowly developed into social media, which essentially is information about people. The internet has taken the process of information dissemination to a higher platform thereby going beyond being a mere medium of socialization or information seeking and has become something much more. With this development, users are driving content (Dominick et al.,2013) in ways never seen before. This has led to the transformation in not just one medium; there is more to come as new trends emerge continually. Shapiro cited in Croteau and Hoynes, (2003) argues that the emergence of new, digital technologies signals a potentially radical shi of who is in control of information, experience and Covenant Journal of Communication. Social Network usage by students is so rampant recently because of easy access to devices such as smart phones, iphones, black berry, tablets, ipad and laptops which are connected to the internet (Griiths, 2011). Addiction to the usage of social network has extremely increased in recent times. The perils of its effects on the academic performance of the over-involved students are disturbing. Academic performance which is depicted by the grades of students (Jenkins, 2006), is a great concern to Benue State University, Makurdi.

Students that spend excessive time on social networks become dependent on it and it is believed that their academic performance diminishes proportionately. It is perceived that school grades will suffer when spending too much time on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and My space as valuable study time is lost (Sherry et al., 2008). These therefore necessitate the study of the effects of social network usage on university students’ academic performance. The social network overuse certainly has some negative impact that may counterbalance the potential benefits and poses grave consequences to the academic performance of its victims. Students spend quality time to comment, update, read and share posts on social networks.

Turkle et al., (2007), justifies that a statistically significant negative relationship exist between time spent by students on social networks and their academic performance. According to Adelabu, (2011), The high rate of social networking sites, and the impact they have on young people‘s lives, offers striking testimony to the global impact of today‘s Internet. Some treat this new medium as a danger, and others treat it as the road to utopia. On the internet, people engage in a variety of activities some of which may be potentially addictive kuss and Griiths, (2011). The mass appeal of social networks on the internet could be a cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually increasing amount of time youths spend online. Social networking sites are virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact with real life friends and meet other people based on shared interests. They allow individuals to Neuman & Robinson, (2001), construct a public or semi public profile within a bounded system, Zhang, (2008) articulate a list of other users with whom they have a connection and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Hoynes et al., 2003).

Social networking sites offer individuals the possibilities of networking and sharing media content, therefore embracing the main web 2.0 attributes against the framework of their respective structural characteristics (Jenkins, 2006). The internet has an indescribable power to influence, connect and mobilize youths. Some youths have lost their control over social media usage and begun having problems with their functionality in social, vocational and personal circles as the internet has taken over total control of their lives. Idakwo, (2011), posit that school work and social interaction have been affected at the advent of these social media. Undergraduates spend more time on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks through smartphones that are now in abundance among these youths. Many youths cannot go for two-three hours without checking and updating their profiles on these social networks even at the detriment of other activities such as educational and career pursuit. MorahanMartin and Schumacher (2000) explain internet addiction as the excessive use of the internet and the failure to control this usage which seriously harms a person’s life (Dominick et al., 2013).

The high rate of social networking sites, and the impact they have on young people‘s lives, offers striking testimony to the global impact of today‘s Internet. Some treat this new medium as a danger, and others treat it as the road to utopia. The truth is somewhere in between. In view of the seeming students activeness on Facebook, Blackberry Messenger, WhatsApp etc, it became imperative to understand what Twitter was used for and the dynamics of such usage. In addition, the research was borne out of an observation from audience participation in some programmes on the which indicates that only a fraction of the students use Twitter compared to responses generated from using other platforms. This study will therefore aimed at determining the usage of twitter among student (A case study of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti).