IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS

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Published by Just-Web Research Institute [27^th September, 2019]

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS

Deedenwii, Bariture Neele

ND, and D.cl

deedenwiibariture@gmail.com, deedenwii@gmail.com

debbyhorsafall143@gmail.com

+2347012543482 and +2349050517580

ABSTRACT

This work examines impact of social media on the academic performance of students. The main purpose of the study is to examine how social media has impacted on the academic performance of students. Three research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted. The entire population of (80) employees of the selected institutions, out of which sixty (60) was derived as sample size. A five point rating scale questionnaire containing (12) items was used for data collection Pearson Product Correlation was used to establish the reliability of the instrument which yielded and overall coefficient of 0.87. The researcher administered the instrument with the help of two research assistants. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and determined the homogeneity or otherwise of the respondents meaning rating, Z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The finding shows that social media impact significantly on the performance of students. The researcher therefore recommended amongst others that, Seminars should be organized in the various schools or faculties to enlighten students more about the possible implications of social media usage on their academic performance and Students should make sure that they use these social networking sites judiciously to ensure that they do not become detrimental to their academics.

1.0       INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Social media is started when people started to communicate. Social means human society, as interference of people and the groups and word media is the medium of expressions. Most of the forms of social media are not digital. (Martinez-Aleman & Wartman, 2009). It generates a large number of innovations. Social Media is one of the biggest inventions of technology, which is now most popular and widely used. We define Social Media as “technologies that made social communication easy and enable discussions among its participants”. The word social media means a web-based mobile application that allows people or companies to make, interact with, and share new user-generated or current material, in digital environment. (Rowland‟s et al., 2008)

Students are consumers and producers of media. Thanks to the Internet and social web including Facebook, twitter, blogs, Smart phones, and text messaging, most students increasingly live in a world where information is access to communication technologies. (Das, & Sahoo, 2010) for example, in 2010 as reports shows American teenagers about 73% of them use social networking sites, and 75% have a cell phone.  Students do not always have Media literacy skills that can help them to effectively analyze, understand, and evaluate new forms of information and make smart decisions about its quality and uses (Rowland‟s et al., 2008) The use of social media has become comprehensive and currently the most popular social media plateform are Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and Google, Skype and smart phones (Boyd and Ellison, 2007).

Facebook user profiles allow the users to communicate information with each other and allow users to build and maintain relationships and encourage others to be a part of a community among students of colleges online social websites become popular. In the last previous years, the rate at which social media is used to connect with higher education student is increasingly astronomically (Martinez-Aleman & Wartman, 2009). This in turn put pressure on members of faculty to use social networking within the classrooms and outside the classrooms to connect with students. There are many advantages for universities and colleges that can be gained by connecting with students through the social media.

In Twitter, social relations were increased among students. It is used to increase thinking and building of communication. A research is done in which seminar is conducted for students to post weekly tweets in classroom (Helou & Rahim, 2014).

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Since the advent of social media sites in the 1990s, it is assumed that the academic performances of student are facing a lot of neglect and challenges. There is a deviation, distraction and divided attention between social networking activities and their academic work. It is observed that students devote more attention to social media than they do to their studies.

According to scientists, social networks are especially dangerous for teenagers, as they form a false impression that love and friendship are easy to conquer and just as easy to destroy. In addition, young people who are acquainted with the fast stream of Internet life, the truth may appear to be excessively dull, and they can have a go at, making it impossible to "restore" it by making imprudent activities. Some are supporters of the use of social media. They claim that the latter provide access to knowledge and help students exchange information quickly. Others think that students’ use social media primarily to communicate about everything except studies and that they only distract students from the learning process. The use of social media by students helps to have access to basic information as quickly as possible.

The emergence of social media as a result of advancement in technology and expansion in internet software has raised eye brows among academics on its (social media) impacts on studies. Students at all levels of learning now have divided attention to studies, as a result of available opportunities to be harnessed from social media. Whether these opportunities promote studies is a question that needs to be answered. Thus, the problem this study is to investigate the impact of social media on the academic performance of the students in Rivers State.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of social media on the Academic Performance of Students. The specific objectives of the study are;

1.      To identify the impact of social Media on the academic performance of students.

2.      To examine the effect of social media on the academic performance of students.

3.      To investigate the influence of social media on the academic performance of students.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is a real fact that, in any field of human endeavour improvements are achieved by studying about what people do; how they do them, with what effect (negative or positive) and possible need for adjustment, the study of government agencies is not exceptional.

The significance of this study lies basically on its contribution to knowledge and its benefits to individual and organization.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions will guide the study.

1.      What are the impact of social Media and performance of students?

2.      What are the effects of social media on the academic performance of students?

3.      What are the influences of social media on the academic performance of students?

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

H₀1:     There is no significant relationship between the impacts of social Media and academic performance of students in Rivers State.

H₀2:     There is no significant relationship between the effect of social media and student academic performance in Rivers State.

H₀3:     There is no significant relationship between the influence of social media and students’ academic performance in Rivers State.

DELIMITATION/SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is primarily concerned with the impact of social media on the academic performance students. This study will be carried out among HND students in Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori. Other categories of students will not participate.

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

Social Media

Social media as a group of internet- based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests. Social media include web and mobile technology. Kaplan and Helen (2010) defined Social Media as a group of internet based application that allows the creation and exchange of user generated content.

Academic Performance

It is a term used to describe the rating of student following examination. 

Students

A student is a person who is learning something. Students can be children, teenagers, or adults who are going to school, but it may also be other people who are learning, such as in college or university. A student can also be a person studying for a specific profession.

2.1       REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The essence of literature review in this study is to examine the impact of social media on the academic performance students, and to suggest possible solutions to these problems, a number of books, journals and other available relevant materials were reviewed.

           

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The theories considered most appropriate for this study are: social information processing theory and media equation theory.

Social Information Processing Theory

The theory was developed in 1992 by Joseph Waither (Asemah 2011). Social information processing theory is an interpersonal communication theory which suggests that online interpersonal relationship development might require more time to develop than face-to-face relationships, but when developed, it has the same influence as face-to-face communication.

This means, the more students use social media, the more they influence their disposition to studies, given the fact that friends from social media will begin to exert influence on each other.

Media Equation Theory

This theory was propounded by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass (2000). The theory proposes that media are equal to real life and that electronic media in particular are being given human attributes. In most cases, people talk to computer as if they were talking to human beings. More so, in most cases, you talk to your television as if you are discussing with human beings, hence you talk to television sets as if you are discussing with people. That is, people have personalised the media of mass communication to the extent that they now see them, just the way they see human beings.

Thus, Griffin (2000), cited in Asemah and Edegoh (2012) notes that media are equal to real life. He further noted that what Reeves and Nass’s equation suggests is that we respond to communication media as if they were alive. This theory says that people now treat computers, television and the new media like real people and places. Going by the media equation theory, we tend to give human attributes to inanimate objects in our homes.

According to Griffin (2000) the practical implication of the media equation is that once we turn on a television or boot up on computer, we follow all the rules of interpersonal interaction that we have précised throughout life. Thus, the word interface is particularly apt when describing human media relations. This natural social response goes way beyond occasional words yelled at the television set or our frantic play for the computer to retrieve lost data.     

Reeves and Nass (2000) maintain that the media equation is so basic that it applies to everyone; it applies often and it is highly consequential. The above assertion aptly captures how the audience members now tend to engage the media in a discussion as they do to human beings. The relevance of the theory to the paper cannot be overemphasised. People treat the media like human beings, so whatever people see in the media, they tend to believe because they respond to the new media, the way they will respond to human beings.

THEORETICAL STUDIES

The Concept of Social Media

Social media continuously keeps changing and as such it is difficult to assign a fixed definition to it as Jacka and Scott (2011), argued that ‘’there is no single recognized definition for social media’’. However some scholars have defined it in different perspectives over the past years.

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), defined social media as a group of internet- based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. The Oxford dictionary (2011), also defined social media as “websites and applications used for social networking”. Another definition of social media is that it is a ‘’communication channel which is very popular, extremely fast and broad, has proven to be highly effective, as well as trusted by billions of people , to share and discover content concerning individuals, brands, information, entertainment and know how’’ (Dearborn, 2014). One theme that all these definitions underpin is that social media involves some form of communication between individuals over the internet.  

The Use of Social Media among Students

The use of social media among students has reached high levels and has affected their study time, poor grammar and wrong spellings when socializing on social media as well as diverting their attention from their studies (Ndaku, 2013). Students spend much of their study time on social networks than in their academic undertakings and it has affected their Grade Point Average (GPA).

History of Social Media

Social media  began in the late 1990s with the first recognized social media network called “SixDegrees “ in 1997 and this technology enabled people to upload a profile and make friends.

From 1997 to 2001 a number of community tools; Asian Avenue, blackplanet and MiGente began supporting various combination of profile and publicly articulated friend (Boyd, Danah, Ellison and Nicole, 2007). There has been tremendous improvement since this era and today there exist uncountable social networking sites either developed for local use, specific purpose or international use.

Social Media and Nigeria Education

Nigerian education has felt its own taste of social media since its introduction. Social media in Nigeria started as a slow process like other African countries but has grown steadily over the past years. According to the Nigeria National Communication Authority (2016), report; the total mobile subscription increased by 1.3% from 36,138,706 in the first quarter of 2016 to 36,613,987 at the end of the second quarter. Also the number of mobile data subscribers in the country has increased dramatically. Mobile data subscription for the second quarter of 2016 was 18.8 million with a penetration rate of 67.6%.This indirectly means there will be more access to the internet which of course includes social networking sites.

The study conducted by Owusu and Agatha (2015), titled “use of social media and its impacts on academic performance of tertiary students” revealed that majority of students in Nigeria were engrossed in social networking sites. It also brought to light that most users utilized these sites for chatting and downloading purposes only which affected their academic performance negatively. This  finding corroborates the revelation of Mingle and Musah (2015), that most respondents in their study experienced negative effects such as poor grammar spelling, late submission of assignments, less study time and poor academic performance. Though part of these studies affirmed some benefits of social media usage in the academic life of students, it is necessary as educators to be concerned about its negative effects which seem to be outweighing the advantages as far as education is concerned in Nigeria.

Classification of Social Media

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) classified social media into six (6) different categories as follows;

1.      Collaborative project (wikipedia)

2.      Blogs and micro blogs (twitter)

3.      Content communities (youtube)

4.      Social networking sites (FB, 2go, BB chat)

5.      Virtual game World (world of war craft)

6.      Virtual second world (second life)

This classification of social media has been useful to scholars and individuals for easy identification and study of a particular social media type but today a difficulty may arise due the high proliferation of social media and one may wonder which group a new developed social media type fits into.  Social media is considered to be the fastest growing web application in the 21 century and this rapid development is being backed by technological advancement (Heyam, 2014).  Mankind has enormously benefited and continues to benefit from it and as such cannot underestimate its importance as far as communication is concerned.

Today, social media has taken a new dimension and has encouraged more participation through the introduction of mobile phones that support social networks applications.  The use of mobile phones that are powered by Android applications to social network is termed as Mobile social networking. According to Humphreys (2007), in his study titled “Mobile Social Networks and Social Practices”   social network applications have now been migrated from the computer to the mobile phone, network information and communication can be integrated into the public space; and these new services that are developed for mobile phones allow users to create, develop, and strengthen their social ties.

Effect of Social Media on Students Academic Performance

The advanced and improved usage of social media platforms such as Facebook has become a worldwide phenomenon for quite some time. Though it all started has been a hobby for several computer literate individual which have changed to become a social norm and existence-style for students around the world (Nicole, 2007). According to Nicole, (2007), students and teenagers have especially recognized these social media platforms to be able to contact their peers, share information, reinvent their personas and showcase their social live.

Facebook users often experience poor academic performance. Also Karpinski (2009) stated that social media has a negative association with students’ academic performance which is much greater than the advantages derived through the use of social media platforms. People around the globe have been addicted to the internet which has given rise to more students using social media more often than before.

Nalwa & Anand (2003) advised and recommended that those who are addicted users love to use the internet to set back their personal and professional responsibilities in which the final outcome is poor academic performance.  It was highlighted in the finding of Karpinski (2009) that social media platforms (Facebook, watzapp etc) users usually devote lesser time to their studies has to compared to nonusers did and subsequently has lower GPAs. It was also mentioned by Karpinski, & Duberstein (2009), that among the major distraction of current generation that social media platform (such Facebook, Watzapp etc.) remains a major distractions. According to Kubey, Lavin, and Barrows (2001), there is a correlation between academic performance and the dependency on social media platforms.

Positive Effect of social media on students’ academic life

Students’ academic life has moved to a different dimension since the introduction of these social media networks and several studies have affirmed that social media plays an important role on students in higher education including the study conducted by Wheeler, Yeomans and Wheeler,(2008); Rifkin, Longnecker, Leach and Ortia,(2009).

In their study, they recognized four (4) major advantages of social media usage by students in higher education which included; enhancing relationship, improving learning motivation, offering personalized course material, and developing collaborative abilities. Indeed, social media has contributed greatly to facilitating learning in the 21st century. It is shown that a greater percentage of students including those at the PhD level commonly use social media to ameliorate their studies (Khan, 2010).

The answers to the causes of flexible studies today across the globe might not be far-fetched from the great contribution that social media platforms are providing when used judiciously. Even though, there have been other school of thought that states that social media is a nuisance to students’ academic life such as Kuppuswamy and Shankar (2010), who argued in their study that social networks distracts the attention and concentration of the students toward learning and converts it towards non educational activities such as useless and unnecessary chatting, there have been several studies conducted afterwards whose findings are contrary to this claim. For instance, the study conducted by Jain, Verma, Verma and Tiwari (2012), titled “the impact of social networking in promoting education’’ revealed that students benefit from chatting with other students, teachers and external sources to acquire knowledge.

Also, Yunus and Salehi (2012), argued in the same direction that students gained more vocabulary, improved their writing skills and reduced their spelling mistakes through social media usage. In fact as an educational tool, social media enriches learning by giving both students and teachers the opportunity to connect in new and very exciting ways thereby encouraging flexible mode of learning. It is stated that flexible learning expands the choice on what, when and how people learn. It supports different styles of learning including E-learning which is highly patronized across the globe (Pappas, 2013). Other scholars; O’keeffe and Clake-pearson (2011), in their study also revealed that social media benefits students by connecting them to one another on assignments and class projects. 

It is further buttressed in the study of Arquero and Esteban, (2013) and Selwyn, (2007) whose conclusions were that social media undoubtedly generate new opportunities to engage students in higher education as they are remarkably effective at connecting people and facilitating the exchange of information. It is clear and indisputable from these studies that social media usage in the educational sector cannot be underestimated since its introduction.

Negative effect of social media on students’ academic life

Davies and Cranston (2008), enumerated some of the risks associated with social media which included criminal activities such as identity theft and fake contacts which is prevalent today, sexual abuse or harassment and unsuitable advertising. On the same subject O’keeffe and Clake-pearson (2011), also mentioned cyberbullying, online harassment, sexting, face book depression, and privacy concerns as some of the challenges associated with social networking.

Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying is a category of bullying that occurs in the digital realm or medium of electronic text.  ‘‘It is any behavior performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups that repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intended to inflict harm or  discomfort on others’’ (Tokunaga, 2010). Cyberbullying is one the serious threat in the social media environment and has called for a number of studies to determine its causes. The causes of cyberbullying according to Calvete, Orue, Estevez, Villardon and Padilla (2010), was significantly related with the use of proactive aggression, justification of violence, exposure to violence and less perceived social support of friends. 

Privacy concerns: This is another concern that everyone involved in social networking is faced with. The rate at which people post or share fake information calls for alarm and it is difficult to ascertain that, what people say and post are truly who they are.  Individuals’ private information are publicly displayed on some of these social networks and malicious people take advantage and perpetrate all kinds of harassment. It is also argued that the privacy options offered by most social networking sites (SNSs) do not provide users with the flexibility needed to handle conflicts with individuals who have different conceptions of privacy (Preibusch, Hoser, Gurses and Berendt, 2007).

Aside these effects, other studies conducted by scholars have also proved that social media can be detrimental to students’ academic life if caution is not taken in its usage. For instance the study conducted by Obi, Bulus, Adamu and Sala’at (2012), titled “The need for safety consciousness among Youths on social Networking Sites” concluded that social media affects students use of English. They use short-handwriting when chatting with friends and unconsciously get used to it thereby replicating same errors during examinations. Even though one may argue that these are minor challenges, it is important to acknowledge the increasing rate at which these errors are replicated in the education sector and if care is not taken future generation may see it as a norm.  Indeed a number of studies including but not limited to the study of Kuppuswamy and Shankar (2010), Osharive (2015), Maya (2015), among others have revealed unequivocally that social media can be problematic to students’ academic life if caution is not taken in its usage.

Impact of Social Media on Student Academic life

Social media provides students a new mechanism for a familiar exercise. It provides students a direct medium by which to publicly evaluate and comment on their campus environments, institutional policies, classes, professors, and administration and fellow students in real-time. Social media zips through our campuses nearly unseen, dragging behind it the heavy weight of social injustices and complicated Jurisprudence accumulated from decades of student speech (Gurcan 2015). Given social media’s potential for positive impact, no one is suggesting we pull the breaks on it, and in many ways the technology is already out of our grasp. Today’s students communicate via technology, and that If you say absolutely no Facebook or texting, you are cutting off an important relationship with students technology as an online teacher use of technology via the use of a variety of tools such as Skype, text, email, Facebook and twitter. Social media open up new ways for collaboration and discussion in the sense that, it offers a great deal of content posting, coping, sharing and search ability by easily using online search tools. Students today use social media anywhere and at any time where internet connection is available in order to meet their educational needs Dewing, 2010).

Students use social media to communicate with their Teachers as a group outside of class and to plan school events and what not, it also allowed students to get help on school work from teachers during the evening, weekends, and holidays so that they never fell behind. The cell phone numbers and WeChat are equally used to get in touch with teachers quickly during the school day, if a student is going to be late or absent or outside of school in an emergency. On the subject of the number of complaints of inappropriate contact involving social media, the possible threats are too great. Student engaging in a private relationship outside the classroom circles begs for inappropriate behavior to commence (Gurman 2015).

There is the likelihood of users not being courteous and respectful of other such that Profanity, vulgarity, obscenity, or language that is harassing, derogatory, or otherwise inappropriate for the school environment sometimes circulates in these platforms. Users could easily display, send, retrieve, or download any items that are sexually explicit, or contain dateabased or discriminatory material without the notification of a teacher, school administrator or even their peers in the event. This in turn could make students concede that they have no right or expectation of privacy with respect to their use of school technology and therefore would not want to participate fully (Gurman 2015). There is always the potential for things to go wrong, and that is true before technology as well. So commentators would have to stop worrying about what could go wrong and realize that there is a huge opportunity associated with social media that broaden the learning experience of students.

RELATED EMPIRICAL STUDIES

Shambare, R et al. (2012) Conduct a study on Social networking habits among students. The population of the study was 200 students; the sample size was 150 drawn from the population of the study. The study used Simple Random Sampling Techniques. The study was carried out in selected institutions in Malaysia.  Four (4) research questions and 3 hypotheses were used to guide the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The study indicates that such Media most commonly used by Youngers’ and Facebook is most widely using by a large number of communities and have multiple effects on student's life. The high speed and quickly approach to internet and the development of smart phone technology are most important drivers behind the adoption and connectivity with social networking websites and conclude that SNS enhance their knowledge level. 

Ahmad, (2011) investigate social networking and it influence on students performance. The population of the study was 100 students, the sample size was 90 drawn from the population of the study. The study used simple random sampling techniques. The study was carried out in selected institutions in Canada.  Four 5 research questions and 4 hypotheses were used to guide the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The  study showed that social networking sites have number of advantages for their users, it enable the community to keep in touch  with their peers and re-link with old ones and help to find new friends according to your interest from all around the and a large number of persons are linking with these  networks. Hence the network of social media is growing globally.  

Heeter, (2006) examined the role of Social media on the performance of student in University of Michigan State give information about technology use in higher education, particularly in relation to faculty. The population of the study was 300 students from the university of Michigan State; the sample size was 280 drawn from the population of the study. The study used simple random sampling techniques. The study was carried out in selected firms in Malaysia.  5 research questions and 5 hypotheses were used to guide the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using mean, standard deviation. This survey interprets teaching and learning habits for staff member online, students that are graduate and undergraduate are also included. About 65 % of faculty and students both read blogs but here faculty for personal information was more likely read them. Students post for both educational and personal proposes. Faculty used online photo sharing programs more than students such as Flicker, but about 50 % of both groups used it. Students used Facebook 70 percent while faculty used less than 10 percent of either Facebook or MySpace. Students send text message more likely.

3.1       RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section explains the method applied in carrying out this study. They include research design, source of data, population, sampling techniques, sample size, instrument for data collation, validation of research instrument, reliability of research instrument, and method of data analysis.

RESEARCH DESIGN

            A survey research was employed since the study was to find out the impact of social media on the academic performance of students in Rivers State. For the collection of primary data, the questionnaire and interview method of survey were the tools used due to the nature of the topic. These instruments were considered adequate and convenient for such investigation.

SOURCES OF DATA         

The researcher used two sources of data for this research. These are the primary and the secondary sources of data.

PRIMARY SOURCE OF DATA

The basic primary sources of data collection method were oral interview and questionnaire.

SECONDARY SOURCE OF DATA

This was collected from information published in journals, magazines, reports presented at various seminars and meetings, past write-ups, textbooks, libraries and research projects.

POPULATION

The population of the study is eighty (80) HND II students drawn from the organization studied. The organization is: Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori in department of Office Technology and Management and Mass Communication

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

The sampling technique used was the simple random sampling method. This provides equal variance for every item in the population to be selected and included in the sample.

SAMPLE SIZE        

The sample size of the study is 60 drawn from the population. The random sampling was used to enable all the items in the population to have equal chance of being selected and included in the sample.

INSTRUMENT FOR DATA COLLECTION

The instruments used for data collection are questionnaires and oral interview. This research instrument is a compilation of structured questions which were given to respondents for their completion or responses. The questions were close-ended multiple- choice questions giving respondents a choice from a range of answers based on the 5-point Likert-style rating scale. They had choices either to agree or disagree with the statements made within the range. This was to ensure that the choice of answers directly addressed issues at stake and make collation and analysis of the data simple.

VALIDATION OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The questionnaire for data collection was drawn up by the researcher and submitted to the project supervisor who critically examined and corrected the mistakes. He also made useful suggestions to improve the content before finally approving it for administration.

RELIABILITY OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

In order to ensure the reliability of the instrument, the researcher adopted the test-retest method and administered the questionnaire to 80 HND II students in Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori. The data obtained from the sets of response were correlated using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Reliability coefficient of 0.87 was obtained. This score is high enough to regard the instrument as reliable for the study.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

In determining the method for the collection of data, the questionnaires were administered and retrieved in person by the researcher in order to get information from respondents who responded to the questionnaires. The table below shows the distribution and retrieval of the questionnaires.

TABLE 1: Distribution and Retrieved of Questionnaire

S/No	Name of Organizations	No of Questionnaire Distributed	No of Questionnaire Retrieved
	Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori
1	Office Technology and Management (HND II)	40	30
2	Mass Communication Department (HND II)	40	30
	Total	80	60

Source: Survey Data, 2019.

METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

In this research study, the researcher will use Likert’s five point rating scale to determine the mean score.

SA /A /U /D/SD         x    100

Total respondent                1

Where SA /A /U /D/SD = Number of respondents to each question.

Total respondents = total number of questionnaires.

The mean score X

Strongly agreed                       SA       -           5.0

Agreed                                    A         -           4.0

Undecided                              U         -           3.0

Disagreed                                D         -           2.0

Strongly Disagreed     SD       -           1.0

                                                                  15    =  3.0

 5

Mean Score 3.0

DECISION RULE: 

            Any mean score above. 3.00 is accepted and those below 3.0 are rejected.

4.1       DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

This section will be involved in the presentation and analysis of data used in this research work. The data collected was a synergistic product from the respondent from the interview and questionnaires administered. A total of 80 questionnaires were administered to the respondents the selected staff. The total number of questionnaire retrieved is 60.

RESEARCH QUESTION ONE

What are the impact and relationship between social Media and performance of student?

s/no	Item	SA (5)	A (4)	U (3)	D (2)	SA (1)	Mean	SD	Remark
1.	Social networking sites are more effective in communicating with our friends.	30	10	10	5	5	3.92	1.32	Accepted
2.	Social networking sites differentiates students on the bases of their demography	20	20	10	10	-	3.83	1.07	Accepted
3.	Students share study material on twitter that helps other students which are weak in studies performance	30	20	5	5	-	4.25	0.92	Accepted
4.	Usage of twitter sites in my routine life affect my academic	20	20	10	10	-	3.83	1.07	Accepted

Source: Survey Data, 2019.

The table above shows that, in the first item 30 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 10 agreed, 10 undecided, 5 disagree and 5 strongly disagreed. The mean rating item is 3.92 and standard deviation 1.32. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

The second items on the table shows that 20 strongly agreed, 20 agreed, 10 undecided, and 10 disagree, leading the various mean and standard deviation to 3.83 and 1.07 respectively. The last items were remarked “accepted” by the researcher. The standard deviation scores for all items are within the same range. Meaning that the respondents were homogeneous in their opinion about the item.

The third item in the above table shows that, in the first item 30 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 20 agreed, 5 undecided, and 5 disagree. The mean rating item is 4.25 and standard deviation 0.92. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

The last item in the above table shows that, in the first item 20 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 20 agreed, 10 undecided, and 10 disagree. The mean rating item is 3.83 and standard deviation 1.07. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

RESEARCH QUESTION TWO   

What are the effects of social media on the academic performance of students?

s/no	ITEM	SA (5)	A (4)	U (3)	D (2)	SA (1)	MEAN	SD	Remark
5.	Facebook  positively affect my study timings in routine life	20	30	5	5	-	4.08	0.86	Accepted
6.	Social networking sites change the behavior of students in effective manner.	35	15	5	5	-	4.33	0.94	Accepted
7.	Social networking sites are more effective in communicating with our friends	30	20	5	5	-	4.25	0.92	Accepted
8.	Social networking sites differentiate students on the bases of their demography.	20	30	10	-	-	4.17	0.69	Accepted

Source: Survey Data, 2019.

The table above shows that, in the first item 20 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 30 agreed, 5 undecided, and 5 disagree. The mean rating item is 4.08 and standard deviation 0.86. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

The second items on the table shows that 35 strongly agreed, 15 agreed, 5 undecided, and 5 disagree, leading the various mean and standard deviation to 4.33 and 0.94 respectively. The last items were remarked “accepted” by the researcher. The standard deviation scores for all items are within the same range. Meaning that the respondents were homogeneous in their opinion about the item.

The third item in the above table shows that, in the first item 30 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 20 agreed, 5 undecided, and 5 disagree. The mean rating item is 4.25 and standard deviation 0.92. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

The last item in the above table shows that, in the first item 20 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 30 agreed, and 10 undecided. The mean rating item is 4.17 and standard deviation 0.69. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

RESEARCH QUESTION THREE           

What are the influences of social media on the academic performance of students?

s/no	ITEM	SA (5)	A (4)	U (3)	D (2)	SA (1)	MEAN	SD	Remark
9.	Social networking sites are more effective in communicating with our friends.	20	35	5	-	-	4.25	0.60	Accepted
10.	Social networking sites differentiates students on the bases of their demography	25	15	10	10	-	3.92	1.11	Accepted
11.	Students share study material on twitter that helps other students which are weak in studies performance	30	10	10	5	5	3.92	1.32	Accepted
12.	Usage of twitter sites in my routine life affect my academic	20	20	10	5	5	3.75	1.23	Accepted

Source: Survey Data, 2019.

The table above shows that, in the first item 20 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 35 agreed, and 5 undecided. The mean rating item is 4.25 and standard deviation 0.60. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

The second items on the table shows that 25 strongly agreed, 15 agreed, 10 undecided, and 10 disagree, leading the various mean and standard deviation to 3.92 and 1.11 respectively. The last items were remarked “accepted” by the researcher. The standard deviation scores for all items are within the same range. Meaning that the respondents were homogeneous in their opinion about the item.

The third item in the above table shows that, in the first item 30 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 10 agreed, 10 undecided, 5 disagree and 5 strongly disagree. The mean rating item is 3.92 and standard deviation 1.32. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

The last item in the above table shows that, in the first item 20 of the total respondents strongly agreed, 20 agreed, 10 undecided, 5 disagree and 5 strongly disagree. The mean rating item is 3.75 and standard deviation 1.23. It was remarked Accepted by the researcher.

HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis 1: 

H₀1:     There is no significant relationship between the impacts of social Media and academic performance of students in Rivers State. This null hypothesis was tested using z-test at 0.05 level of significance and it’s presented in table 6.

Table 6:

            Z-test of the difference between the mean ratings of Male and female managers do not differ in their mean rating on the impacts of social Media and academic performance of students in Rivers State.

                                                                                                            (N=60)           

Level	N	X	SD	A	Df	Z-Cal	Z-CRIT	Decision
Male	35	3.7	1.094	0.05	58	0.57	2.0	NS
Female	25	2.94	0.65

The above presentation on table shows that calculated Z-value of 0.57 is less than the critical z-value of 2.0 at 0.05 levels of significance and 78 degree of freedom. This means that Male and female managers do not differ in their mean ratings on the impacts of social Media and academic performance of students in Rivers State.

Hypotheses 2:

H₀2:     There is no significant relationship between the effect of social media and student academic performance in Rivers State.

Table 7:

Z-test of the difference between the mean rating of Male and female managers do not differ in their mean rating on the effect of social media and student academic performance in Rivers State.

                                                                                                                             (N=60)

Level	N	X	SD	A	Df	Z-Cal	Z-CRIT	Decision
Male	30	3.06	1.74	0.05	58	2.4	2.0	NS
Female	30	3.8	1.94

The above table shows that, calculated z-value of 2.4 is more than the critical z-value of 2.00 at 0.05 level of significance and 58 degree. This means that Male and female staffs opinion differ significantly in there mean rating on the effect of social media and student academic performance in Rivers State. Therefore the null hypotheses are not rejected.

Hypotheses 3:

H₀3:     There is no significant relationship between the influence of social media and students’ academic performance in Rivers State.

Table 8:

Z-test of the difference between the mean ratings of Male and female managers do not differ in their mean rating on the influence of social media and students’ academic performance in Rivers State.

                                                                                                                                                                (N=60)  

Position held	N	X	SD	A	Df	Z-Cal	Z-CRIT	Decision
Male	25	3.03	1.74	0.05	58	2.2	2.0	NS
Female	35	3.7	1.92

The above table shows that, the calculated z-value of 2.2 is more than the critical z-value of 2.00 at 0.05 level of significance and 58 degree of freedom. This means that Male and female managers opinion do not differ significantly in their mean rating on the influence of social media and students’ academic performance in Rivers State. Therefore the null hypotheses are not rejected.

5.0       SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The aim of the study is to examine the impact of social media on the academic performance of students and how to contribute to the success of an organization. This chapter is concerned about the synopsis of findings of the study through summary of findings, conclusion, recommendations as well as suggestions for further studies.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The study is about determining the impact of most popular factor of modern age social Media usage on the academic performances of the students. What activates performed by student on these Medias and how much time they spend on these sites in their routine life? Firstly take a review of the literature from previously conducted researches related to the study. Then identified the methodology to conduct the study and for the analysis of results.

Then, instrument for data collection is selected. The instrument selected was the questionnaire, which contained the close-ended questions, which were adopted from the base study, then modify according to our research. After selecting the instrument identified the target population to conduct the research. Target population selected was the students.

CONCLUSION

It is without doubt that social media is and will remain an important tool in human life as far as communication is concerned. Today mankind is harvesting tremendously from its existence not only in mere communication point of view but also in most scholarly activities. Different forms of education including distance education has been widely patronized and facilitated to some degree through these social media networks.

Acquiring information both locally and internationally from friends, lectures or experts is no longer a struggle as compared to the olden days and the internet is the ultimate master behind this success.  “Social media is a useful servant but a dangerous master” and can also be “described as a two edge sword” and as such, users especially students must be alert about its dangers and be prudent in its utilization.        

The nature of social media as a useful servant but a dangerous master” and a two edge sword has been revealed in the findings of the study that, despite the benefits that students can harness from social media networks such as sharing of information, building relationship, partaking in group discussions from near and far among others, there is to some extent addiction and distraction of attention caused by the use of social media which could have serious consequences on the academic life of students.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In the light of the findings, the following recommendations are made;

1.      Seminars should be organized in the various schools or faculties to enlighten students more about the possible implications of social media usage on their academic performance.

2.      Students should make sure that they use these social networking sites judiciously to ensure that they do not become detrimental to their academics.

3.      Teachers/lecturers can adopt new strategies by channeling assignments or discussions on social media platforms to help inculcate the habit of using these sites for academic work.

4.      Students must minimize the time they spend on social media to avoid being obsessed by these sites for unnecessary chatting.

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