Social Communication of Students on Social Media Network Platform: A Statistical Analysis

Abstract

In recent times, social media networking has lately increased a lot of ground in the era of usage of internet and this have made it a viable avenue of communication, most particularly among students of institutions of higher learning. Subsequently, both social and scholastic exercises and activities among students of institutions of higher learning are swiftly brought about through social media networking platforms (SMNPs), for example, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and so on. These are generally utilized by students for different purposes. As of late, the utilization of social media networking platforms (SMNPs) has become a fundamental and reasonable piece of everyday correspondence among students. The utilization of SMNPs has a significant impact on students in tremendous manners, most particularly on their social cooperation and connections. The purpose of this research is to explore the utilization of social media networking platforms (SMNPs) amongst students of higher institution and the effect it has on their social relationship. An organized survey was structured and disseminated among the students who are viewed as dynamic users of social media networking platforms (SMNPs). The outcomes gotten shows that social media networking platforms (SMNPs) which is utilized most among the students is Twitter and Facebook and we additionally discovered that the number of hours that is being used on SMNPs each day is between 1-12 hours. Discoveries additionally shows that majority of the students utilize SMNPs significantly to stay in contact with family members, loved ones, as this is best effects that SMNPs have on the students. Additionally, our investigation shows that SMNPs majorly affects the social relationship of students as it has ousted most face-to-face communication, so they no longer observe it essential to interface or speak with a large portion of their contacts vis-à-vis. In any case, the students communicated their interests about the security and protection issues of SMNPs as a significant negative impact on their association on the SMNPs. More tenable approach and procedure ought to be imbued into the platforms for sheltered and satisfactory utilization of individual data that are being posted on the platforms. it shows the frequency of duration for which the respondents have been using any of the SMNPs. 7.0% of the respondents have been using SMNPs for the duration of 1-6 months, while 15.0% have been using SMNPs for the duration of 7-12 months and 78% of the respondents have been using SMNPs for more than a year from the period of these survey. It shows that most students are actually very familiar and experienced users of the SMNPs . study and a huge number of the students spend between 1- 12 hours daily on SMNPs. the results also show that majority of the students make use social media networking platforms for the ultimate purpose of getting in touch with their family and friends as most students are so keen about that. However, a good number of students strongly agree that social networking technology is as well good for academic learning in the university. In our study, we also observed that most students expressed their feeling on how social media networking platforms have affected their social interaction as it has taken over almost all their face to face interactions, since it is easy for them to communicate online with whoever they want to regardless of the distance, they don’t see it important any longer to interact with most of their contacts face to face. Even though there are numerous services that are being enjoyed and utilized through these SMNPs, there are as well some concerns on the use of these SMNPs and the major one is the privacy and security issues which some of these students complained about. Therefore, there is an urge on the SMNPs to improve the privacy and security policies and settings of their sites. A more secured strategy and policies should be ingrained into the sites for safe and adequate use of personal information that are being posted on their sites. Some students may decide to upload their copyrighted documents like music, videos or pictures and even some intellectual properties. SMNPs should endeavor to bring up measures to protect the misuse of such materials. Students should be careful on the kinds of links/hyperlinks that they click on when such links suddenly appear on their page because some of the links could be security threats that can break into ones’ account when clicked on. Further investigation is needed in order for the students to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding on the use of social media networking platforms. Also, some other sectors of the population such as the government sector, business sector, industry sector, banking sector, media sector and many others should be examined so as to get a wider view on the subject matter. It is also important to examine