The impact of social media on relationship building among undergraduates students in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of social media platforms on building relationships between undergraduate students at federal universities in South East, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The enrolment figure includes all undergraduates of five South-Eastern universities. Purposive sampling was used to sample undergraduates in two federal universities out of the five federal universities in the South-East. The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire developed. The instrument reliability was obtained as 0.71 using the Cronbach alpha reliability rating. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that the social media platform is contributing and influencing to the formation of relationships among undergraduate students in Nigeria. In addition, research has found that Facebook is the most widely used social media platform for relationship building and the main reason for using social media platforms for relationship building is for communication, and technology enhancement, among others. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among other things that appropriate guidance should be given to undergraduate students on how to effectively use the social media platform to build relationships.