Exploring the Uses and Gratifications Theory in the Use of Social Media among the Students of Mass Communication in Nigeria

Mohd Nazri, Latiff Azmi and Nur Salina, Ismail and Aisar Salihu, Musa (2016) Exploring the Uses and Gratifications Theory in the Use of Social Media among the Students of Mass Communication in Nigeria. Malaysian Journal of Distance Education, 17 (2). pp. 83-95. ISSN 2180-4265

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Abstract

For decades, the Uses and Gratification (U & G) Theory has been the main theory of communication that explains what people do with the media. To many, the theory seems old. However, the emergence of social media breathes a new life into this aging theory. This paper seeks to explore the current functions of the U & G Theory in the students’ use of social media. Survey and focus group discussion were used to elicit information from purposively selected 111 final year students of mass communication. The paper discovers that majority of the respondents (98.2%) used social media for communication, collaboration, news sharing, research, expression of opinion, maintaining a connection, and making friends from other countries. Facebook and WhatsApp were the most preferred social networks among the respondents. The paper confirms that social media platforms have revived the functions of the U & G Theory and provided a plethora of media uses that the traditional media never could. Very few of the respondents used social media for information, to investigate why, the paper suggest that the Media Information Utility theory should be thoroughly investigated.

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