Information horizon and attitudes towards social media utilisation among secondary school students in ikorodu, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the information needs and sought behaviour and attitude of students towards social media by students in private secondary schools in Ikorodu metropolis, Lagos State, Nigeria. The survey research design was adopted for the study while the sample size for the study constituted two hundred and sixty-five (265) students. The questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Findings from the study revealed that information on educational opportunities (χ=3.46), information to complete assignments and pass (χ=3.37, information on entertainment matters (χ=2.79) and information on current affairs (χ=2.75) are the major information needs of the students. A high level of information seeking behaviour was established among the students (χ=3.01) while acquisition of information from instructors and textbooks (93.1%), making good decision after they find the information they are looking for (91.9%), making use of more than one source of information (84.6%), seeking information from the Internet (78.8%), making use of informal resources of information such as family, friends and colleagues (80.0%) and seeking supports from friends and colleagues (76.9%) are found to be the major information seeking behaviour exhibited by the students. Also, Google+(χ=2.97), YouTube (χ=2.58), WhatsApp (χ=2.47), Facebook (χ=2.45), Snapchat (χ=2.26), Facebook Messenger (χ=2.20) and Instagram (χ=2.17) are major social media being used by students in private secondary schools in Ikorodu, Lagos State while checking the Internet for educational websites (χ=3.20), looking up for general information (χ=3.19), looking up information about class assignments or projects (χ=3.18), consulting for school work (χ=3.18), preparing for competitive examinations (χ=3.08), entertainment/recreation (play games, watch movies) (χ=3.08) and streaming of educational videos (χ=3.00) are the major purposes for which the students use social media. The result further established a positive attitude towards social media by the students (χ=2.55) while a positive relationship was established between information needs and attitude towards social media (r = .364) and between information seeking behaviour and attitude towards social media by the students (r = .443) which implies that increase in information needs and information seeking behaviour of the students would lead to corresponding increase in attitude of students towards social media