Social Media And Academic Performance Of Students

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
As words may mean differently in different contexts, the following definitions are given as the words used as intended to be understood for the purpose of this study.

Social Media: According to wikipaedia, the free encyclopaedia, social media is a web and mobile based technology that supports interactive dialogue and produces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities and individuals. In essence, users generate and share all types of contents within their established networks; social media in this sense refers to facebook, Youtube, Whatsapp, 2go, Blogs, Twitters, BBM, Myspace, LinkedIn and so on.  They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests.

Social Networking Sites (SNS): A website where people put information about them and can send to others.

Social Networking: The use of internet to make information about yourself available to other people especially people you share an interest with to send messages to them.

Media: Are all those media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. “They are messages communicated through a mass medium to a number of people.

Academic: Teaching, Studying, of schools, colleges etc, scholarly literary contrasted with technical or scientific. And too much concerned with theory and logic, not sufficient practical.

Academic performance: Is the outcome of the students after assessments.

INTRODUCTION
The emergence, growth and development of Information Communication Technology (ICT) all over the globe have improved communication a great deal. Of course, communication has a long history as the existence of man but the invention of ICT has brought information to the finger tip of people. One cannot dispute the fact that the emergence of computers and mobile phones coupled with the corresponding internet facilities has aided the development and growth of many social media. People can now share ideas, thoughts, feelings, opinions, pictures, music, videos and make friends via different Social Networking Sites (SNSs). Thus, the social media has indisputably become one of the most important communication means in recent times (Tufekci, 2018).

However, Social Networking Sites exist so as to provide communication among people regardless of the distance, making it open to people easily share information, news, files and pictures and videos, create blogs and send messages, and conduct real-time conversations. These systems are referred to as social, simply because they allow communication with friends, family members, followers and co-workers so easily and effectively. It also strengthens the ties between people of those systems (Siibak, 2019). The favourites in the realm of internet sites are Facebook, Twitters, Youtube, Whatsapp, 2go, Instagram, Myspace, Skype among others. These websites and social forums are way of communication directly with other people socially and in media. The platforms can be used for teaching and learning processes, romantic relationship among others. They are playing a large and influential role in decision-making in the global world of economy, politics, social, cultural and education. Asides our educational landscape, the world political, religious, social, media and business settings have been greatly influenced by the potential of social media(Siibak, 2019).

We all need to realize that social networking communities are here to stay, considering the millions of users that they have. A great deal of students is actively engaged in these online communities all minutes, all hours, all days and all nights. The first activity early in the morning for many people today is to visit the social media sites while the last before going to bed is the same to check and update messages, pictures, news on the sites. The trend has become viral that whether at home or at work, on the street or on the bus, in the dining or kitchen, in the classrooms or religious houses, people continue to visit these sites for one reason or the other. In fact, those who do not patronize the sites are considered to be behind or not belong. Every student including pupils in basic schools now struggle to have gadgets such as mobile phones to engage in the online communities. Some force their parents and guardian to buy the iPads, Smart phones internet enabled computers, many worked to buy it while some go to the extent of stealing Smartphone to get along in this mad rush to engage in social media communication and interaction (Osharive,2015).

Social media networks have created a phenomenon on the internet that has gained popularity over the last decade. People use social media sites such as Facebook, Whatsapp, 2go, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, MySpace and a host of others to create and sustain relationships with others (Boyd & Ellison, 2017). These social media sites allow those who use them create personal profiles, while connecting with other users of the sites. Users can upload photographs, post what they are doing at any given time, and send personal or public messages to whomever they choose. These platforms are also used to send breaking news and advertise products as they cover a wide range of people. In this “information age,” social media sites seem to be growing in popularity rapidly, especially among young adults. Without any exaggeration, the fact remains that we live in a wired generation where information communication has become so easy and fast. The information gaps and delays have been bridged with the new technology and access to the internet. People can source and get any information in any discipline without stress nowadays.

CONCEPT OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Since this social media phenomenon is continuing to grow at a fast pace, it is important to understand the effects it has on personal communication. Social media networks offer a straightforward way to converse with peers and get peers’ feedback, as well, which may influence an adult’s self-esteem. For example, Facebook is used primarily by students to maintain relationships with individuals they are acquainted with who live near and far. Facebook makes it simpler to communicate with multiple people at a time. Social media may also make it easier for users to monitor activities of people they have not seen in a while as well as reconnecting with new and old friends

Social media is a phrase being tossed around a lot. It is a website that does not just give you information but interact with you while giving you information. It is a group of internet- based application that allows the creation and exchange of users generated content. It is easy to confuse social media with social news because we often refer to members of the news as the media. Social news site is also social media site.

According to Kietzmannn (2012), social media is that means that employ mobile and web-based technology to create highly interactive platforms via which individuals and community share, co-create, discuss and modifies user-generated content.

Kaplan and Haenlein(2010) opines that social media is a group of internet-based applications that builds on the ideological and technological foundations of web 2.0 and allows the creation and exchange of users-generated content. They explained that social media include web-based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into interactive dialogue. The scholars added that social media has become one of the major channel of chatting through platforms such as 2go, BBM, whatsapp, etc. In their opinion, there has been an increase in the mobile social media which has created new opportunity for browsing and interaction among people. So, such media are technologies that facilitate social interactions, make possible collaboration, and enable deliberations across stakeholders. It can, however, be deduced that social media refers to the means of interaction among people in which users create, share, exchange and comment among themselves in different networks as well as receiving feedback within seconds.

In the view of Ogedebe (2012) quoted in Osharive (2015), students continue to spend more time on the social media than any site. According to him, the total time spent on social media across mobile devices increased by 37%, 121 billion minutes in July 2012 compared to 88 billion minutes in July 2011. This position affirms the fact that communication has taken a new dimension, increased greatly and has been enabled through the social networking sites recently.

CONCEPT OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Wikipedia defines academic achievement or (academic) performance as the outcome of education-the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals. Academic performance is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment. This implies that the academic performance represents performance outcomes that indicate the extent to which a student has accomplished specific goals that were the focus of activities in instructional environments, especially in school, college and university. In educational institutions, success is measured by academic performance, or how well a student meets standards set out. As career competition grows fiercer in the working world, the importance of students doing well in school has caught the attention of parents, legislators and government education departments alike. Parents care about their child’s academic performance because they believe good academic results will provide more career choices and job security. Performance in school is evaluated in a number of ways. For regular grading, students demonstrate their knowledge by taking written and oral tests, performing presentations, turning in homework and participating in class activities and discussions. Teachers evaluate in form of letter or number grades and side notes, to describe how well a student has done. In another instance, students are evaluated by their performance on standardized tests geared toward specific ages and based on a set of achievements students in each age group are expected to meet.

TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media includes such tools as electronic blogs, audio/videos tools (e.g. Youtube), internet chat rooms, cellular and computer texting and social networking sites. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) noted that the striking feature of social media is that it goes beyond users being able to create and consume information themselves. Social media application such as facebook (a network that allows users create profile, add friends and exchange messages), twitter (a social network and micro-blogging site that allows users to send and read text-based posts), Youtube (a videos-sharing website that allows users upload, share and view videos), LinkedIn (a business-related social network sites that allows users share pictures) and many other social media exist and have become popular among internet users.

ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
There is no doubt in the fact that an additional benefit of social technologies provided on the internet is that they are frequently free or require marginal investment, eliminating a potential barrier to adoption. Many internet service providers now give data to navigate through the internet free. There have been various overviews and opinions which recognized four major advantages of social media use in education. These include, enhancing relationship, improving learning motivation, offering personalized course material, and developing collaborative abilities. This means that social networking activities have the possibility of enhancing student contact and is used to improve their participation in class, particularly where introverted students are involved. Students can function in online group learning, with less or no anxiety of needing to raise questions before peers at school. This incredible development has helped students as well as academic researchers to have the limitless access to information through the internet and social media to advance knowledge.

STUDENTS ADDICTIVENESS TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Scientists have found that teen social media overuse creates a stimulation pattern similar to the pattern created by other addictive behaviors. Hence, the brain responds to social media the same way it responds to other “rewards”— with a release of dopamine. These dopamine rushes are catalyzed when a teen posts something online and is met with likes, shares, and positive comments from their peers(Greenfield et al., 2018).

“Social media use targets our limbic system through its susceptibility to intermittent variable rewards—the same basic idea behind slot machine design—that get us “hooked” and coming back from more. Our brains keep seeking the dopamine hit that comes with the next post we see on our feed or the next reaction to something we’ve posted. Research also suggests that these rituals may prime the brain for other future unhealthy dependencies or addictions.”

—Don Grant, PhD, Newport Director of Outpatient Services

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
The advent of social network platforms may also be impacting the way in which learners engage with technology in general.

Social media, as a computer mediated tool that allows people or company to create, share, exchange information, career interest, ideas, pictures, video via a network, has created a lot of opportunities for students and bridge the gap of communication. At least, students would be using two or more of Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Black berry messenger, Whatspps, Google plus, Skype, 2go and a host of others to meet their yearnings for information, relationship, friendship and other benefits. In the olden days, people went out to Post Office to send letters and had to wait for many days after before receiving reply. But today, the reverse is the case as people go online to chat, send messages with pictures, audio and videos etc, and get reply instantly with the power of social media.

Social network such as YouTube is one of the most frequently used social media tool in the classroom (Moran, Seaman, &Tinti-Kane 2012). Students can watch videos, answer questions, and discuss content. Additionally, students can create videos to share with others. YouTube increased participation, personalization (customization), and productivity. YouTube also improved students’ digital skills and provided opportunity for peer learning and problem solving. Eick& King (2012) found that videos kept students’ attention, generated interest in the subject, and clarified course content.

Social networking and their educational uses are of interest to many researchers. Livingstone and Brake (2018) in their opinion said “Social networking site, like much else, on the internet represents a moving target for researchers and policy makers.’’ According to them, recent trends indicate that 47% of American adults use social network. Internet users in Nigeria are growing rapidly.

With over 92 million of the total population of over 160 million Nigerian people surfing through the internet in a month and the majority of these people use smart phones, there is no gainsaying in the fact that students are well exposed to social media through the internet. This access to the internet has provided wider opportunities for teaching, sharing of information, ideas, thoughts and general researches for the advancement of education. Other benefits are tabulated as below:

Contexts and Benefits Ideas
Using social networking as an informal learning tool. Social networking is helpful and convenient for discussions and communication
Students using video, creating blogs, chatting and communicating with friends. A good tool for learning with entertainment and fun.
Students use social networking for tracking activities, friends and videos. Social networking is beneficial for students working memory and learning skills.
Facebook can facilitate learning students Facebook and Twitter as a knowledge sharing tools
Students reported that Facebook is better for navigation and search. Students learn more using Facebook. Facebook as a tool for making education more efficient and effective.
Students gained more vocabulary and improved their writing, reduced their spelling mistakes. Facebook improves the writing skills of students
Students can exchange assignments, resources, and discussions around educational materials and issues

Facebook as a group collaboration and communication domain.

Source:Heyam(2014)

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
Social media networks that students are more exposed to and the influence of social media as a medium of interaction between students have been part of discussion in recent times and which have imparted on their academic performance negatively.

Social media networks, as well as other new forms of communication technology, are also a concern to many school professionals because of the level of distraction they create within the school (Greenfield &Subrahmanyam, 2018). Even though many schools have created many strict rules that forbid the use of handheld technology during school activities or that block certain social networking websites, many students are still able to connect during lecture hours as they please. This has caused distractions during instruction time and has had a negative impact on the learning environment.

Instead of students reading their books, they spend their time chatting and making friends, sharing obscene materials via the social media and this might definitely have negative influence on their academic performance, because when you do not read, there is no way you can perform well academically. It is a common thing to see a student chatting in sensitive and highly organized places like church, mosque and classroom environments. Some are so carried away that even as they are walking along the highway, they keep chatting, the scenario that has made some to lose their lives after they are hit by cars, motorcycles or crushed by trains.

Cyber-Bullying – Participating in online social networks also increases the likelihood of being victimized online, or, cyber-bullied (Mesch, 2019). According to this scholar, Cyber-bullying is the use of communication technology, such as SNSs, to harm or “bully” others. He highlighted forms of cyber –bullying to include harassing emails, web pages, hateful instant messages, text messages, and cruel posts on social networking sites. He added that the result of being a victim of cyber-bullying can be embarrassment, feelings of belittlement, low self-esteem, and even suicide. Because the internet allows users to remain anonymous on websites or create false profiles, cyber-bullying has become a serious issue. According to him, one national poll showed that over 13 million children between the ages of 6 and 17 have reported victims of cyber-bullying . Research has also shown that an adolescent is more likely to harass or harm another student if they are not together face-to-face, which also can make a social networking site a perfect place for trouble to manifest. However, there is no current legislation that protects students from this type of harassment, even though there are laws for more traditional types of bullying (Geach&Haralambous, 2019).

Social media networks, as well as other new forms of communication technology, are also a concern to many school professionals because of the level of distraction they create within the school (Greenfield &Subrahmanyam, 2018). Even though many schools have created many strict rules that forbid the use of handheld technology during school activities or that block certain social networking websites, many students are still able to connect during lecture hours as they please. This has caused distractions during instruction time and has had a negative impact on the learning environment.

CONCLUSION
This study has demonstrated that the students in University of Ilorin are aware of the social media and have access to them. Findings also indicated that they are influenced to a great extent by the social media positively because they focus on chatting and music while their academic activities are neglected to suffer. A lot of benefits abound in the use of social media networks such as sharing information and ideas, improving reading skills etc. Despite the benefits that comes with the participation of students on social media, networks, its misuse could affect the academic life of the student and thereby their performance. Therefore, social media compete with academic work for students’ attention. It is therefore the responsibility of the student to make the right decision in relation to the use of social media network.

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