THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE USE OF MASS MEDIA AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTHS

The research work bothered on discovering the impact of social media on Nigeria Youths, the specific objectives of the study was to assess the effect of social media on youths in Nigeria, to study the accruable benefits that could accompany the use of these media, and to recommend ways to minimize the identified negative effects. The methodology employed by the researcher was descriptive survey method and exploratory survey method of research as is most suitablefor the study. Data was collected online through the use of google forms and it was tabulated and analyzed using simple percentage for easy interpretation and understanding. The researcher discovered that a great number of students from Caleb University are aware of Social Media and make use of it, students also spend a lot of time on Social Media for academic activities and due to the amount of time spent on social media, academic performance of students suffer setbacks which could lead to poor performance. Thence, the researcher recommended that: social media should be expanded with new pages for students’ educational activities, students should distinguish between academic activities and chitchatting on social media, more time should be dedicated to research, the impact of social media on Nigeria youths should focus more on the positive side than the negative to encourage those who use it for educational activities to do more and also encourage others to follow in the same vein.