Adult Users’ Engagement and Utilisation of Social Networks Sites in Nigeria

Rodney Ciboh 1 *
More Detail
1 Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 5, Issue December 2015 - Special Issue, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/5670
OPEN ACCESS   1318 Views   1413 Downloads   Published online: 01 Dec 2015
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

Most studies on social media use in Nigeria focus on youths and address issues such as internet accessibility; frequency and extent of social networking sites use; political attitudes and online political participation; academic uses and news consumption, and the addiction to this form of media. Whilst youths are avid users, studies indicate that popularity of social media continues to grow among older adults of 65+ years with multiple use rates. Hence this research describes the specific communication-based activities that occur on these sites among adults in Nigeria. The paper finds older Nigerians’ communication on SNS disposed to bonding social capital as interactions skew towards family members, close friends and colleagues. And although only about three in ten adults’ communication tends towards making new friends on social media, it concludes nonetheless that adult Nigerians’ social interactions on SNS may yet have positive correlation with bridging social capital and its potential resources.

CITATION

Ciboh, R. (2015). Adult Users’ Engagement and Utilisation of Social Networks Sites in Nigeria. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 5(December 2015 - Special Issue), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/5670

REFERENCES

  • Adaja, T. A. and Ayodele, F. A. (2013). Nigerian youths and social media: harnessing the potentials for academic excellence. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review Vol. 2, No.5; Jan. 2013 Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://www.arabianjbmr.com/pdfs/KD_VOL_2_5/8.pdf
  • Alabi, O. F. (2013). A survey of facebook addiction level among selected Nigerian university undergraduates New Media and Mass Communication Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/NMMC/article/viewFile/4533/4606
  • A'lam Elhuda, D. and Dimetry, D. A. (2014). The Impact of Facebook and Others Social Networks Usage on Academic Performance and Social Life among Medical Students at Khartoum University. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 3, 5, pp. 41-46.
  • Akindehin, F. and Akindehin, M. (2011). Online social networking practices of some Nigerian university undergraduates: Implications for counselling. British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences ISSN: 2046-9578, Vol.3 No.1. Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://www.bjournal.co.uk/paper/BJASS_3_1/BJASS_03_01_06.pdf
  • Azeez , K. (March 27, 2014). Nigeria’s internet access grows 200% in four years. Retrieved 26th April, 2009from http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/nigerias-internet-access-grows-200-in-four-years/
  • Bell, C., Fausset, C., Farmer, S., Nguyen, J., Harley, L., Fain, W. B. (2013). Examining social media use among older adults. Proceedings of the 24th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (pp. 158-163).
  • Berry, R. (2011). Older people and the internet :Towards a “system map‟ of digital exclusion. International Longevity Centre – UK. Retrieved 24th April, 2009 from http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/files/pdf_pdf_181.pdf
  • Bradley, N. & Poppen, W. (2003). Assistive technology, computers and Internet may decrease sense of isolation for homebound elderly and disabled persons. Technology and Disability, 15(1), 19-25.
  • Brenner, J. and Smith, A. (2013). 72% of Online Adults are Social Networking Site Users. Retrieved April 14, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/oldmedia/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_Social_networking_sites_update_PDF.pdf
  • Chakraborty, R., Vishik, C. and Rao, H. R. (2013). Privacy preserving actions of older adults on social media: Exploring the behaviour of opting out of information sharing. Decision Support Systems 55, 948–956. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2013.01.004. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/caeiae/documents/pdf/chakraborty-dss-2013.pdf
  • Dagona, Z. K., Karick, H. and Abubakar, F. M. (2013). Youth participation in social media and political attitudes in NigeriaJournal of Sociology, Psychology and Anthropology in Practice, Vol. 5, No. 1, Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://www.icidr.org/Jspap_Vol5_No1_April2013/Youth%20Participation%20in%20Social%20Media%20and%20Political%20Attitudes%20in%20Nigeria.pdf
  • Demunter, C. (2005). The Digital Divide in Europe. Statistics in Focus 38/2005. Eurostat, Luxembourg. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3433488/5572700/KS-NP-05-038-EN.PDF/15d4a86b-929e-4757-bcf5-ad0e1502a387?version=1.0
  • Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C. and Lampe, C. (2011). Connection Strategies: Social Capital Implications of Facebook-enabled Communication Practices. New Media & Society, 13, 6, 873-892
  • Farkas, P. A. (2010). Senior Social Platform – An Application Aimed to Reduce the Social and Digital Isolation of Seniors. In Proceedings of REAL CORP, Vienna.
  • Feist, H. and McDougall, K. (2013). Older People’s Use of New Communication Technologies: Research Findings & Policy Implications Australian Population & Migration Research Centre Policy Brief, Vol. 1, No. 8 Retrieved April 12, 2015 from https://www.adelaide.edu.au/apmrc/pubs/policybriefs/APMRC_Policy_Brief_Vol_1_8_2013.pdf
  • Fox, S. (2001). Wired Seniors: A Fervent Few, Inspired by Family Ties. Pew Foundation, Washington, D.C. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2001/09/09/wired-seniors/
  • Fox, S. (2004). Older Americans and the Internet. Pew Foundation, Washington, D.C. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2004/03/28/older-americans-and-the-internet/
  • Gallup/BBG (2012). Nigeria Media Use 2012. Retrieved 24th April, 2009 from http://www.bbg.gov/wp-content/media/2012/08/gallup-nigeria- brief.pdf
  • Gemmill, E., & Peterson, M. (2006). Technology use among college students: Implications for studentaffairsprofessionals. NASPA Journal, 43(2), 280-300.
  • Harley, D. and Fitzpatrick, G. (2011). Appropriation of social networking byolder people: two case studies. ECSCW Workshop/Conference on Fostering Social Interactions in the Ageing Society: Artefacts – Methodologies – Research Paradigms. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/230785755_Appropriation_of_social_networking_by_older_people_two_case_studies
  • Idongesit, E. (2014). Youths, social media and gender-based violence: an emerging trend in Nigeria? International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 3, 1, 21-27.
  • Internet world stats, (June 2014). Internet Usage Statistics for Africa: Africa Internet Usage and 2014 Population Stats. Retrieved 24th April, 2009 from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm
  • Joinson, A. N. (2008). Looking at, Looking up or Keeping up with People? Motives and Use of Facebook (pp. 1027–1036). In Proceedings of ACM CHI 2008 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM.doi:10.1145/1357054.1357213.
  • Jones, S., and Fox, S. (2009). Generations online. Washington, DC: Pew Internet &American Life Project, 2009. Retrieved 13th June, 2009 from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/PIP_Generations_2009.pdf
  • Kacie D. (2009). Use of “Social Networks” Strengthen Impact of Pro-Life Youth, National Rights to a Life (NRL) News Page 9, January 2009, Volume 36,Issue 1
  • Katz, J. E. and Rice, R. E. (2002).Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
  • Kuppuswamy, S., & Narayan, P. B. (2010). The Impact of Social Networking Websites on the Educationof Youth. International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN), 2(1), 67-79.
  • Rainie, L., Smith, A. and Duggan, M. (2013). Coming and Going on Facebook. Retrieved April 12, 2015 from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Coming-and-going-on-facebook.aspx
  • Lehtinen, V., Näsänen, J. and Sarvas, R. (2009). “A Little Silly and Empty-Headed” – Older Adults’ Understandings of Social Networking Sites Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology Pages 45-54. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ewic_hci09_paper6.pdf
  • Lindley, S. E., Harper, R., and Sellen, A. (2008). Designing for Elders: Exploring the Complexity of Relationships in Later Life. In Proc. HCI 2008 –People and Computers XXIII – Culture, Creativity, Interaction, 77-86.
  • Lovett, G. (2011). Over 50s drive facebook growth. Marketing Week. Available at: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/over- 50s-drive-facebook-growth-study-says/3027863.article. http://www.marketingweek.com/2011/06/27/over-50s-drive-facebook-growth-study-says/
  • Madden, M. (2010). Older Adults and Social Media . Retrieved April 12, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/08/27/older-adults-and-social-media/
  • Meyer, M. D.E. and Bray, C. W. (2013). Emerging Adult Usage of Social Networks as Sites of Activism: A Critical Examination of the TOMS and TWLOHA Movements. Ohio Communication Journal Volume 51, pp.5377http://cnu.edu/communication/profiles/meyer/pdf/04_2014.pdf
  • Nef, T., Ganea, R. L., Müri, R. M. and Mosimann, U. P. (2013). Social networking sites and older users – a systematic reviewInternational Psychogeriatrics. doi:10.1017/S1041610213000355 . Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.cclm.unibe.ch/unibe/philhuman/cclm/content/e200922/e200932/e273258/linkliste273259/Nefetal.-2013-Socialnetworkingsitesandolderusersasystem_ger.pdf.
  • Ofcom (2014). Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report, . Retrieved April 12, 2015 from http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/adults-2014/2014_Adults_report.pdf
  • Ojo, F. Y. and Madaki, F. (2014). Computer ownership, accessibility and usage of internet and social media among undergraduates in Ekiti state, Nigeria International Journal of Research, Education and Academic Development (IJOREAD) Vol.3 No. 1 Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://www.spreadng.org/ijoread/Ijoread%20vol3b.pdf
  • Oyero, o. (2013). The use and believability of social networks news among Nigerian youths. Covenant Journal of Communication Vol. 1, No. 1 2013 Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/cjoc/published/Oyero2013.pdf
  • Pfeil, U. & Zaphiris, P. (2010) Investigating social network patterns within an empathic online community for older people. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(5), p. 1139-1155.
  • Phang, C., Sutanto,J., Kankanhalli, A., Li,Y., Tan, B. and Teo, H. (2006). "Senior Citizens' Adoption of E-Government: In Quest of the Antecedents of Perceived Usefulness", HICSS, 2005, 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2005, pp. 130a, doi:10.1109/HICSS.2005.538. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/hicss/2005/2268/05/22680130a-abs.html
  • Radda, S. I. and Ndubueze, P. N.(2013). Fear of on-line victimization among undergraduate students: a comparative study of two selected urban universitiesAfrican Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies,7,1&2 Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://www.umes.edu/cms300uploadedFiles/AJCJS/Volume_7_Issue_1_and_2/VOL7.1%20RADDA%20FINAL.pdf
  • Räsänen, P (2006). Information Society For All? Structural Characteristics of Internet Use in 15 European Countries‟, European Societies, 8 (1), pp.59-81
  • Rainie, L., Smith, A., & Duggan, M. (2013). Coming and going on Facebook. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved 18th May, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/02/05/coming-and-going-on-facebook/
  • Sanusi R., Buhari G., Ibrahim A. and Bashir H. A. (2014) Use of social media among students of Nigerian Polytechnics. Presented at the International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design 24 - 26 April 2014, Istanbul – Turkey. Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://www.cmdconf.net/2014/pdf/47.pdf
  • Seeman TE, Lusignolo T, Berkman L, Albert M. (2001). Social Environment Characteristics and Patterns of Cognitive Aging: MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging.Health Psychology 20:243-255.
  • Selwyn, N. (2004) The information aged: a qualitative study of older adults' use of information and communications technology, Journal of Aging Studies 18 (4) 369–384.
  • Suleiman, A. A.(2012). Attitudinal disposition of nigerian university students toward social networking SITES. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning Vol 7, No 1 Retrieved August 29, 2014 from http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jet/issue/view/135
  • Sum, S., Mathews, M. R., Pourghasem, M., & Hughes, I. (2008). Internet technology and social capital: How the internet affects senior's social capital and wellbeing. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 202-220.
  • Terragon Insights, (2013). State of digital media nigeria. Retrieved 24th April, 2009 from http://www.africapractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Africa-Practice-Social-Media-Landscape-Vol-1.pdf
  • Udende, P. and Azeez, A. L. (2010). Internet access and use among students of the University of Ilorin, NigeriaJournal of Communication and Media Research. Retrieved August 29, 2014 from https://unilorin.edu.ng/publications/udendep/Internet%20access%20and%20use%20among%20students.pdfVol. 2 No. 1 Pages 33 – 42
  • WHO Report (2012). WHO African Region: Nigeria Retrieved 26th April, 2009 from http://www.who.int/countries/nga/en/
  • Wong, Y, Fung, J, Law, C, Lam, J & Lee, V (2009).Tackling the digital divide‟, British Journal of Social Work, 39, pp.754-767
  • Xie, B. (2007). Older Chinese, the Internet, and well-being. Care Management Journals:Journal of Long Term Home Health Care, 8(1), 33-38.
  • Zickuhr , K. and Madden, M. (2012). Older adults and internet use. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Older-adults-and-internet-use.aspx