International Journal of Information Science and Management (IJISM)

Social Media for Information Dissemination among Students

Document Type : Articles

Authors

De-Graft Johnson Dei 1
Linda Anane-Donkor 2
Frimpong Okyere 2

1 Department of Information Studies University of Ghana, Legon

2 KAAF University College, Ghana

Abstract
Social media usage trends have established a drastic jump from 5% in 2005 to 72% in 2021. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the extent to which social media is being used to facilitate information dissemination by students in Ghanaian Universities. The Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) which seeks to explain why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs was used as the theoretical framework for the study. The descriptive research design was used to gather both qualitative and quantitative data from respondents across tertiary institutions in Ghana. The study established that social media serves as one of the vital tools for learning and information dissemination among the students. The students used social media for academic work more than for recreational activities. They access social media through the mobile devices they own and are connected to the internet. Whiles the majority of them had only one social media account, a significant proportion had more than one social media account. Although they somewhat trust the information on social media, they only consider it to be genuine unless it is related or find it relevant in the field of academics.https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.20088302.2022.20.3.8.5   

Keywords

Social Media
Uses and gratifications theory
WhatsApp
Facebook
Snapchat
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
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International Journal of Information Science and Management (IJISM)
Volume 20, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
Summer 2022
Pages 123-139

  • Receive Date 23 June 2021
  • Accept Date 03 December 2022

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