Main Article Content
Abstract
The social media networks’ knowledge, attitude and practice and its effects on academic performance among secondary school students are inadequately assessed and factors that influence their social media networking are poorly understood. Data was collected in May 2016 from a cross-sectional survey among Government Secondary School, Lugbe, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), to examine the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of social media among secondary school students and to ascertain possible influence on academic performance. A stratified sampling technique was adopted in selecting AMAC and Government secondary school with a sample size of 200. The knowledge, attitude and practice variables were descriptively analyzed. Findings of the study showed that majority of students have adequate knowledge, positive attitude and regularly visit social media networking sites. Facebook, Whatsapp, Google, Youtube, Instagram, Blackberry messenger, twitter and 2go are among social media platform sites frequently visited. High knowledge (100%), positive attitude and frequent use of social media networking for interaction, entertainment, sports and education materials were observed. A slight above 3 in 5 students frequently visited social networking sites for chatting and making friends, while students (21%) visited social media sites as an aid to learning, peer interaction, online experience sharing and building reservoir of knowledge. Researchers found that 27.9% of the students are currently using Facebook, 21% uses whatsapp and Google each, YouTube users (12%), Blackberry messenger (9%), and others (9%). Findings revealed that students that judiciously use social media networks for learning purposes, academically perform better than their peers who just use it for chatting and entertainment. Students spent average of 2 hours on social networking sites daily. This attitude is not healthy for secondary school students because it impinges on valuable time of studies and home chores. There is need to sensitize students on dangers inherent in frequent browsing, inappropriate site visits; and benefits embedded in judicious use of social media as learning culture, positive interaction and building of knowledge reservoir.