Influence of Facebooking and social media use on academic performance among Nigerian undergraduate social sciences students

Abstract

Anyone using the Internet is likely to use Facebook and anyone using Facebook is likely to use it just about every day. The prevalent uses of the Internet and related technologies is a sign-showing that they have become a part of human life. On any student’s academic side of life, the use of social media (taking Facebook as a case) has become commonplace, but their influences over the academic engagement and performance of students requires deeper understanding. In Africa, the need for studies on the interplay between social media and education is growing. This study focuses on the influence of Facebook on the academic performance of undergraduate social sciences students using three federal Universities in Nigeria, West Africa as research sites. The study shows that Facebook use did not significantly influence the academic performance of the surveyed students at these universities and that its use can, however, be harnessed for augmenting student academic performance and for advancing education in general.