PERCEIVED EFFECT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS ON STUDENT’S ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE ABEOKUTA, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Everybody depend on social networking for interaction and communication among peer which makes work easier in every setting. The study was carried out to determine the perceived effect of social networking on students’ academic performance in Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. Multistage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and twenty seven (127) respondents from three agricultural based colleges out of ten colleges in the study area. Data were collected primarily through the use of a well-structured questionnaire and was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that the mean age of respondents was 21 years and 50.4% of the respondents were female. Majority 96.1% of the respondents had access to the internet and 98.4% of the respondents used social networking sites. Major perceived effect of social networking on student’s performance were: social networking improve my knowledge about a product, service or organization (4.12), social networking is an effective tool for learning (=4.09), academic information is been sourced on social networking (4.13). A major factor affecting students’ academic performance were an impromptu test (2.09), family stress (=2.09), different assignments at the same time (=2.08), insufficient time for study (=2.07) and poor first year background (=2.11). Significant relationship existed between respondents age (r = 0.022, p < 0.05), College (r = 0.006, p < 0.05), effect of social networking tools(r= 0.055, p < 0.05) and their academic performance. Social networking tools improves academic performance positively. Campaign and orientation programme on study habit for students is highly recommended.