USE OF WHATSAPP APPLICATION IN INFORMATION SHARING AMONG POST GRADUATE STUDENTS OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE DEPARTMENT, BAYERO UNIVERSITY KANO.

ABSTRACT The advents of ICT’s have made people to use different technological gadgets in their daily activities. ICT’s are evolving at very fast rate especially in facilitating communication among people Kuppuswamy, & Narayan (2010). The revolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) has transformed the people communicate. They provide the limitless connectivity and potential for interaction and collaboration (Parveen 2011). Social media is a means of interacting among people in which they create, share and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. It is an internet-based application that is built on the ideological and technological foundations that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content (Kaplan, 2012 in Balarabe, 2014). WhatsApp is one of the changes in technology that is commonly used on specific mobile phones and computers. Since the Smartphone became popular, many messaging services were launched but WhatsApp has become very popular among them. Besides all, this Application is highly addictive and can create a great impact on regular users, and apart from that it can leave a trace that becomes difficult to control and cure. More specifically, this study was designed to examine the “use of WhatsApp application in information sharing among PG students of LIS BUK” as it was earlier, the type of information they share, why the use of WhatsApp application and no other social media means of communications and the challenges faced in using and sharing information through WhatsApp application, the frequency of the usage, the purpose, factors facilitating the usage and the measures of addressing the problems identified.