FACTORS AFFECTING THE ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A CHANNELS FOR SHARING ACADEMIC INFORMATION AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF UMARU MUSA YAR’ADUA UNIVERSITY KATSINA

The purpose of this research study is to examine the factors affecting the adoption of Social Media as a channel for sharing academic information among undergraduate students of Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Katsina. Five Research questions guided the study. To achieve this, the descriptive survey research design and mixed method was adopted. The study focused on Students of Umaru Musa Yar’adua University hence, population consists of all 222 full-time undergraduate students in level 3 and 4 respectively. The simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 140 students. A well-structured Questionnaire and interview titled: Social Media and Academic Performance of Students was used to collect data from the participants. The descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage were used to analyze the demographic data. Research findings showed that a great number of students in University of Umaru Musa Yar ’adua Katsina, are addicted to social media. To this end, the researcher recommended that social media should be used for educational purposes as well; Social Networking Sites should be expanded and new pages should be created to enhance academic activities and avoid setbacks in the students’ academic performance; and Students should be monitored by teachers/lecturers and parents on how they use these sites. This is to create a balance between social media and academic activities of students to avoid setbacks in the academic performance of the students.