Motives for the use of social media for consumption of mainstream media content among students of the University of Ilorin.

Abstract

This study explores patterns of social media use among students in University of Ilorin and satisfaction they derive from using social media to consume mainstream media contents. Situated within the thesis of uses and gratifications theory, the study surveyed 382 students of the University of Ilorin, via convenience technique. Generally, participants agreed they use the social media to access news easily and know what is going on in the society. The study also revealed that user-friendliness, self-development, educational opportunities, convenience in communication, and enhancement of self-development, wide exposure, global exchange, and relaxation motivated their usage of the social media. Findings suggest that the gratifications offered by mainstream media are being better met by the social media. In addition accessibility, interactivity, mobility and multimediality emerged as specific gratifications obtained from the social media. It is thus recommended that the social media platform be unbundled in order to profile gratifications offered by individual medium with a view to ascertain how youth access mediated information in the contemporary time