THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR STUDENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Since the introduction of Social Networking sites, communication has become much easier. When one has access to the internet, it is simple to communicate with friends and family. The internet has enabled us to connect with people from all over the world, and with a few mouse clicks, we can easily exchange information with them.
Social networking sites (SNSs) like Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, Skype, Twitter, Whatsapp, 2go, and others have attracted millions of users, many of whom have integrated these sites into their daily lives.
The Bulletin Board System (BBS) launched social networking in 1978. (google.com). The BBS was hosted on personal computers, and users had to dial in through the host computer’s modem to exchange information with other users over phone lines. This was the first system that allowed users to sign in and interact with one another, though it was quite slow due to the fact that only one user could be logged in at a time.
Six Degrees. com was the first meaningful Social Network site (google.com). It was the first Social Network site that allowed users to create profiles, list their friends, and surf the friend’s list in 1998.
Social networks have become a global phenomenon, attracting a diverse population of people of all ages, cultures, educational levels, and so on. In addition to checking emails on a regular basis, reading daily forums and newspapers, and using instant messaging tools.
In general, social networking helps people stay in touch with friends, maintain relationships, make new friends, form groups with people in their environment, and even form new groups with people with whom they share interests or needs.
Because of the rapid growth of Social Networking sites, populating by 2005, Myspace had more page views than Google, and Facebook, which launched in 2004, had become the world’s largest Social Networking site by early 2009. Facebook was first introduced as a Harvard Social Network in 2004. (Cassidy 2006).
This research work will basically look at the effects of Social Networking on students’ performance in the University of Calabar. The University of Calabar, with the acronym UNICAL is a University situated in Calabar, Cross River State, Southern Nigeria. It is one of Nigeria’s second generation Universities.
The University of Calabar was a Campus of the University of Nigeria until 1975. It was established by decree to fulfill its tradition and its motto which is “knowledge for service”. The male students are known as ‘Malabites’ while the female students are ‘Malabresses’. The University has the following Faculties:
1. The College of Medical Sciences
2. Faculty of Management Sciences
3. Faculty of Education
4. Faculty of Social Science
5. Faculty of Arts
6. Institute of Public Policy and Administration
7. Faculty of Law
8. Faculty of Science
9. Faculty of Agriculture
10. Institute of Oceanography
11. Graduate School
12. University of Calabar Consultancy Services.
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