Audience Perception Of Facebook As A Communication Platform: A Case Study Of Students Of The International Institute Of Journalism, Yenagoa Study Centre
ABSTRACT
Facebook is used to be one of the largest communication channels of the social media, as its main advantage is that it helps in connecting and reconnecting long distant friends and relatives. In spite of that, there has been a lot of controversies on its effects towards the users. This study examined the ‘Audience Perception of Facebook as Communication Platform of the Social Media: A Study of Students of International Institute of Journalism, Yenagoa Centre.’ The research method used for the study was Questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) of the Survey design, which tried to find the ideas, views and believes of Facebook. 390 copies of questionnaire were distributed to other users like Journalists, out of which 375 were retrieved. For the FGD, 20 PG students were drawn for the discussion. The results from the findings were analyzed using simple percentage and explanation building for the FGD. At the end of the research, the researcher found out that the audience do not view Facebook as a reliable medium for sourcing information and believes that frequent exposure to Facebook can have a negative impact on the academic and social behavior of the users. The researcher also found out that the audiences see Facebook as a good medium for socialization haven connected a lot of people and helped introverts to develop their communication skills. Based on the findings obtained from the research, the researcher recommended that youths be sensitized to strike a balance between their academic and usage of the medium. Parents were also encouraged to add their children/wards as ‘Facebook friends’ to enable them monitor their activities on Facebook.