Social Media Utilization And Students’ Academic Performance
[A CASE STDUY OF ALIMOSHO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, LAGOS STATE]

  For instance, Oshavire (2015) quoting Moody (2010) says:
Facebook represents a potentially useful tool in educational contexts. It allows for both an asynchronous and synchronous, open dialogue via a familiar and regularly accessed medium, and supports the integration of multimodal content such as student-created photographs and video and URLs to other texts, in a platform that many students are already familiar with. Further, it allows students to ask more minor questions that they might not otherwise feel motivated to visit a professor in person during office hours to ask. It also allows students to manage their own privacy settings, and often work with the privacy settings they have already established as registered users. Facebook is one alternative means for shyer students to be able to voice their thoughts in and outside of the classroom. It allows students to collect their thoughts and articulate them in writing before committing to their expression. Further, the level of informality typical to Facebook can also aid students in self-expression and encourage more frequent student-and-instructor and student-and-student communication. Twitter also promotes social connections among students. It can be used to enhance communication building and critical thinking.
In the same vein, Domizi (2013) utilized Twitter in a graduate seminar requiring students to post weekly tweets to extend classroom discussions. Students reportedly used Twitter to connect with content and other students. He posits that additionally, students found it “to be useful professionally and personally”. Also, Junco, Heibergert, and Loken (2011) quoted in Oshavire (2015) completed a study of 132 students to examine the link between social media and student engagement and social media and grades. They divided the students into two groups, one used Twitter and the other did not. Twitter was used to discuss material, organize study groups, post class announcements, and connect with classmates. These scholars found that the students in the Twitter group had higher GPAs and greater engagement scores than the control group. Meanwhile, Gao, Luo, and Zhang (2012) reviewed literature about twitter published between 2008 and 2011. They concluded that twitter allowed students to participate with each other in class (back channel), and extend discussion outside of class. They also reported that students used twitter to get up-to-date news and connect with professionals in their field. Students reported that micro-blogging encouraged students to “participate at a higher level” Since the posts cannot exceed 140 characters, students were required to express ideas, reflect, and focus on important concepts in a concise manner. Some students found this very beneficial. Other students did not like the character limit. Also, some students found micro-blogging to be overwhelming (information overload). The research indicated that many students did not actually participate in the discussions, “they just lurked”.
    YouTube is the most frequently used social media tool in the classroom (Moran, Seaman, & Tinti-Kane 2012). Students can watch videos, answer questions, and discuss content. Additionally, students can create videos to share with others. YouTube increased participation, personalization (customization), and productivity. YouTube also improved students’ digital skills and provided opportunity for peer learning and problem solving. Eick & King (2012) found that videos kept students’ attention, generated interest in the subject, and clarified course content.
2.9     Problems in Schools
    Social media networks, as well as other new forms of communication technology, are also a concern to many school professionals because of the level of distraction they create within the school (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2008). Even though many schools have created many strict rules that forbid the use of handheld technology during school activities or that block certain social networking websites, many students are still able to connect during lecture hours as they please. This has caused distractions during instruction time and has had a negative impact on the learning environment.