A Discourse on the Use of Social Media by Journalists in Nigeria

Abstract

The social media, which is the product of new media technology, has incontrovertibly charted new frontiers for conventional journalists. Practitioners in most developed countries of the world now rely heavily on the social media to generate contents. Expectedly, the concept of collaborative journalism has emerged. Emphasis has shifted from mere social interactions among folks to more sophisticated collaboration. While there this is wide spread practice in the developed societies, available statistics indicate that journalists in Africa are still grasping to acquire the needed knowledge to utilize social media platforms. Thus, this study amongst other things is aimed at assessing the use of social media by journalists in Nigeria and how such usage affects the performance of their duties. The research design used was survey; purposive sampling technique was used in studying 399 registered journalists in South East Nigeria. The findings of this study indicated that Nigerian journalists do not make adequate use of the social media; social media enhance news gathering and dissemination; social media has remarkably affected the performance of journalists in Nigeria; social media has negative effect on journalists in Nigeria. The study recommends amongst others for the provision of adequate infrastructure and access; constant verification of the authenticity of stories through crowd sampling, financial support from both government and private sector and the adoption of necessary digital media skills by journalists to  reinvent the media and remain relevant in this digital age.