INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA

This study sought to establish the influence of social media on consumer behavior amongst university students in Nairobi city county, Kenya. The general objective of the study was to establish the influence of social media on consumer behavior amongst university students in Nairobi city county. A Cross-sectional research design was used in this study. The sample frame consisted of university students within Nairobi city county. Convenience sampling technique was used and the sample size was arrived at using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) Table of sample sizes. 384 questionnaires were printed and distributed to collect primary data. 307 respondents returned the questionnaires which were administered and collected physically. The data was interpreted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).  The results of the study were represented in the form of Tables only. The study found out that there was a positive correlation between social media and consumer behavior of the respondents. Both internal and external stimuli are key to recognize the need to purchase a product. The study further found that Social media provides information on problems being faced by consumers. Friends and peers share comments, and likes towards product brands. It also provides an avenue for soliciting and relaying customer feedback. The study concluded that indeed social media has an enormous influence on consumer behavior amongst university students within Nairobi county. Keywords : influence, consumer behavior, social media, University students, Decision making DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-21-06 Publication date: July 31 st 2020

.22 Influence of peer ratings to motivate product purchases Table 4.23 Attractiveness of product demonstrations, pictures and graphics towards purchases Table 4.24 Attractiveness and up to date advertisements of social media Table 4.25 Delivery of product feedback without intermediaries Table 4.26 Ease of access of product attributes via social media Table 4.27 Credibility of product information posted on social media Table 4.28 Influence of social media recommendations on next product purchase Table 4.29 Emoji's, stickers and animations as used to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction. 12 13 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study
Social media is a group of internet-based applications that are anchored on technological and ideological foundation of web 2.0 and as such allows creation and sharing of user-generated content, (Kaplan & Heinlein, 2010). This provides a forum for sharing user-generated content without necessarily coming in to contact between users as it is in YouTube rather than applications that widely focus on continuous and ongoing interaction between users like Facebook and linked-in. Modern businesses irrespective of their sizes have embraced social media as a channel to reach out to their widespread consumer base.
According to Castronovo and Huang, (2012) customer and prospect interaction with brands is continuous even if one is not directly speaking to their audience but through platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram and many more. Therefore, a greater part of marketing can be done on social media and can bring enormous success to one's business by creating committed brand ambassadors that at the end can lead to increased sales. Social media marketing can therefore be said to be an essential part of online world that provides consumers with a platform of conversation on a website.
Companies most of which have resorted to creation of forums and blogs through which information pertaining their products is relayed to the prospects, feedback solicited and reviewed as and when they come. It is a rapidly evolving media that is less costly and more efficient to many companies. Consumer behavior is the decision-making activity of an individual or group involving evaluating, acquisition, use and disposal of products, ideas or services in order to satisfy their needs and those of others, (Kotler & Keller, 2006). It basically tries to establish how individuals or groups make spending decisions over their scarce available resources like time and money towards consumption of related products. Consumers behavior can therefore be said to be an in-depth study of what consumers buy, how, when, where they buy and the frequency of such purchases.
This study was anchored on two theories namely the theory of buyer behavior by Howard Sheth and the Black Box Model of consumer behaviour. The Howard Sheth model is built on psychological, social and marketing attributes that have effects on consumer choices with a defined sequence of information evaluation by consumer in order to aid in decision making.
This theory explains both cognitive and empirical functions of consumer behavior, (Howard, 1977). It has three stages namely; extensive problem solving, limited problem solving and habitual response behavior. It is based on four major variables namely; perception, learning, inputs, outputs and exogenous factors.
According to CUE, (2016) report on university enrolments: Kenya has about 539,749 students in both public and private universities with at least 31% of them being in Nairobi county ie about 167,322 students. According to economic survey, (2016) the university student's population in Nairobi county alone exceeds 100,000 students while in the whole country it is estimated to be 443,782 students. However, it is worth noting also that there was no exact and up to date data on university student's population here in Nairobi and Kenya at large as at the time of the study.
Nairobi county plays host to over 30 universities with the major academic institutions being University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, and United States International University among other repuTable universities and colleges. The universities are either public, private, mission or international. The students in Nairobi have embraced social media as their main communication tool as opposed to traditional media. The advent of smart phones and low data rates led to increased usage of social media. This coupled with the above factors makes it ripe for one to ask if indeed social media has had any influence on consumer behavior amongst university and as such this study sought to establish if there are any changes in consumer's decision making that emanate from using social media.

Social Media
According to Kaplan and Heinlein, (2010) social media is a group of internet-based applications that allows creation and interchange of user-made contents. There are more than a million new global users of the top social media platforms daily. The entire world has over three billion users of social media, (We are Social and Hoot suite, 2018). This represents 42% of the total world's population and an overall increase of 13% from the year 2017. This rising numbers seems impressive keeping in mind that social media is not as old as traditional media.
According to Statista, (2018) people spend approximately six hours a day active on online sites which translates to a quarter of their whole day.
The numbers were expected to increase with the rapid penetration of the internet and improvements due to use of smart phones especially amongst university students. The most active and visited sites includes Facebook having extended sites like messenger, WhatsApp, linked-in, Twitter and YouTube. The greatest contributor towards uptake of social media is technological advancement evident by emergence of smart phones and low data rates with high internet connectivity. Mobile providers have taken it as an initiative to provide accessible, affordable data charges and connectivity. Providers like Safaricom have gone a step higher to provide cloud connectivity whereas Telkom offers underground cable connectivity. This made it easier for users to access the internet even in their homes.
According to Masteler, (2012) the subscription of social media by Fortune Global 100 established that at least 87% of the companies subscribed to at least one of the major platforms thus posting a 10% increase annually. Facebook and Twitter accounts were on the increase and it was expected to rise with the coming years. According to Statista, (2018) the world's top five social media platforms are: Facebook (2.06 billion users), YouTube (1.5billion users), WhatsApp (1.3billion users), WeChat (963million users), while others comprised of 850 million users. The Digital Report, (2018) noted that with the expected growth in penetration of the internet, this numbers were expected to rise worldwide and Nairobi notwithstanding. The social media usage in Kenya currently stands at: Facebook 66.16%, Pinterest 14.94%, Twitter 8.80%, YouTube 5.79%, Instagram 2.4% and Reddit 0.8% (Stat Counter Global Stat, 2018). Social media has been described as the most impressive developments that has brought paradigm shift in economics of development (Madni, 2014). Al-Deen, (2013) noted that the introduction of social media necessitated firms to embrace its usage as part of their promotion strategy so as to cover a vast consumer base. Social media usage in Kenya and particularly Nairobi has been necessitated by availability of internet services and reduced prices of smartphone. Jumia, (2018) in its report noted that Kenya has had the highest level of smartphones penetration rate currently at 41 million which translated to 90.4% of Kenya's adult population. The increased mobile subscriptions and internet penetration revealed a growth of locally generated content that corresponded to proliferation of the social media communities and bloggers, (BAKE, 2017). Sochin, (2017) a research company revealed that 86% of Kenyans both Facebook and Twitter users were found in Nairobi while the remaining 14% is spread across the country.

Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior can be viewed as a decision-making process where one acquires, evaluates, uses then dispose of products. It is also an evaluation of how individuals and groups determine their needs, how often, what, where, when they purchase and experience the process. Therefore, consumer behavior tries to investigate and develop methods of qualifying, quantifying and influencing the behavior of consumers. Schiifman and Kanuk, (1997) provided two versions of consumer behavior namely personal and organizational consumers. Personal consumers buy goods and services for individuals, families use or as gifts to other people. They are in these manner final consumers. Organizational consumers purchase products and services with an intention to facilitate smooth running of the organization whether profiTable or non-profiTable, governments and institutions.
According to Mowen, (1993) consumer behavior is the study of buying units and the exchange process involved in acquiring, consuming and disposing products, experiences and ideas. By The modern world has seen social media changing the way consumers behave because during old days' people used to wait for companies and organizations to push product messages towards them. Nowadays consumers are directly accessing information via social media. Once consumers recognized their needs, they go surfing and browsing on online sites like Facebook and Twitter. The likes and shares by friends is counted as votes for the products of good and likeable characteristics. The dislikes are shown by thumbs-down emoji's and other icons. Therefore, we can say that need recognition can be greatly fueled by social media.

Relationship Between Social Media and Consumer Behaviour
According to Boyd and Ellison, (2007) social media is majorly said to mean social networks like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp among others where online activities by consumers are conducted. Castronovo and Huang, (2012) noted that social media is the best alternative marketing communication tool as opposed to traditional marketing. Most advertisements are also preferred through social media and other customer interaction channels. Smart companies therefore have resorted to adopt this fast changing trends. Internet retailing and products on offer are majorly shared by selling companies via social media so as to reach a wider consumer base within a short time and less cost. Jumia for example notifies its consumers of products on offer during Black Fridays majorly via this media.
According to Chu and Kim, (2011) social media is the best tool through which consumers share and exchange product opinions and information. Consumers usually put more trust on personal user reviews and recommendations posted on social media instead of traditional media. Social media has greater influence to each and every stage of consumer behaviour, (Mangolds & Faulds, 2009). Therefore, social media can be said to be a one stop shop for consumer product information since they access, share and exchange information about various brands at their own comfort. In this regard, companies have to integrate informative social media programs that suits the needs of their target consumers. Therefore, social media has an influence on consumer behaviour.

University Students
University students are generally youths who prefer accessing and using social media sites especially WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to find product information and services, (consumer lifestyle report in Kenya, 2017). The students are more enlightened and informed of their rights and obligations thus demand quality but affordable products and services. They have online applications through which they order cabs by few clicks of their phones. The mobile applications have interactive channels whereby customers seek for feedback on the services offered and even suggest better ways of improving in future.
The university students majorly comprise of the youths who are said to be the first generation after the arrival of the internet. According to Bernoff, (2008) this category raised a major concern as to what evolving social media influence is doing to their consumption behaviour, possible impacts in case of further advancement and improvement in technology. They are so enthusiastic towards embracing use of internet and thus social media as a tool of enhancing connectedness and creating friendships. Despite the students being spread out across universities, they are said to possess similar or almost similar product characteristics.
Furthermore, university students are ever rushing to beat time and deadlines. As such they prefer fast products packed to be consumed while on transit. They are always looking for new and better products that will at least satisfy their desires. On the other hand, they possess little money to spend and such consume products that are not that expensive but served in better quantities to satisfy their needs. They are always on top of any emerging and trending technologies. Therefore, this group of consumers generated was necessary to be studied and understand why they behave the way they do in regards to products, services or ideas.

Research Problem
The emergence and continuous growth of social media has facilitated several internets based events for consumers such as gaming, chatting, blogging and sending messages, (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). This media emerged to be a revolutionary force through which a platform is created for consumers to access information and product advices from peers or producers alike.
It became an area of networking and an avenue where marketers contact customers.
Organizations have had to create social media departments as areas of communication, advertising, social networking to meet and engage their customers or prospects.
Despite organizations increasing their expenditures on establishing and using social media: it is not clear how well they can measure and establish the real return on such investments. Despite several researchers conducting related studies, this one sought to establish the influence social media has on consumer behaviour specifically amongst university students in Nairobi county.
Sochin, (2017) noted that 86% of Kenyans using social media are found in Nairobi. This is necessitated by increased and improved internet penetration, connections, availability and accessibility of smartphones. The ability to generate and share local contents or correspondences by bloggers and social media communities in Nairobi also contributed to increased acceptance and use of the same media. University students mostly used this media because of its perceived credibility, convenience and effectiveness, (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009). They relied on social media reviews and or opinions to make purchase decisions.
However, it was a bit difficult to measure experience of users before and after using this media in making buying decisions.
Past researchers attempted to unravel the mystery between social media and consumer behaviour. Jashari, (2017) researched on the impact of social media on consumer behaviour in Kosovo based on use of internet and social media. Majority of the respondent's agreed that increased internet connectivity contributed to high usage of social media and influences on customer purchases. However, this study focused on only two variables i.e. internet and social media. It did not even classify the modes of internet usage like cable connections and mobile data connectivity. Also, this study diverted from consumer behaviour to relationship between internet and social media. Other factors such as cost, availability, speed and immediacy of social media were also ignored. Therefore, this research sought to gain knowledge and understanding of the behaviours exhibited and decisions made by university students due to use of social media. It also sought to establish an analysis of how consumers behave and interact in online environment and factors that are likely to influence them use social media.

General Objective
The objective of this study was to establish the influence of social media on consumer behaviour amongst university students in Nairobi city county.

Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of this study was: To determine the influence of social media on various stages of consumer decision making process.

II.
To establish factors that contribute to usage of social media amongst university students.

Value of the Study
At the end of this entire study, its theory depicts the attributes of consumer behaviour as a result of using social media. It also sought to establish the extent in which social media has influence if any on people's consumption and expenditures patterns and why or who they relate to in making such decisions. It also provided a reference point for prospective investors intending to explore Nairobi as their target market by informing them the features of their possible target markets. Nairobi being a fast growing business hub attracts interest of investors both locally and internationally thus the findings here is of great importance in establishing future business communication and advertising strategies.
Furthermore, the study is also valuable to academicians and practitioners in their various disciplines. For academicians, it sets stage for future citations and further research on the same or related topics. For practitioners, it provides adequate information that will be used for decision making during policy and strategy formulation. The findings can be used to set market strategies that will aid in managerial decision making of organizations. It's also key in formulation and revision of policies to be used in both public and private sectors.
The government can also use the findings in making relevant policies like the most recently launched "Ajira Digital" program. The focus of the current government is towards increased growth in ICT through online employment and businesses. It can also use the findings to establish the trends and challenges affecting use of social media in Kenya and as such aid in setting relevant laws and regulations for its citizens. It can also use the findings to make relevant laws to regulate and control use of e-commerce. Kenya is yet to establish sound laws that regulates use of social media and as such the findings can help conclude it.

Introduction
This chapter has an extensive explanation of various theories and models of this study based on the research objective. It covers several aspects of social media and consumer behaviour as discussed here in.

Theoretical Foundations
This study was built on Howard Sheath model and Black Box Model of consumer decision making.

Howard and Sheth Model
Howard and Sheth, (1969) put forward the Theory of Buyer Behaviour using a model called Howard Sheth model. This model was built on the logic that; there are inputs in form of stimuli, outputs resulting from given stimuli and ending with a purchase having variables in between them. It has three levels of decision making as discussed here in. It starts with extensive problem solving. Here, consumers have no any basic information or knowledge of available brands and as such lack preference for any. The consumers lack experience of the products they are searching and hence go to look for related brands before making a decision. This stage is said to be involving technical products that require high levels of know how like heavy machinery and equipment. The customers know little about them thus purchase less of the same.
It is then followed by limited problem solving stage. Here, customers have little knowledge over what they want to purchase. They conduct brand comparisons before arriving at a brand of preference. The consumer can be said to have discovered the criteria to use but they are still undecided though they possess partial knowledge about the available brands. This model has four attributes namely; inputs, perceptual learning and constructs, outputs and external variables. The inputs contain three different types of stimuli or information sources found in a consumer's environment i.e. significance, symbolic and social stimuli.
The final stage is known as habitual response behaviour. The consumer is said to have a strong inclination towards a given product. These are ordinary consumer products used in everyday life like milk, bread, flour and so on. The consumer is said to have gathered lots of information and assessed available alternatives. They can strongly differentiate different brands before making a decision to purchase.
University students in Nairobi use social media to search basic or advanced information regarding what to buy or not. The social media posts with more likes and shares will most likely influence one to think of such a product as good and fit to use whereas those posts with little comments and more dislike icons are likely to be avoided. They possessed information at different levels and as such social media provided a forum through which they lay bare their thoughts about a product or company at large. The model is built on material attributes like quality and price. However, this stimulus is not applicable to every society or consumer segment.

Black Box Model of Consumer Behaviour
This model was first published by Phillip Kotler in 1967 where he noted it as the black box stimulus-response theory of consumer behaviour. The consumers mind was termed as the black box and is not taken into much consideration but instead things that cause someone to think in favour of a product i.e. stimulate a process to achieve a desirable purchasing response. The buying response is here in referred to as output. This model emphasizes that something external must trigger a consumer to consider making buying decisions. The external stimuli can include the entire marketing mix. Other external dynamics such as situation, economy, lifestyle, societal status and demographic characteristics can also play a role to trigger a purchase. Methods of promotions, availability of products, advertising messages can also trigger purchase response.
After the stimuli have been identified, it undergoes a transformation process now in the black box or consumers mind. Personal influences like needs, motives, perception, attitude, beliefs, and lifestyle, learning and personal values are transformed or processed in one's mind. After ones thorough analysis of the above aspects, whatever was in mind will be used in making decisions. The decision making process will therefore involve solving a problem, just getting needed information, evaluate available alternatives, commit a purchase and then evaluate post purchase outcomes. All this transformative processes happens inside one's mind.
The final stage is getting consumer responses. In this regard, two alternatives are expected i.e.
purchase or no purchase. The purchase will be as a result of satisfaction arising from the product itself, the price quoted, the modes of payment, the availability and the source of product, approval of advertising messages by consumers and so on. No purchase is as a result of dissatisfaction of the consumer. The consumers' expectations will have not been met and as such the product or service got thumbs down note.

Empirical Review
Several researchers attempted to study the influence of social media on various aspects of consumer behaviour within and outside Nairobi. Chen, (2014)  and other social media sites did not affect the academic performance. However, the study also revealed that 64% of students preferred WhatsApp rather than Facebook. This is because it saves their time, consumes less data bundles, promote both co-curricular and academic performance. Other emerging social sites are quickly overtaking Facebook and as such basing the study on only one site is insufficient to make overall conclusions about the same.
Pather, (2014) studied on the factors affecting consumer decision making process in Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana). It was revealed that a positive macroeconomic environment in both east and west Africa that leads to low-end and high-end consumers. The factors cut across the countries to influence consumption were similar. However, she only focused on size of the countries and consumer products and as such the study cannot be said to be representative of the entire African continent. East and west African countries both within or along the equator and as such it is possible that they share similar population characteristics like culture, religion, traditions and economic status. However, north and south African countries seem extreme on the characteristics of their populations. The geographical spread between west and east Africa also raises a concern on the research design used and sampling techniques employed to cover such vast spread population.
Mwaisaka, (2017) studied on the influence of social media on consumer decision making process in cosmetic industries in Nairobi found that there was a positive relationship between the variables. However, she only focused on female customers whereas nowadays even males use cosmetics. It was thus said to be gender discriminatory. It also focused only on frequency and exposure of social media users in the sites where as there are other variables like cost of media, availability, internet connectivity and reliability. It did not give much details and intentions as to why the women buy such cosmetics but instead only looked at the exposure of the very population to social media messages. The perceived intentions for using cosmetics and social media. Also the factors that influence men to start and continue using cosmetics needs to be revealed.
Mwangi, (2017) studied on the influence of social marketing on consumer behaviour in Nyeri town. She found out that there was a fair correlation between the variables and that consumption decisions were less influenced by brand recognition. However, this study omitted other consumer attributes like attitude, perception, motivation and only focused on a small cliché of residents in Nyeri town.

Summary of Knowledge Gaps
This chapter was built on two theories i.e. Howard Sheth and Black Box models. Both theories focused on aspects that make a consumer make a purchase decision. Howard Sheth did not satisfactorily explain the link between consumption decisions and behaviour. The Black Box majorly dwelt on externalities to influence one's mind without giving a myriad of options to make a purchase decision. It had only two options i.e. purchase or no purchase and as such gives no room for other alternatives to come in between. Stimuli is the major factor that triggers other processes till a purchase is made.
The Chinese study by Chen. (2017) started broadly but later on narrowed down to specific and few attributes that leads to one's consumption of a products. Its findings therefore cannot be wholly relied upon but can be used as part of what makes consumers decide on what they buy or not. Aida and Wei, (2012) focused only on food retailers and the processes involved by consumers in social networking. It majorly dwelt on Facebook pages of companies but did not look at the extent to which other such social sites had on influencing their consumption decisions and behaviour.
Oyetunde, (2017) majorly dwelt on Facebook rather than all social media sites. It also focused on students' academic performance rather than the entire student life in the universities.
WhatsApp has been found out to be the youth's favourite unlike Facebook. Other forms and sites of social media are quickly emerging and is being embraced globally. As such Facebook alone cannot be said to be conclusive about the influence of social media on consumer purchase and decision making processes. Pather, (2014) focused on east and west African countries that possesses similar or almost similar characteristics. It should have been maybe in northern or southern Sahara as such countries exhibit different features like culture and religion.
Mwaisaka, (2017) studied about cosmetic industry and found a positive correlation between the variables. It specifically focused on women not taking into consideration that nowadays men also use cosmetics. It may be viewed as gender discriminatory in the current world. Consumers have different attributes that makes them behave and make decisions differently. Mwangi, study could be said be narrow as it only focused on social marketing but ignored major attributes of consumer behaviour like attitude, motivation and perception. Nyeri can also be considered as a rural town and as such social media penetration can be so minimal. The rural Kenya only has at least 14% of social media users as opposed to Nairobi.

Conceptual Framework
According to Mugenda and Mugenda, (2003) conceptual framework is a hypothesized model identifying the concepts under study and their relationships. It is a diagrammatic representation that shows the inter-relationships between various variables in the study as shown in Figure 2.1. The independent variable is social media having attributes like accessibility and reliability whereas dependent variable is customer satisfaction comprising of consumer decisions. Social media should be reliable that is it should be effective and efficient.

Introduction
This chapter outlines research methods used to conduct this study. The research methods included research design, population and sampling design that led to a representative sample.
It also presents the sampling technique, sample size, data collection methods, data analysis and presentation methods as applied here in.

Research Design
According to Churchill, Brown and Suter, (2009)

Target Population
Cooper and Schindler, (2014) noted that target population is the overall collection of elements under study. Nairobi host more than thirty publics, private and mission universities whose population is estimated to be over 169,000 (CUE, 2016). According to Krejcie and Morgan, (1970) when the target population exceeds 100,000 (one hundred thousand) then the sample size is 384. Therefore, the sample size for this study was 384 students drawn from universities within Nairobi county.

Sampling Design and Sampling Frame
Mugenda and Mugenda, (2003) described sample design as a guiding framework which helps a researcher determine how to study a sample from the target population. A researcher carefully selects the subgroup whose characteristics that will be the representative of the whole population. This study was based on convenience sampling. The elements of the sample were picked depending on their proximity and convenience to the researcher. This method was essential due to time and cost constraints. Reliability is the overall measure of consistency, (Cooper & Schindler,2014). Self-administered questionnaires having both closed ended and open ended were circulated at the researcher's convenience. The sample frame was the study of only universities students within Nairobi county. The sample size distribution is as shown in  Total 384

Data Collection Methods
Questionnaires were designed according to the research objective so as to answer the research questions put forward based on the research problem. This method helped in collecting primary data. The questionnaire was arranged in various sections and subsections of questions so as to get the innate information about the research problem. A 5-point Likert scale was used to find out to what extent the respondents react to the said parameters. Malhotra and Birks, (2007) notes that Likert scale is the most used applied rating scale that allowed participants to indicate the extend of agreement or disagreement on the statement items. 384 questionnaires were provided only to students found at the respective universities at the time of study.

Data Analysis
Blumberg, Cooper and Schindler, ( 2014) noted that data analysis is the procedure whereby data is collected, sought, modelled and transformed into meaningful information that puts forward conclusion to be used in decision making. Primary data was collected using questionnaires. Descriptive statistics enabled summarization of the data set from the sample population. Measures of central tendency were used to describe the central points of the data set whereas variability was used to describe the spread of data. Measures of frequency described how often a variable affects the data set. Percentiles were used to describe positions of variables in respect to the data set. Regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which the variables related to one another in the study and also to show some predictions of the likely outcomes of such relationships.

Introduction
This chapter gives a summary of the entire study, draw conclusions and offer recommendations on the likely implications of the findings in this study.

5.2: Summary
The main objective of this study was to establish the influence of social media on consumer behaviour amongst university students within Nairobi county. Other objectives were to establish the influence of social media on various stages of consumer decision making process to establish factors that contribute to usage of social media amongst university students. Nairobi county has a population of over 169,000 students.
The sample size of the study was 384 derived from Krejcie and Morgan, (1970).
Questionnaires were designed and circulated to collect primary data from respondents across universities found within Nairobi county which was then analysed using SPSS.
The researcher majorly used descriptive statistics.
The males comprised of 123 (one hundred and twenty-three only) while females were 184 (one hundred and eighty-four only). Majority of the respondents were pursuing certificate and diploma course. The study indicated that almost equal percentage of students accessed various and multiple social media sites as opposed to sticking to one site. 15% of the respondents accessed other social media sites apart from what was listed in the questionnaire. A cumulative 97.1% spend between 0-9 hours a day on social media. Majority of the respondents (81.1%) agreed that ease of access to social media has an influence to their consumption behaviour. Authenticity of information posted on social media and the rates of internet speed were also major factors contributing to using social media at 98%. The information obtained via chats, comments and shares were reliable to enable one make a product decision.
On whether social media influences consumers at the pre-purchase stage, majority of the respondents agreed with over 95% overall. The product features posted, advertisements and ease of information search coupled with peer reviews were a real deal in motivating students to think and buy the products. However, pop up messages and advertisements emerged to negatively influence one's attitude towards a product as they were seen to be unpleasant and disturbing. Product demonstrations provided additional information of the characteristics and use of the product thus increased the possibility of buying them.
On post purchase stage, it was unanimously agreed that social media eliminated the need for intermediaries in relaying and delivering customer feedback, complaints and compliments. It also serves as a major basis of determining whether or not the consumer was willing to make the next purchase of similar product or even different ones. The icons like stickers and emoji were the best ways of consumers expressing their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Mobile animations also were a great deal in ensuring customer expression.

5.3: Conclusion
On the general objective of establishing whether social media has any influence on consumer behaviour, the findings herein agree to a large extent. Both external and internal stimuli are responsible for making a university student rely on social media to make consumption decisions. External stimuli include: advertisements, economic factors, social factors, cultural factors among others. Internal stimuli include but not limited to perception, motivation, attitude, tastes, preference and desires.
On whether social media influences consumer decision process, the study has a positive correlation in both pre purchase, purchase and post purchase stages. At the beginning, social media acts as a key tool for information search in regards to products sought.
During purchase, peer reviews and opinions determines what is to be bought and also pop up messages created a negative attitude towards a given product or brand. Friends and family can motivate you to desire or hate a product depending on their comments posted on social media sites. On post purchase, product feedback was seen as either satisfaction or dissatisfaction. When satisfied, the consumer will post it online either using text or other available icons thus becoming a brand or product ambassador. If not satisfied, the very consumer is at liberty to access the social media sites and air out the grievances either to the general public or the responsible firm for action.
And lastly on any other factors that might influence students to use social media to make consumption decisions: accessibility and reliability of social media were mentioned as key. The availability of smartphones, cost of internet and data, credibility of product information posted and the adequacy of social media made it easy for students to prefer social media as opposed to traditional and mass media. Therefore, social media has influence on consumer behaviour amongst students in Nairobi county.

5.4: Recommendations
The researcher recommends the following based on the findings. Organizations operating in Nairobi should establish sound social media departments and pages through which they can profile their customers and present targeted product advertisement to reach specified market niches. However, they should not rely on single sites but instead adopt several active sites to reach a wider customer base. Furthermore, businesses in Nairobi should find a way to regulate or totally block pop up advertisements and messages of other companies from appearing in their sites since it is distasteful to their consumers. The government can as well help stop such advertisements through enactment of laws prescribing stiffer penalties for trespassing into other organizations social media sites or pages. Similar studies should be carried out in learning institutions outside Nairobi as other factors may be in play apart from those found in Nairobi.