Social Media Tools as Medium for Knowledge Sharing among Students and Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities: Case Study of Students’ and Academic Staff of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines social media tools as medium for knowledge sharing among students and academic staff of Nigerian universities:  case study of students’ and academic staff of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria. The survey research method was adopted for this study because similar studies adopted this approach. A structured questionnaire was designed and used to collect data for this study. Population for the study comprises of Two hundred and fifty (250) academic staff and One thousand two hundred (1200) students. The data obtained were analyzed using simple percentages and frequency counts. Findings of the study revealed that students make use of social media tools than academic staff. It also revealed that majority of academic confirmed that they are strongly aware of social media tools which was supported with 158 (69%), while undergraduate students’ supported with 690 (86%) and post-graduate students’ supported with 289 (79.1%). Social networking sites are the most used by both students and academic staff and the main purpose of using social media tools by academic staff is for research purpose while students use social media tools mainly to keep in touch with friends and download applications.

Keywords: Social Media, Knowledge Sharing, Social Networking, Microbloging, Social web communities