UNDERGRADUATES

The study focused on the influence of social media on the information seeking attitudes of undergraduates in select universities in Edo State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to find out the social media platforms used by undergraduates of University of Benin and Glorious Vision University in Edo State, Nigeria; to evaluate the usage o social media for information purpose among undergraduates of these universities; to ascertain how social media influences the desire of undergraduates of these universities to seek information and to finally determine the attitudes of undergraduates of these universities towards information seeking as a result of social media usage. In terms of the theoretical Framework, the information behaviour theory and two step. Flow theory were adopted, while the methodology used by the researcher was the survey research
methods. A sample size of 397 respondents was used to gather data for the study. Findings of the study revealed that social media makes it easy for undergraduates of the University of Benin and Glorious University to seek information on topics that interest
them. Findings also revealed that undergraduates of these universities seek more entertainment and personal development information than other types of information on social media. Based on the findings, the researcher concluded that the social media has influenced and will continue to influence the attitudes and behaviour of undergraduates towards seeking information. The researcher therefore recommended, among others, that undergraduates and youths should use social media for activities that are productive and will contribute to their academic knowledge, personally, mentally and to social development. The researcher also recommended that lecturers should encourage students to use social media platforms like Quora and Reddit when seeking for information.