EVALUATION OF USES AND GRATIFICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AMONG STUDENTS OF BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY, MAKURDI

Abstract The study “An Evaluation of Uses and Gratifications of Social Media Among Students of Benue State University, Makurdi” sought to find out some of the uses of social media among students of Benue State University, Makurdi and to ascertain the various social media platforms used by students of Benue State University, Makurdi. The study was anchored on the Uses and Gratification Theory which notes that People have enough self-awareness of their media use, interests and motives to be able to provide researchers with an accurate picture of that use. The survey research design was adopted, and questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. The study respondents use social media for a wide range of purposes including interaction, entertainment and commercial purposes it was revealed that that respondents use social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Tiktok. The study concluded that social media is very popular among young people who are mostly undergraduate students who use it for a wide range of purposes including interaction, entertainment and commercial purposes. The study however recommended amongst others that Undergraduate students who are into commercial activities should endeavor to utilize social media in order to reach more consumers and maximize profit.