ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUTHERN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS ON FACEBOOK

Abstract

This study set out to assess Nigerian universities and students’ relationship in the social media age using Facebook Page posts as a means to measure. This study was motivated by the fact that there have been series of protests and demonstrations in the universities in the southern, Nigeria. Three research questions were posed to guide the study.Using the content analysis, data were collected using the coding sheet as the instrument.The purposive sampling method was used to select one university each from the three zones that make up southern, Nigeria. Data were presented in table and mathematical forms. The results show that students comment on the Facebook Page posts of the universities. The study equally found out that the interaction between the students and the university management was poor. Universities used Facebook Page for promotional reasons. It was recommended that the public relations unit every university should post messages that can cause discussion through which the management would know the students’ needs and address them early enough.