Awareness and Usage of Social Networking Sites by Students of Library and Information Science: The Case of Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Nigeria

The study aimed at examining the awareness and use of social networking sites by the students of Library and Information Science in Federal Polytechnic, Offa. Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted with the use of questionnaire as instrument for data collection. Out of two hundred and forty copies of the questionnaire, administered, two hundred and twenty eight were retrieved which represented 95%. Frequency counts and percentages were used to analyse data generated. The study revealed that majority of the respondents use social networking site to a large extent, especially facebook and they use if for various purposes such as connecting with friends, for academic work and so on. The study confirmed that many of the respondents spend up to an hour or more to visit their social networking sites. Many of the respondents also use the sites several times in a day. The social networking sites enable the users to maintain contact with friends and also increase academic knowledge. However, some students reported that engaging in social networking reduces the time they spend on reading and also cause distractions in classroom. The study recommends among others that, students should minimize time spend on social networking and they should make meaningful use of the sites. Keywords: Social networking sites, social networks, internet, polytechnic students, Nigeria