UTILIZATION OF TWITTER BY UNDERGRADUATES OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the use of twitter by undergraduate LIS Students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised 80 200 level students in Department of Library and Information Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using frequency and percentages. Findings of the study revealed that undergraduate students’ main purpose for using twitter was to chat with friends, some of the undergraduates also relied on twitter site for information around the world and few used it for academic purposes. Also, the undergraduates used twitter site daily and majority of the undergraduates spent one (1) hour to two (2) hours on twitter visit in a day. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made: University management, Head of Department of Library and Information Science and Library Management should organize seminars, orientations and workshops for undergraduate students in the university on the imperative use of twitter for academic purposes; lecturers should give the students online assignments to enable them use twitter site to support learning and Library and Information Science (LIS) students should be encouraged to use social media such as twitter to enhance learning of LIS courses.