Use of Social Media in Libraries and Impact on Undergraduates

Introduction

Modern communication technology has transformed the entire world into a “Global village”. Technology is like two sides of a coin with negative and positive sides. It helps people to be better informed, enlightened and keeping abreast with world developments. Technology exposes mankind to a better way of doing things (Osharive, 2015). Currently, there is a growing awareness and increase in the use of Social Media (SM). Social network is a social structure made up of individuals or organizations called “nodes”, which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige (Adeboye, 2012, cited in Asemah and Edegoh, 2012). Social network can also be referred to as a map of specified ties, such as friendship, between the nodes being studied. The nodes, to which an individual is connected are the social contacts of that individual. Social networking sites include: Yahoo Messenger, Facebook Messenger, Blackberry Messenger (BBM), Google talk, Google+Messenger, iPhone, Androids. These networking sites are used by most people to interact with old and new friends, physical or internet friends (Adeboye, 2012, cited in Asemah and Edegoh, 2012). Martn, (2008) & Lusk, (2010) also stated that social media is the use of Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, My Space and LinkedIn for the purpose of communication, sharing photos as well as videos.

The growth of social media over the years has changed the way users communicate, collaborate and exchange knowledge through the various platforms (Wasko, Teigland and Faray, 2009). Similarly, the World Wide Web has been radically transformed, shifting from an information repository to a more social environment where users are not only passive receivers or active harvesters of information but creators of content (Bruns, 2008). Social media is built on the idea of how people know and interact with each other. It gives people the power to share, making the world more open and connected with each other. Social networking has a vital influence on our lives. Social media provides data easy and quick information within a fraction of seconds. Social media applications therefore allow users to converse and interact, create, edit and share textual, visual and audio content. Social media applications are open rather than closed. Social networking websites provide tools by which librarians communicate, share information and create relationships among users. The popularity of social networking websites has affected social interaction due to technological changes. The way library users interact and talk to each other has changed. These users now socialize through the internet. Social networking websites have also affected our social interaction by changing the way we interact face-to-face, receive information, and the dynamics of social groups and friendships have equally change (Asur and Huberman, 2010).