INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUTH’S POLITICAL INTERACTION AND PARTICIPATION: A STUDY OF MOUNTAIN TOP UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The study examined influence of social media on youth political interaction and participation using Mountain Top University students as the study population. social media have the capacity to educate, inform, and entertain the audience. The aim of the study is to find out the extent to which the students engage in political interactions on the social media and how these interactions influence their real-life political participation and interactions. The study adopted the survey method and employed the multiple stage sampling technique to select 140 respondents for the study. Questionnaire was the instrument for data collection and the obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics on the SPSS. The findings revealed that majority 65 (46.4%) of the students use social media especially Facebook. There is a significant positive relationship between social media usage and political participation and interaction among the students in Mountain Top University. The study revealed that majority of the students have a positive attitude towards using social media as a tool for participating in politics. It is therefore recommended that youths should not limit their political activities to social media, but try to take them to the streets, offices and get involved more in offline political activities.