Abstract

The study investigated the utilization of social media platforms for research productivity by postgraduate students in universities in Benue State, Nigeria. Four specific objectives with corresponding research questions guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprises 2035 postgraduate students in three Universities in Benue State. The sample size consisted of 334 postgraduate students from the three universities under the study. The instrument for data collection is a self developed questionnaire titled “Utilization of Social Media for Research Productivity by Postgraduates in Universities Questionnaire” (USMRPPUQ)”. The questionnaire was validated by three experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was established using Cronbach Alpha method and a reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained. Data collected were analyzed using Frequency Counts, Percentages, Means and Standard Deviation to answer research questions. Findings of the study revealed that Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Wikis (Wikipedia,wikia,wikispaces), Blog, Academia, LinkedIn and WhatsApp among others are the social media platforms available to be utilized for research productivity by postgraduate students in universities in Benue State. It was also revealed that the extent to which postgraduates utilize social media platforms for research productivity in Universities in Benue State is high. Further, it was revealed that undermined privacy of research, security issues, copyright and intellectual property issues and lack of institutional support among others were the challenges faced by postgraduate students in utilizing social media platforms for research productivity in Universities in Benue State. The study concluded that, postgraduate students in universities in Benue State have access to a range of social media platforms, with Google+ being the most utilized, to enhance their research productivity. The study therefore recommended among others that universities should organize workshops and training sessions for postgraduate students in order to familiarize them with social media platforms’ features, benefits, and best practices for enhancing research productivity and universities should more invest in upgrading internet facilities and infrastructure on campus to ensure seamless and affordable access to the internet for all postgraduate students.