Thesis Abstract

No studies have been conducted to determine Social Media Usage Pattern & Users Content among IDPs present in Jimeta-Yola, Adamawa State Nigeria. Therefore this study aims to enlighten the impact of Social Media Usage, its pattern and the kind of information being sought after by IDPs. 25 IDPs where interviewed one-on-one in Jimeta. Feedback from the interviews where carefully examined by the researcher using the Uses and Gratification Theory by Kartz, Blumber and Guvetich. The results showed that the IDPs obtained physical, emotional and psychological satisfaction form social media and all had different patterns of usage that suited them individually. The kind of information they sort kept their minds of the fact that they are displaced and entertained them. My research was successful because the displaced persons do use social media, they have a pattern of usage and it provides them with physical, mental and emotional satisfaction.

Thesis Overview

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

What is Social Media?

Social Media is a platform or platforms for people to interact, upload, read and obtain information from that was put there by others.

We have different types of social media. Some for blogger’s while the top forms of social media are those created for people to interact for example Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter etc. As at four five years ago, we just had platforms for you to read and upload videos but today we have platforms for live streams like hangout, SnapChat, Facetime etc.

People use social media for information, communication, and marketing, consolation, to learning new things and to share experiences. Social Media content are put up by its readers and prospective readers not just for entertainment but enlightenment.

IDP’s are Internally Displaced Persons are people who are forced to leave their homes and are sometimes referred refugees when they move out of their country or the country in which they were displaced.

The governments of the countries in which they are displaced try to create a new home for them which are most times referred to as camps, so you have IDP camps in situated areas for these people. Because they are internally displaced, the government mostly tries to get their minds off their loses by providing food, clothing, shelter, medicine, lands to farm etc just so they are able to start all over again. In their spare time, these people use Social Media for more things that an average person does.

They post things situated around their present situation which is normal and when depressed look forward to comforting write-up, pictures and conversations which now will talk us to Usage Pattern and User’s Content.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study seeks to find out how IDP’s in Jimeta, a small population of the entire IDP’s in the North Eastern Part of Nigeria use Social Media within the confines of the environment they find themselves. It equally seeks to ascertain the nature of Social Media content that they share, upload, download, read and like.