| Abstract: |
This study investigated the use of social media in creating and maintaining relationships among residents of South-East Nigeria. Four objectives were advanced from where four research questions were formulated. Survey research method was used to conduct the study while questionnaire was employed as measuring instrument. Residents of the five states in South-East Nigeria constituted the population of the study from where a sample size of 384 was drawn using the creative research systems online sample size calculator. Using the multi-Stage sampling technique, the study revealed that among the various social media platforms, majority of the respondents (53.17%) most frequently use Facebook in creating and maintaining relationships. It was also found that easy link with old and new friends constituted the major motivation for using social media in building relationships. More so, majority of the respondents (47.35%) indicated that the risk of getting killed was a major challenge in using the social media for relationship building.Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that there is a fundamental need to apply caution in using the social media to create and maintain relationships, as carefulness will engender an escape from the many risks associated such usage. |
