Dormancy of Social Media Sites among Nigerian Youths

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate why youths abandon social media sites. Adopting the Google document as instrument of data collection, the study investigates on why Nigerian youths abandon or render some of their social media sites inactive from 398 youths (18-35 years). The study found that most youths (92.9%), many of whom are on four social media sites, are active on social media platforms which they use regularly. Findings further reveal that that a reason they abandon their SMPs is due to friendliness of new platforms; and they discard a platform by simply anonymising their profile by changing their photographs or by simply leaving their account without necessarily deleting them. The study concludes that use of social media among the youths has come to stay. It recommends among other things that existing social media sites should always upgrade their functionality to enable them to withstand emerging ones with more endearing features.