Evaluation of the New Media of Some Selected Social Media Platforms Among Students of Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

This study assessed digital media literacy usage of some selected social media platforms among students of tertiary institutions (a study of students of Lens Polytechnic Offa). The study was guided by four objectives, which are to determine the degree of exposure to social media platform usage among students of Lens Polytechnic Offa; to evaluate the students' level of digital media literacy skills, including their ability to critically evaluate, analyze, and interpret media content; to examine the influence of digital media literacy on information consumption among students of Lens Polytechnic Offa; and to investigate the students' perception of the reliability and credibility of information encountered on social media platforms. Survey method was adopted while respondents were purposively selected from the population. Taro Yamane was used to determine the sample size for the study while questionnaire was the research instrument used. The study found that all the respondents were exposed to social media platforms, especially, Facebook, Tik Tok, WhatsApp, X (Twitter), Instagram amongst others; the students’ degree of exposure to digital literacy is high. The respondents believed that digital media literacy skills include the ability to evaluate contents on social media; the respondents thought that digital media literacy have influence on their information consumption on social media platforms; and the respondents noted digital literacy influenced credibility of information made available on social media to a high extent and that digital literacy have significantly reduced fake news on social media. the study concluded that by understanding students' engagement patterns, purposes, competencies, and influencing factors, educational institutions can develop holistic approaches to integrate digital media literacy into the curriculum, foster responsible social media usage, and empower students to become discerning and active participants in the digital age. It recommended that governments and stakeholders in the education and communication sector should ensure that they integrate digital media literacy education into the curriculum across disciplines to further strengthen the students’ proficiency in digital literacy and that civil Society Organizations, Policymakers as well as other concerned authorities should organize interactive workshops and training sessions that will focus on digital media literacy.