INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA CELEBRITIES ON THE BEHAVIOURAL DISPOSITION OF THE UNDERGRADUATES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN.

ABSTRACT

The researcher examines the influence of social media celebrities on the behavioural disposition of the undergraduate students of university of Benin. The research adopted the uses and gratification theory of mass communication as its theoretical framework. It also adopted the survey research design with the questionnaire as instrument of data collection. Findings from the research showed that social media is increasingly being used by students especially Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Blogs and many more, for interaction, entertainment, information etc. The findings also revealed that students are exposed to social media celebrities and this could have a tremendous influence on the behavioural disposition of students. It was discovered that this influence could be negative. The researcher concluded that this influence could be controlled by limiting and moderating social media use, with proper utilization of media contents, while social media celebrities endeavor to post contents that are real urging students to be knowledgeable and certain of the contents they consume on social media.