Social and Conventional Media Patronage Among University Students: A Comparative Study

The study was conducted to comparatively analyze the patronage of social and conventional media among students; a casestudy of University of Maiduguri. The study is significant because it helped in unveiling the paradigm shift in respect ofsocial and conventional media patronage. The objectives of the study are to examine the level of patronage of conventionaland social media by students of University of Maiduguri, to find out the reasons for the preference of either social orconventional media by University of Maiduguri students, to determine the reliance of the students on either social mediaor conventional media. Uses and gratification theory was adopted as philosophical guide. Survey was the research methodused, with questionnaire as instrument that was purposively distributed among 200 respondents. The survey establishedthat patronage of media (either social or conventional) among students is absolutely positive. Simply put, every studentpatronizes either social or conventional media. Social media has higher level of patronage compared to the conventionalmedia among the students and their patronage. There is high commitment of the students to the type of media they patronize.According to this finding, the higher number obtained from patronage of social media influence level of commitment in thisfinding. This further means that degree of patronage of social media is higher than conventional media. The amount of timeaudience allocates to the patronage of media either social or conventional is huge. This finding is also influenced by the firstfinding regarding the number of those that patronize conventional and social media. This means the amount of time spenton social media is higher than the conventional media by the students. There is exorbitant preference to the social mediathan conventional media. There is still significant number of audience who prefer the conventional media to social media.Audiences prefer conventional media because of accuracy and reliability of information. Professionalism and standardin ethics, spelling and grammar are also influential reason on their preference of conventional media. Audiences prefersocial media for instant messages and updates found on the platforms. However, interactivity and participatory nature playsignificant role on their preference of social media. Each of the media influence its audience based peculiar characteristicand features which pilot the level of patronage. Because some like more interactivity and participation, the social mediais waxing strong in this respect while the conventional media keep soaring higher among those who prefer reliable andaccurate information that been professionally verified. Most of the audiences rely on information they receive from the socialmedia even though significant number (39.5%) still doubt the reliability of such information. Almost all audiences rely onconventional media. The number (6%) of those who do not rely on such information is less or no significance. The degreesof reliance vary across the audience.