contribution of social media to the effective dissemination of information to blis three students of uganda christian university mukono

Description

The study examined the contribution of Social Media to the effective Dissemination of information to BLIS 3, students of Uganda Christian University Mukono. The research objectives were to; find out the students’ information needs, find out the information offered by social media, and examine the challenges to effective dissemination of information on social media. The study adopted a qualitative and quantitative research approach in order to gain an in depth understanding and interpretation of respondents’ experiences, views and suggestions related to information dissemination through social Media with a sample size of 55 respondents which included staff members of Hamu Mukasa Library and BLIS3students of Uganda Christian University. The study used questionnaire and interviewing methods of data collection for collection of primary data from the respondents. The major findings of the study showed that social media could have significant contributions in disseminating information to the BLIS3 students of Uganda Christian University. And this was evidenced form the findings of the study and the fact that students’ information needs were fully addressed by and were easily accessible on the various websites, each serving unique student needs through the services each delivers. The major conclusions of the study were; the challenges to the effective dissemination of information through social media websites were related more with access to the sites and less with the sites themselves. Accessibility to social media websites therefore plays a very important role in determining their level of influence and impact and hence contributions to effective disseminating information through social media sites. It was recommended that User orientation sessions, workshops and seminars organized by the university library should be conducted at the campus libraries or lecture rooms since most students have limited time to attend most of these workshops and this leads to a low turn up.