NJOMACS

Social media phenomenon, as a mass-mediated platform, has afforded Internet users the opportunity to meet some of their fundamental and functional needs of association, communication, networking, and pleasure, among others. The main objective of the study is to investigate the influence of social media usage on students' academic perfo/pance. The study is anchored on the Uses and Gratification theory and adopts a quantitative research method through cross-sectional design. WhatsApp and Facebook were found to be the most used social media platforms among the undergraduates. Factor analysis revealed five motives for using social media for academic purposes, namely; collaborative motive, resourcing motive, academic enhancement motive, research motive, and academic engagement motive. Also, the study found a positive correlation between social media use and perceived academic performance. The study recommends academic-specific social media use among undergraduates as a means for enhancing positive academic performance. Future research should consider adopting the actual academic records of undergraduates.