Utilization of Social Media in the Education of University Students in the Health Sciences Volume 62- Issue 2

Kenechukwu Okonkwo¹*, Oluseyi Adejumo¹, Dapo Oyedepo², Okechukwu Ezekpo³, Demilade Ibirongbe⁴, Idowu Adewumi⁵, Olufikemi Fabusuyi¹ and Abimbola Okonkwo⁶

• ¹Department of Internal Medicine, University of Medical Sciences, Nigeria
• ²Department of Internal Medicine, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
• ³Department of Internal Medicine, Afe Babalola University, Nigeria
• ⁴Department of Community Medicine, University of Medical Sciences, Nigeria
• ⁵Department of Health Information Management, University of Medical Sciences, Nigeria
• ⁶Institute of Technical Enhanced Learning and Digital Humanities, Federal University of Technology, Nigeria

Received: May 16, 2025; Published: June 04, 2025

*Corresponding author: Kenechukwu Okonkwo, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Medical Sciences, Nigeria

DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2025.62.009704

Abstract PDF

Background/Aim: social media has become an essential component of academic learning, especially among university students. Its benefits for increasing participation and knowledge acquisition are widely established, but more research is required to determine which platforms health science students prefer and what barriers they face. Thus, this study seeks to assess students’ preferences for social media for academic reasons, as well as the perceived advantages and difficulties of using it.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1581 university students in health sciences. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and chisquare tests. Platforms were compared based on their academic benefits, limitations, and accessibility challenges.
Results: Findings indicate that 63.6% of students actively use social media for academic purposes. YouTube (p = 0.000), WhatsApp (p = 0.000), and Instagram (p = 0.026) significantly enhance visual learning, while Twitter (p = 0.000) and Facebook (p = 0.000) support real-time academic discussions. Improved research skills were significantly linked to LinkedIn (p = 0.000), Pinterest (p = 0.000), and YouTube (p = 0.001). However, major limitations included data affordability (LinkedIn: p = 0.022, Pinterest: p = 0.011), misinformation (WhatsApp: p = 0.029), and sleep disturbances (Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp: p < 0.05). Regression analysis showed that “Department” (p = 0.045) was the only significant predictor of students’ preference for social media use in academics, while age, gender, and academic level were non-significant.
Conclusion: The study reveals platform-specific challenges while highlighting social media’s potential to improve academic engagement. Institutions of higher learning should integrate social media into learning management systems while tackling misinformation and overuse. Future studies should examine the longitudinal effects on academic attainment.

Keywords: Social Media; Academic Learning; University Students; Health Sciences; Digital Education

In research, social media is generally used as an umbrella term that describes a variety of online platforms, including blogs, business networks, collaborative projects, enterprise social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing, product review, social bookmarking, social gaming, video sharing, and virtual worlds [1]. It has also been documented as emerging technologies and cognitive tools that “allow the creation of collaborative, shared knowledge and the development of participatory cultures [2]. It has become an integral part of the everyday life of the average internet user [3]. Its use has become especially ubiquitous among undergraduate students, especially after the COVID-19 Pandemic, during which higher institutions were shut down [4]. This phenomenon is especially noted among students and young populations [5]. Their selling point is community engagement as this encourages the “social” aspect of social media and differentiates it from a normal webpage [6]. Many studies have found that Facebook is the most popular medium among undergraduate students, followed by Twitter and others. It has been widely echoed and re-echoed, especially by students, that social media is essential in the learning curve of university education [7].

Social media is helpful in university learning in the areas of collaboration (e.g., to create documents online); sharing information online; tracking and managing schedules; building relationships (i.e., mainly with peers, occasionally with instructors); posting/re-posting media or information found; and, commenting on media or information found online [5,8]. About 75% of students indicated that technology helps them achieve good academic outcomes [9]. The responsiveness that social media evokes allows interconnectedness that makes learning more durable and enjoyable. It is, however, a mixed bag as some students prefer to separate their social lives from their academic lives [5]. It has also been suggested that the effectiveness of social media incorporated learning may be ineffective as it only involves remembering and understanding information while omitting applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating [10]. Social media has been described as an important tool in instilling academic excellence in undergraduate students. Its advantages range from the fact it is people centred and cohesive by nature, allowing participant interaction without the limitations of normative hierarchies [11]. Social media has a social approach which makes learning enjoyable. It is beneficial to harness this medium to ensure that undergraduate students maximize their education using current technologies [5]. It is important to evaluate how much social media has been engaged in the undergraduate education of tomorrow’s leaders to understand what policies may be needed to harness these technologies further. Some studies have investigated social media use in Nigerian undergraduate schools but none to the best of my knowledge in an institution of medical sciences [12,13]. This study, therefore, seeks to assess the role social media plays in the acquisition of academic information in a school of medical sciences. The findings of this study will help to identify possible gaps that will need to be cushioned to ensure that undergraduate education in the 21^st century is optimal.

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that was carried out among undergraduate students.

Sample Size Calculation

The sample size was determined using the formula for single proportion and by assuming a prevalence of 60.8%, an error margin of 5%, and a 95% confidence interval giving a sample size of 469. However, a 10% non-response rate is anticipated: therefore, the total number of participants = 516.

Sampling Method

The study was on an online survey that will employ a nonprobability convenience sampling method in recruiting the study participants using Google forms. Recipients was asked to share the link with colleagues on various platforms.

Data Collection Instrument

The questionnaire had two sections. The first section will consist of questions on socio-demographic information. The second section will consist of 23 questions that will assess the perception of respondents on the role of social media on undergraduate education as well as the possible advantages and disadvantages of this medium in a learning environment. This questionnaire will be pretested among 20 undergraduate students that will not participate in this study, and necessary adjustments will be made as required.

Ethical Consideration

Informed consent was obtained from all participants and their information was treated with the utmost confidentiality. This study posed little or no risk to the respondents. Ethical approval was obtained from the Health Research Ethics Committee of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo State.

Data Analysis

Data generated was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 26.0. Discrete variables were presented as frequencies and percentages. Continuous variables were presented as means and standard deviation for normally distributed data while median and interquartile range were used to present skewed continuous data. Chi-square was used to determine the association between socio-demographic variables and indicators of social media’s role in education. Binary logistic regression was used to determine significant factors associated with social media learning. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Sociodemographic Characteristics

As shown in Table 1, the mean ± SD age of the 1581 participants in the study was 21.1 ± 2.5 years, with most of them (54.0%) in the 21– 30 age range. There were roughly equal numbers of men and women among the respondents-50.9% and 49.1%, respectively. Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti (33.5%), the University of Ilorin (31.1%), and the University of Medical Sciences in Ondo (35.4%) were the three participating universities. The most popular fields were medicine and surgery (42.3%), nursing (16.8%), and medical laboratory sciences (16.6%); less than 1% came from less popular fields like pharmacy, zoology, and human nutrition and dietetics. Examining social media use in educational settings is made possible by this diverse, primarily youthful demographic.

Table 1: Sociodemographic characteristics.

Frequency of University Students iIn the Health Sciences that Use Social Media for Academic Purposes

Table 2 shows that a large majority of university students in the health sciences (63.6%) choose to use social media platforms for instructional purposes. Furthermore, 68.4% of respondents reported using social media for entertainment, with social networking coming in second at 56.9%. Corporate (24.4%) and political (11.4%) social media applications were the least popular. These findings highlight social media’s dual value as a platform for networking and amusement, as well as an intellectual resource; political, commercial, and religious affiliations are less important.

Table 2: Frequency of university students in the health sciences that use social media for academic purposes.

Students’ Preferred Social Media Platforms and Reasons for Academic Use

Table 3 revealed key elements impacting students’ preference for social media platforms in academic learning. Instagram (p = 0.026), YouTube (p = 0.000), and WhatsApp (p = 0.000) all significantly boost visual-based learning, demonstrating their efficacy in providing visually stimulating instructional information. This implies that platforms with a lot of multimedia content—like pictures and videos—improve the educational process for pupils. A substantial correlation has been shown between several platforms, such as YouTube (p = 0.008), Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.013), TikTok (p = 0.003), and Twitter (p = 0.000), and relative anonymity, which permits students to engage freely without worrying about criticism. This suggests that when participating in online academic debates, students prioritise anonymity. Platforms such as Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.006), YouTube (p = 0.000), WhatsApp (p = 0.000), and Twitter (p = 0.000) show noteworthy outcomes when multi-user engagement is taken into account. These platforms strengthen their role in collaborative learning by facilitating group interactions. Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.005), TikTok (p = 0.015), and WhatsApp (p= 0.000) are also significant for group discussion ease, highlighting their function in promoting group communication. There is a high correlation between the belief that social media offers current information and Twitter (p = 0.000), Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.006), TikTok (p = 0.018), and YouTube (p = 0.000). This lends credence to the notion that academic learning benefits from real-time content. Finally, there is a substantial correlation between the ease of access to information and WhatsApp (p = 0.000), YouTube (p = 0.001), and Facebook (p = 0.003). This demonstrates how well they offer rapid access to scholarly resources.

Table 3: Students’ Preferred Social Media Platforms and Reasons for Academic Use.

Students’ Preferred Social Media Platforms and their Perceived Academic Benefits

The results (Table 4) shed light on how students view social media sites and the academic advantages that go along with them. The perceived advantages for academics were shown to be significantly correlated with particular platforms. Twitter (p = 0.000), Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.000), TikTok (p = 0.000), LinkedIn (p = 0.003), and Skype (p = 0.010) were all significantly correlated with improved patient management skills, indicating that students view these platforms as useful resources for honing patient management- related skills. There was little to no apparent academic gain in this area, too, since YouTube (p = 0.240), Pinterest (p = 0.071), WhatsApp (p = 0.902), and Snapchat (p = 0.583) did not substantially correlate. Significant correlations were found between improved grades and Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.015), TikTok (p = 0.009), YouTube (p = 0.000), Pinterest (p = 0.041), and LinkedIn (p = 0.048), indicating that these platforms are thought to positively impact academic achievement. There were no significant effects from Twitter (p = 0.065), WhatsApp (p = 1.000), Skype (p = 0.050), or Snapchat (p = 0.096), indicating that their perceived contribution to academic progress is modest. Social media platforms appear to have a significant impact on students’ self-esteem, as evidenced by the significant associations found for Twitter (p = 0.000), Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.000), TikTok (p = 0.000), YouTube (p = 0.005), Pinterest (p = 0.000), LinkedIn (p = 0.001), WhatsApp (p = 0.000), Skype (p = 0.022), and Snapchat (p = 0.036) for improved self-esteem.

Table 4: Students’ Preferred Social Media Platforms and Their Perceived Academic Benefits.

The significance of social media in fostering research skills was highlighted by the significant associations found between improved research skills and Twitter (p = 0.002), Facebook (p = 0.000), Instagram (p = 0.024), TikTok (p = 0.004), YouTube (p = 0.001), Pinterest (p = 0.000), LinkedIn (p = 0.000), WhatsApp (p = 0.000), Skype (p = 0.007), and Snapchat (p = 0.004). All things considered, these findings show that different social media platforms are seen to be advantageous for academic growth, especially in areas like research skills, grades, patient management, and self-esteem. Snapchat and WhatsApp, for example, appear to have less of an impact in particular academic fields.

Comparison of Students’ Preferred Social Media Platforms and their Limitations in Academic Engagement

The results in Table 5 show that students face a range of restrictions while utilising social media for learning, with notable differences between platforms. Lack of smartphone access was not a significant barrier because the majority of students disagreed with this statement on all platforms (e.g., Facebook: 17 vs. 1476, Twitter: 14 vs. 1387). Owning a smartphone is not a substantial barrier to using social media for academic purposes, according to the negligible chisquare values. Data subscription issues were more noticeable, particularly for LinkedIn and Pinterest, where chi-square values of 0.022* and 0.011*, respectively, indicate a substantial correlation. This implies that although these platforms can be preferred by students, accessibility is hampered by high data costs. Facebook’s statistically significant encroachment on academics (χ² = 0.013*) suggests that excessive use of the platform disrupts academic pursuits. On other platforms, this issue was less noticeable, suggesting that students may be using those sites to better manage their time.

Table 5: Comparison of Students’ Preferred Social Media Platforms and Their Limitations in Academic Engagement.

Twitter and WhatsApp both had substantial negative effects on interpersonal relationships (χ² = 0.038* and χ² = 0.020*), suggesting that frequent use of these platforms may interfere with social interactions. This implies that active participation on these platforms could lead to social isolation. Poor network had a substantial impact on WhatsApp (χ² = 0.000*) and Instagram (χ² = 0.008*), suggesting that students regularly encounter connectivity problems with these platforms, which could interfere with their ability to use them for academic purposes. WhatsApp was the only app with a substantial inability to filter fake information (χ² = 0.029*), indicating worries about false information on this popular messaging app. Concerns about how social media addiction affects students’ wellbeing were further supported by the findings of Sleeping Issues from Social Media Use, which revealed significant importance for Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp. Overall, the results show important constraints that differ between platforms, with distraction, false information, sleep disruption, and data affordability standing out as major obstacles to academic engagement.

Effect of Age, Gender, Level, School or Daily Access to Social Media on Social Media Preference for Academic Learning

Regression analysis (Table 6) shows that “Department” (p = 0.045) is the only significant predictor of students’ preference for using social media for academic learning. The negative coefficient indicates that students in specific fields are less likely to use social media for academic purposes (B = -0.011). Other factors, such as age, gender, school, academic status, hours spent on social media, and daily frequency of access, do not substantially predict outcomes since their p-values are higher than the 0.05 criterion.

Table 6: Effect of age, gender, level, school or daily access to social media on social media preference for academic learning.

The mean age of the participants is 21.1 years, which is consistent with the university student demography, according to a study which also reported a comparable average age range for adult higher-education learners [14]. Almost equal numbers of men and women make up the gender distribution, which is consistent with enrolment trends in African universities where female participation is growing in importance [15]. The preponderance of students in medical and nursing programs is consistent with a previous research which found that studies on academic social media use had a higher representation of health-related disciplines [16]. Given the range of academic backgrounds, it is important to consider how social media affects learning in a variety of educational settings, bolstering its potential as a tool to improve learning across disciplines [17]. The significant proportion of health sciences students (63.6%) who use social media for academic purposes is consistent with earlier research showing social media’s increasing influence in higher education [18]. A study found that students frequently use social media for various, sometimes competing, goals [19]. This study’s dual usage of social media for both educational and entertainment purposes reflects those trends. Social networking is quite popular (56.9%), which is consistent with the outcome of a study which shows how important social media is for creating professional and academic networks [11]. The decreased use of political and business applications, on the other hand, is consistent with studies that indicate students value education and entertainment more than other connections [20,21]. This emphasises how future social media use should prioritise educational value.

The findings highlight how important multimedia-based websites like YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp are for improving academic learning. This is consistent with earlier studies showing that visual content encourages deeper learning, particularly for students studying health sciences [13,22]. The strong focus on anonymity, especially on sites like Facebook and YouTube, is consistent with the outcome of a research, which emphasises how comfortable students feel in judgment-free online learning environments [23]. Furthermore, the idea of collaborative learning a fundamental component of social constructivism is supported by the association between multi-user involvement and platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp [24]. The results also confirm the value of accessing material in real time, particularly on social media sites like Instagram and Twitter, which is consistent with other research indicating that these sites offer timely scholarly updates [25].

Additionally, the literature on WhatsApp and YouTube’s efficacy in enabling rapid academic resource retrieval is supported by the ease of access to content provided by these platforms [18]. Overall, the study findings are in line with accepted paradigms of multimedia education and digital learning. The study’s findings demonstrate how different students perceive the academic benefits of social networking sites. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter were all substantially associated with improved grades, self-esteem, and patient management skills. This is consistent with prior research demonstrating that social media can be important in promoting professional development and academic performance [26,27]. The growing body of evidence demonstrating that visual and multimedia content enhances learning outcomes is backed by a strong link between platforms like YouTube and TikTok and improved research abilities [28]. WhatsApp and Snapchat, on the other hand, had less influence, especially regarding research skills and patient management. This is in line with studies that indicate the effectiveness of particular social media sites varies based on the circumstance [29]. These results emphasise the importance of understanding platform-specific benefits, suggesting that some platforms may be more appropriate for particular academic goals, such as research or patient management, while others have a more general effect on academic performance and self-esteem [30].

The findings highlight some important limitations that students face when using social media for learning purposes. Lack of smartphone access was not a significant barrier, according to studies indicating that students had a high smartphone adoption rate [31,32]. Nonetheless, problems like data subscription fees-especially for LinkedIn and Pinterest-reflect the socioeconomic limitations that students in low-income areas experience, which is consistent with research on digital inequality [33]. Facebook use has significantly disrupted academics, which supports worries that using social media too much can cause distractions and poor time management [18]. Findings on how social media can worsen loneliness are in line with the detrimental impact of Twitter and WhatsApp on interpersonal connections and social isolation [34]. Furthermore, network connectivity problems and false information, especially on WhatsApp, exacerbate worries about the accuracy and usability of data on digital platforms [35]. These results highlight the necessity of approaching social media use in academic settings in a balanced manner. Regression analysis results indicate that students’ preference for using social media for academic learning is mostly influenced by academic discipline rather than age, gender, or volume of social media usage. This is consistent with earlier research suggesting that some academic disciplines may be less likely to incorporate social media into teaching, especially those with more hands-on or practical curriculum [8]. According to the negative coefficient, social media may not seem as relevant to academic assignments for students in particular fields. This study found that social media preference was not predicted by other demographic characteristics, such as age or gender, which have been highlighted in previous research as potential influencers on social media use [36]. This discrepancy raises the possibility that departmental and contextual factors influence students’ academic social media activity more than was previously thought.

This study investigated how university students studying health sciences used social media platforms for learning, focusing on favourite platforms, perceived academic advantages and drawbacks, and how sociodemographic characteristics affected social media preferences. The results showed that YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram were quite popular for academic learning, especially for group projects and visual-based learning. Nonetheless, several obstacles were found, especially on Facebook and WhatsApp, including the expense of data subscriptions, social media addiction, and the proliferation of false information. Furthermore, the study discovered that department- specific characteristics were a stronger predictor of academic social media use than demographic variables like age or gender. The study suggests that universities should adopt social media as a formal tool for academic engagement in light of these findings, especially on platforms that facilitate collaboration and visual learning. While addressing problems like disinformation and social media addiction, academic training should concentrate on optimising these platforms’ academic potential. To offer greater accessibility, institutions may consider forging relationships with mobile network providers to cover data expenses. Finally, to improve the academic use of social media, academic departments should be aware of the discipline-specific barriers to social media integration and alter their strategies accordingly, providing targeted support where necessary.

Some limitations were noticed during this study. First, the cross-sectional nature of the research only provides a snapshot at a single moment in time, thus restricting the ability to demonstrate causal correlations between social media use and academic outcomes [37]. Second, the accuracy of the results may have been impacted by response biases like social desirability or recall bias brought about by the use of self-reported data [38]. Furthermore, the study’s exclusive emphasis on health science students may have limited the findings’ applicability to other student demographics [39]. Finally, social media quality and intensity were not taken into consideration in the study, which would have affected the reported academic results.

Data collection: KO, OA, DO, OE. Literature review KO, OA, DO, OE, DI, IA, OF, AO Writing of original draft: KO, OA, DI, IA. Revision of original draft: KO, DI, IA. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Personal funding.

No conflict of interest to declare.

Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the University of Medical Sciences Research Ethics Committee with number NHREC/ TR/UNIMED-HREC-Ondo St/22/06/21.

Informed consent was sought and gotten from the patients.

We hereby transfer, assign, or otherwise convey all copyright ownership, including any and all rights incidental thereto, exclusively to the journal, in the event that such work is published by the journal. All data used in this research is available on request.

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