THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN CURBING THE SPREAD OF EBOLA VIRUS AMONG UNILAG STUDENTS

Abstract

The research examines the role of social media in curbing the spread of ebola virus using Facebook users who are students of University of Lagos. It is observed that in this era of Information and Communication Technology, social media especially facebook, and twitter have revolutionalised and redefined monopoly of news and information by mass media (radio, television, newspaper and magazine industries) as it enhanced citizen participation in news gathering and dissemination. Social media has in the recent time turn the citizen not only as information consumers but also as information distributors which is now known as “Citizen Journalism”. Survey research method was adopted while 373 copies of questionnaires were administered as a research tool in eliciting data from the selected respondents that were randomly selected from all the faculties that cut across Unilag. It is agreed that respondents have one way or the other either seen, post, share, twit, or comment on ebola post. Also, larger percentage of the respondents felt the impact of social media campaign on ebola prevention and controls in average extent. Majority of the respondents submitted that social media campaigns on Ebola disease have created awareness and has further reduced its spread among students of Unilag . It is recommended that Government should make sure that owners of website and blogs within the country abide to the laws of defamation, obscenity, invasion of privacy and copyright e.t.c This can be done by setting up a body whose sole responsibility is to monitor the manifest content of internet materials.