Influence of Social Media on Nigerian Undergraduates’ Dressing Habit
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to ascertain the influence of social media on Nigerian undergraduate dressing habits, but to aid the completion of the study the researcher intends to achieve the following sub-objective;
- To investigate the influence of social media on the dressing pattern of undergraduate student
- To ascertain the effect of Instagram on the dressing habits of student
- To evaluate the role of Facebook in modeling the dressing habits of undergraduate student
- To assess the relationship between social media and the dressing habits of undergraduate students
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
In the past decade, social media has redefined the world we are living in. What began as a means to communicate, maintain contact, or reconnect with old friends, has slowly but surely evolved into a crucial part of our daily lives; severely altering the way business is done. One specific area of business that has been particularly affected by the social media revolution is the fashion industry. Through the institution of social media, what was once only available to elite insiders is now accessible by the masses. For example, because of a designer’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, or Instagram account, those previously unconnected to high fashion can now watch live footage from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week taking place in New York City, an opportunity that was once only limited to industry insiders, celebrities, and socialites. Before the existence of these social media outlets, sales, store traffic, and financial records were conceivably the only way to gauge consumers’ opinions. Today though, “the cliché that ‘the customer is king’ has taken on a whole new definition. Customer feedback today not only reaches the companies much faster, but can also spread out to a much broader audience through ‘friends’ of the customer commenting on social media” (Savitz). Companies are now forced to listen and pay attention to customer opinions because failure to do so could cause a demise of their reputation by means of social media slander. 2 This being said, there is no way to communicate that is more cost effective or time efficient than social media. In order to remain a market fixture, bricks and mortar retailers must adapt and begin utilizing social media as a cornerstone in their business structure. While the adaptation to changing technologies is vital to all types of retailers, Fashion retailers should take special notice. In some sense, fashion is a product of our environment. That is to say, trends constantly come and go and fashion is largely ever changing. From the consumer’s perspective, it is easy to see how social media could be a vehicle to expedite communication of these trends. However, from a retailer’s perspective it is vital to remain not only completely informed, but also very connected, in order to better serve customers’ needs. Oxford, Mississippi is unique to the fashion industry in that there is a highly concentrated female population, ages 18-22, which possesses a high level of disposable income to spend on fashion. The University of Mississippi is notorious for this element of its’ student body and it becomes exceptionally obvious after spending only a short amount of time in The Grove or The Square on any given weekend. One undergraduate posted, “The typical Ole Miss female student is attractive, wears good-looking clothes, and usually has her daddy’s credit card in her back pocket” (Urban Dictionary). While many may view this stereotype as negative, the reality is the demographic exists. This being said, it would be strategic for local, high-end, retailers to take advantage of the opportunities social media outlets present. Even more, it is no secret that the role of social media in a college town would be magnified. Today’s college demographic is conceivably the first generation to grow up 3 utilizing social media from an early age and to have the Web serve as an integral part of their social lives. More precisely, it seems as though females are more active on these social media outlets and coincidentally are the ones most likely to follow fashion trends religiously.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine the influence of social media on Nigerian undergraduate dressing habit
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the study influence of social media on Nigerian undergraduate dressing habit. 200 staff of selected higher institutions was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the influence of social media on Nigerian undergraduate dressing habit.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of social media usage by undergraduate student.
Summary
It was observed that the popular types of social media sites mostly visited in Nigeria were typically not different from those visited in other regions across the globe by the youths. These were facebook, YouTube and Twitter. They had served and still serving as vehicles for news, information, opinion sharing, entertainment, business development, and even cultural production. But the youths also were aware of the potential dangers of these media in the society. Some scholars had found out that social networking could be a bit more effective than traditional old media of communication with respect to dressing pattern, interactivity, an advantage which some corporations can utilize in acting upon complaints almost immediately. (Faraidooi, 2011). According to Internet World Statistics 2012, Nigeria constitutes 48.4% of Internet users in Africa with 6,630,200 facebook subscribers as at 31st December, 2012. This was quite reflected that social networking had been regularly and frequently used by Nigerian youths to share their ideas, thoughts and opinions with others.
Conclusion
The purpose of this research was to explore the ways social media affects fashion consumption, specifically in an area dominated by the college-age demographic and small boutique vendors. In order to accomplish this, I performed general exploratory research regarding fashion consumption and social media usage. I used my findings to tailor interview questions to gain further understanding regarding how the two are connected through qualitative measures. Finally, I administered a survey to achieve quantitative statistics and draw significant conclusions regarding the effects of social media on fashion consumption.
Recommendation
Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that:
Social Media Sites (SMS) as veritable sources of socialization, communication, entertainment, motivation, learning opportunity and dressing pattern
Social Media Sites (SMS) can also be used for negative things such as texting, cyberbullying, sharing of obscene images, therefore the Nigerian youths should be properly guided in the way they use these media. They should equally be mindful of the fact that writing makes an exact person, therefore, they must not allow codes and abbreviations hamper the knowledge of good spelling skills expected of them in their writing skills.
Parents and guardians should as well exercise some control on what their children and wards engage in online as a form of check when they are at home
Reference
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- Ferenstein, Gregory. Fresh Stats On Social Networks: Pinterest Catches Up With Twitter, Digital Divide Shrinks. 17 February 2013. 20 March 2013 .
- Gillum, Scott. Forbes Brand Voice. 4 June 2012. 20 May 2013 . 47 Godarzi, Tanner. The Origin of Twitter. 17 May 2011. 25 February 2013 .
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