Utilisation of Social Media for News Sourcing and Dissemination among Journalists in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is on the use of social media for news sourcing and dissemination among journalists in Osun State, Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted for the study and a structured questionnaire was used to gather data from a sample of 130 respondents (Journalists). The finding showed that journalists in Osun State are using social media for news sourcing and dissemination and the types of social media used for news sourcing and dissemination are Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, Tik-Tok and YouTube. The findings further revealed that the use of social media by the respondents had enhanced their productivity in news sourcing and dissemination. Thus, it was concluded that despite the challenges associated with using social media for news sourcing and dissemination, journalists find it helpful and have enhanced their professional productivity in news sourcing dissemination. It was recommended among others that media organisations should address poor knowledge and poor internet connectivity.