USE AND USE INTENSITY OF SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING SYSTEMS BY NIGERIAN AGRO-ENTREPRENEURS

Agro-entrepreneurs are key to the Nigerian economy as they constitute the majority of the work force, providing food and employment opportunities for more than 60% of the largest black nation on earth. Nigeria’s social media networking system which is the largest in Africa has got its usefulness in many conventional and contemporary applications in the recent times. Social media has become the fastest, cheapest and unrestricted communication and marketing tool of this jet age. This study therefore focused on the use and use intensity of social media networking systems by Nigerian agro-entrepreneurs. The study made use of mainly primary data. Primary data were collected with the aid of well-structured questionnaires assisted with interview schedules. Field data collection was conducted between June and September, 2014. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select three hundred and sixty (360) respondents across the three (3) highly ICT compliant states (Lagos, Ondo and Oyo). Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression model. The results of the regression model indicate that education, availability of power supply and customer base of the agro-entrepreneurs positively influenced use intensity of social media by the agro-entrepreneurs while age and cost of access data negatively influenced their use intensity of social media.