B5 PREMIUM Self Presentation 2.0 Ibrahim & Hassan 2018 PDF

Self- Esteem
on
acebo ok
Evidence from Young acebookers
Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim
Md Salleh Hj Hassan
SELF-PRESENTATION 2.0!
Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim
Md Salleh Hj Hassan
Ibrahim, AM & Hassan, MSH 2018 Self-Presentation 2.0! Self-Esteem on Facebook
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
List of Tables v
List of Figures vii
List of Abbreviations and their full
Meaning ix
Foreword xi
Preface xv
Devotion xix
Epilogue xxi
CHAPTER
One PRIMER 1
1.1 Social Interaction, Social Media and
Society 2
1.2 Facebook, the Internet and the Online
World in Nigeria 5
1.3 The Posers that Triggered this Research 11
1.4 The Research Probes 14
1.5 The Research Goals 15
1.6 The Substance of this Research 16
1.7 The Crucial Terms Defined 18
Two ANALYSIS OF PAST LITERATURE 23

2.1 Synopsis 24
2.2 Internet, Social Media and Self-
Presentation 24
2.3 The Nature of Self-presentation 31
2.4 Self-Presentation Online 33
2.5 Self-Presentation Online and its Impact
on Social Well-Being 35
2.6 Self-Presentation on Social Networking
Sites and Gender 41
2.7 Social Networking Sites and Cultural 44
Identity
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Table of Contents
2.8 Social Networking Sites as Self-

Promotion Tools 47
2.9 Social Networking Sites – Facebook 52
2.10 The Theoretical Setting of this Research 54
2.11 The Hypotheses of this Research 56
Three PROCEDURE 59
3.1 Synopsis 60
3.2 The Locale of this Research 60
3.3 The Respondents and Sampling
Procedure 60
3.4 The Research Instrument 62
3.5 Data Collection and Analysis 63
3.6 Pre-Test and Scale Reliability 64
3.7 Operationalisation of Variables and the
Research Design 66
Four OUTCOMES AND TREATISE 69

4.1 Synopsis 70
4.2 Respondents’ Demographic Information 70
4.3 Descriptive Statistics of the Self-Esteem
Dimension 73
4.4 Test of Hypotheses 74
4.4.1 Difference in Self-Presentation Tactics
between Respondents based on Ethnic
Identity 78
4.4.2 Difference in Self-Presentation based on
Respondents’ Gender and Age 85
4.5 Discussion 87
4.5.1 Respondents’ Socio-graphic Information 87
4.5.2 The Self-Esteem Dimension 93
4.5.3 Correlation between Intense Facebook
Use and Estimate of Audience Size and
Self-Esteem 95
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Table of Contents
4.5.4 Difference in the Use of Self-

Presentation Tactics based on the
Youths’ Ethnic Identity 97
4.5.5 Difference in Self-Presentation Tactics
on Facebook based on Gender and Age 101
Five FINALE 103

5.1 Synopsis 104
5.2 Conclusion 104
5.3 Recommendations 108
5.4 Implications of the Findings of this
Research 106
5.5 Limitations of this Research 112
References 115
Authors’ Profile 143
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LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 3-1 Internal Consistency Reliability of the Scale 65

Table 4-1 Respondents’ Demographic Information 71
Table 4-2 Respondents’ Level of Positive Self-Esteem
Perception 73
Table 4-3 Respondents’ Level of Negative Self-Esteem

Perception 74
Table 4-4 Difference between Genders in Self-Esteem 75

Table 4-5 Correlation between Intense Facebook Use and
Low Self-Esteem 76
Table 4-6 Correlation between Estimate of Audience Size

and Self-Esteem 77
Table 4-7 Difference in Use of Self-Presentation Tactics

between Hausa and Yoruba Youths 79

between Hausa and Igbo Youths 80

between Hausa and Other Ethnics Youths 81

between Yoruba and Igbo Youths 82
Table 4-11 Difference in use of Self-Presentation Tactics

between Yoruba and other Ethnics Youths 83
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List of Tables

between Igbo and Other Ethnics Youths 84
Table 4-13 Difference between Genders in Intense Facebook

Use 85
Table 4-14 Correlation between Self-Presentation Tactics

and Age 86
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LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure E-1 Organised Internet cafe, symbolising the need

for responsible social media use by all and
sundry, especially the youth xxii
Figure E-2 An image illustrating the Nigerian youths’

proverbial dream of becoming leaders of a
utopian ‘tomorrow’ xxiv
Figure 2-1 The Research Framework of this Study 68
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AND THEIR FULL
MEANING
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CSOs Civil Society Organisations
ICT Information and communication technology
IWS Internet World Stats
FOTN Freedom on the Net Report
FWA Fixed wireless access
GSM Global system for mobile telecommunication
NCC Nigerian Communication Commission
NEYIF North-East Youth Initiative Forum
NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations
PC Personal computer
RIP Rest in peace
SNSs Social networking sites
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation
UniMaid University of Maiduguri
UPM Universiti Putra Malaysia
UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Educational Fund
VIPs Very important person
WHO World Health Organisation
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FOREWORD
“This book was written with relentless effort

by authors who foresee the impact of
Facebook use on youths’ self-esteem in
relation to their self-presentation online and
psychosocial well-being.”
….. DR NOR ADZHARUDDIN
It is an honour and a great pleasure for me to write this foreword for this
book entitled ‘Youths’ Self-presentation on Facebook and Psychosocial
Well-being: Empirical Evidence from Nigerian Youths’ Facebook Use
Behaviour.’
Youths have been given a major attention in many countries around the
world given that they are the template for future generations and are
envisaged as potential leaders in whose hands the future of society lies. To
lend an empirical evidence-based credence to the importance of the future
of society, this book focuses on youths and their social interactions online.
My heartiest congratulations therefore go to the authors and team of
editors for producing this informative book: a paradigm that focuses on
self-presentation behaviours among young persons on Facebook and their
connections with their psychosocial well-being. This work encompasses
an introduction to social interactions among young persons and their
settings online, the Facebook environment in Nigeria, the literature on self-
presentation and social well-being, social networking sites and their
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Foreword
relations to gender, cultural identity and last but not the least, self-
promotion tools and Facebook.
Furthermore, this book delivers to the reader a detailed methodology and

a research design, which are key tools for social science researchers and
students. The findings of this book, which are well presented and discussed
provide the reader with an original empirical evidence and rich
information about the correlations between the youths’ behaviour online
and their psychological well-being. The findings also provide an insight
into the implications of the youths’ social networking sites’ use behaviour
on not only their social and psychological soundness but also on their
academic and non-academic performances, which can have a far-reaching
effect on their future and that of the society.
This book was written with relentless effort by authors who foresee the
impact of Facebook use on youths’ self-esteem in relation to their self-
presentation online and psychosocial well-being. I anticipate that you will
find the findings of this book, especially regarding future generations of
social media researchers, parents and authorities involved in policy
formulation and decision-making processes on social media use and
people’s social well-being. I also hope that this work will provide further
guidance to future researchers to conduct studies on Facebook use among
young persons, particularly Nigerian youths. I would like to commend the
authors and team of editors for eschewing the pains and costs of producing
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Foreword
this comprehensive and meticulous research work to fruition; my sincere

congratulations to them all.
Finally, I hope the information provided in this work will benefit youths,
particularly Nigerian youths immensely and guide their mindset toward
being mindful of their social networking sites use behaviour. I strongly
believed that Nigerian legislators and policy-makers stand a tremendous
chance to benefit from the findings of this research work especially in the
realms of helping them legislate and formulate social well-being-friendly
social media access and use laws and policies respectively that can impact
positively on the psychological and physical well-being of both the youth
and other social media users in the country.
Nor Adzharuddin, PhD

Dr. Nor Adzharuddin is Senior Lecturer at Department of Communication, Faculty of
Modern Languages and Communication, University Putra Malaysia. She is also
Associate Fellow at Corporate Strategy & Communication Office and Associate
Researcher at Halal Institute of the university.
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PREFACE
“We are all social actors engaged in the

drama of everyday life.”
….. Ervin Goffman (1956)
Enhanced innovations in social networking sites have made Facebook so

appealing to users, especially the young persons. Consequently, Facebook
use has become an interesting research area in recent years. Nigeria, being
the most populous country in Africa is one of the countries in the continent
with the largest population of Facebook users, which even prompted the
Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg to add two Nigerian local languages,
namely Hausa and Fulfulde (or Fulla) to the over 100 languages in
Facebook. However, there is dearth of research evidence on the association
between Facebook use and psychosocial well-being of Nigerian youths.
Nonetheless, undocumented literature, experts and community leaders
have raised concerns over the possible negative effect of intense Facebook
use on the psychosocial well-being of the youth, who constitute most
users.
To close this literature void, we explored young university students’ self-

presentation behaviour on Facebook and its links and impact on their
psychosocial well-being empirically. We selected some 380
undergraduate students of University of Maiduguri in Borno State, Nigeria
as participants using purposive sampling method. Employing Goffman’s
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Preface
theory of self-presentation perspective, we designed conceptual

framework for the study with self-presentation as independent variable
consisting of four sub-constructs, namely profile information, audience
size, frequency of access to Facebook and users’ ethnic identity. Well-
being (i.e., self-esteem) was theorised to be the dependent variable. The
data for this research study was gathered from a survey fieldwork using a
pre-tested questionnaire which was designed based on Rosenberg’s self-
esteem scale.
This research book found that intense Facebook use is correlated to low
self-esteem and, similarly, that the estimated size of a user’s audience
(Facebook friends) is significantly but negatively correlated to self-
esteem. These key findings suggest that intensity of Facebook use helps
users overcome low self-esteem and that the larger the size of an individual
respondent’s friends on Facebook, the lower his or her self-esteem would
become respectively. Hence, this book study recommends that further
studies should be conducted to further understand the effect of low self-
esteem arising from intense Facebook use by the youth.
Acknowledgements: This preface was written when the co-author, Pro.

Dr. Md. Salleh Hj. Hassan has had an eye surgery performed on him. For
this reason, this work is dedicated to his good health and fast recovery.
Our special words of thanks go to Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and
University of Maiduguri (UniMaid) for partially funding this research
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Preface
work. This study was extracted from Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim’s

(the corresponding author) Master’s Thesis (which was conducted at
UPM) and then modified. UPM had supported the Master’s research with
a grant (IPS/2014/9433928), which indirectly supported the present
research study. Being a lecturer at Department of Mass Communication,
UniMaid, the corresponding author was a recipient of the university’s
study fellowship (R/SP.6106/Vol. I) in 2013. So, he invested some parts
of the award benefits in this research.
We wish to thank Associate Prof. Dr. Siti Zobidah binti Omar, Associate
Prof. Dr. Jusang Bolong, Mohd. Nizam Osman (PhD) and Akmar Hayati
binti Ahmad Ghazali (PhD) (all of Faculty of Modern Languages and
Communication, UPM) under whose tutelage and supervision the
corresponding author gained the knowledge, skills and experience to write
this research work. We also extend our sincere appreciation to Nor Azura
binti Adzharuddin (PhD) for chairing the corresponding author’s Master’s
thesis viva voce, creating time to write a befitting foreword for this book
despite her tight schedules and for the intellectual support she rendered
toward the success of this work. This work also recognises the paternal
and fraternal roles the co-author (Prof. Dr. Md. Salleh Hj. Hassan) played
toward supporting its successful completion morally and even financially
in addition to the authorship role they played. Furthermore, we would like
to express our sincere gratitude to the following intellectuals and
gentlemen for their invaluable support at various capacities, namely Prof.
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Preface
Danjuma Gambo, Associate Prof. Abubakar Mu’azu, Associate Professor

Mohammed Gujbawu, Nassir Abba Aji (PhD), Mallam Musa Usman,
Mallam Musa Liman, Prof. Israel Udomisor, Mallam Mustapha Mai Iyali
and the Late Mallam Murtala Mohammed (RIP) (all of Department of
Mass Communication, UniMaid). Our last words of thanks go to Mallam
Mohammed Alhaji Adamu, Mallam Abdulmutallib A. Abubakar, Mallam
Sharafa Dauda, Joseph Wilson (PhD), Nuhu D. Gapsiso (PhD), Mallama
Amina Abana, Mallama Aisha Kolo, Mallama Rahila, Mr. Boyi Gagaya,
Mallam Musa Hera, Mohammed Mahre (PhD), Ahmed Lawal Gusau
(PhD), Dr. Mohammed Bashir Tijjani, Dr. Ibrahim Sa’idu Ngulde, Mallam
Yahaya Abubakar, Engr. Jibrin Usman Buni, Mallam Madu Hassan, Engr.
Alhaji Shuaibu Dahiru, Alhaji Musa Ibrahim Geidam, Mr. Ismail Alfa
Abdul Rahim and Idi Mohammed Ibrahim Jalo.
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DEVOTION
To the well-being of all Nigerian youths who use social media
responsibly; to the good health and long life of Fatimah Zarah Batulah (the
corresponding author’s newly-born baby girl); and to the good health of
Prof. Dr. Md. Salleh Hj. Hassan (the co-author), who’s just undergone an
eye surgery.
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EPILOGUE
CAVEAT!
USE SOCIAL MEDIA RESPONSIBLY
The Internet has revolutionised global connectivity and serves as the
oxygen that breathes life to globalisation; though it has rent the apparel of
personal privacy asunder.
Web 2.0 is one of the unique evidences of modern information technology

innovations. It has transformed social interaction, enhanced idea
generation and sharing and made the seas of virtual spaces worth surfing;
but it has bereaved online contents of genuine originality.
Social media are the launchpads of social networking sites. They are the
key drivers of global social networking. In fact, the development of Web
2.0 has transformed social media to their current looks and status.
Unequivocally, social media have transformed social interaction and
social connectivity like no other in history. But social media are
progressively posing insurmountable challenges to conventional media.
Social network sites (SNSs) increasingly proving to the world that they
are the true, unmatched drivers of sociability, networkability,
intractability, connectability, associability and communicability of
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Epilogue
individuals, groups, organisations, institutions and governments globally.

However, people of younger ages tend to be citizens of SNSs more than
adults would be. Furthermore, SNSs are often being perceived as the
escape world of idle minds, who the adage referred to as ‘the devil’s
workshop.’
This should be a red-alert warning to SNSs addicts. Did you ever mind
the way you use SNSs? Did you ever posed for a second to regurgitate
over your general state of mind, especially your concentration while doing
things, or those of somebody you know? Did it ever cross your mind that
the need for you to use SNSs responsibly may weigh the same with that
for you to watch what you eat and mind what you drink, or weigh even
heaviest? This book cares about your mental well-being as it does about
your physical health. A word, it is said, is enough for the wise. So, please,
USE SOCIAL MEDIA RESPONSIBLY!
Figure E-1: Organised Internet cafe, symbolising the need for responsible social media
use by all and sundry, especially the youth
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Epilogue
THE YOUTH:
PRESENT, FUTURE AND BIG DREAMS
‘Yara, manyan gobe…’ is an Hausa maxim meaning, ‘the youths are the
leaders of tomorrow…’ In Nigerian socio-cultural milieu, the youths are
regarded as would-be leaders, or future leaders. This maxim sounds so
auspicious. Doesn’t it? However, just like their counterparts in

generations upon generations that have passed, the present generation of
Nigerian youth is also relentlessly awaiting the coming of the proverbial
‘tomorrow’ so its members become leaders of the society as always said
in the adage.
But, that ‘tomorrow’ has already come; it’s none other than this
information era! Unfortunately, many Nigerian youths are being carried
away by the endless fun of social media to the extent that they are bluntly
oblivious of the arrival of the very future they’ve been profoundly waiting
for, for generations. Instead of grabbing the chance of ruling not only the
society but also ideas and the world as a global neighbourhood by
harnessing the potentials of social media through the power of the
keyboard, or keypad (which represents one of the most powerful tools that
are mightier than the sword in this era), rather they’re being blinded by the
dazzling fun of social networking sites to realise the future is already
HERE.
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Epilogue
HELLO, O NIGERIAN YOUTH!
Hello there, Nigerian youth!

The society has for long regarded you as the ‘leader of tomorrow.’
Kudos to the society for having such a strong faith in you, though.
But, when will that ‘tomorrow’ come?
When’s it going to come to pass?
It’s been a little over a half of a century since Nigeria gained
independence; and for all these years you’ve been waiting agape for that
proverbial ‘tomorrow’ to come; the time when you’re traditionally told to
become leaders of your great fatherland.
Arise Nigerian youths!

That ‘tomorrow’ has been here.
It’s been with you for about a couple of decades now.
This tome envisages this age, this information age, this very social media
age may (certainly) have been the ‘tomorrow’ that the society foretells.
And here you are! At long last, it has come.

It’s already dawned on you.
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Epilogue
Here you are in the ‘tomorrow’ that’s already become ‘today.’

Here you are in the future that’s already come to pass.
Hereyou are in an era when you lead the world of information and
communication technology like no one did before.
Here you are in an era when the keyboard (or keypad) connects you with
the world at the speed of light.
Here you are in an age when the keyboard (or keypad) is faster than the
speed of light… and even is mightier than the throne.
Then, dear youths, which tomorrow are you still waiting for and throne of
which leadership else are you still craving to mount?
Think critically!
Unshackle your mind and free your thoughts… you’ll realise the reality.
And, you certainly will realise too, that you’re somebody; that you are a
social actor engaged in the drama of everyday life, theorised by Ervin
Goffman well over a half of a century ago.
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Epilogue
Figure E-2: An image illustrating the Nigerian youths’ proverbial dream of becoming
leaders of a utopian ‘tomorrow’, instead of harnessing the potentials of social media,
which represents one of the utilities of the ‘tomorrow’ they’ve been waiting for but are
rather being carried away by the endless fun in social media applications
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CHAPTER ONE
PRIMER
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CHAPTER ONE
PRIMER
1.1 Social Interaction, Social Media and Society
Communication is inherent in human culture (Niiya, Brook, & Crocker,

2010). Communication enhances social interaction, and self-presentation
improves relationships and eliminates uncertainties associated with social
interaction (McQuail, 2010). Since the beginning of time, human beings
try to find ways to interact with one another to fulfill certain needs inherent
to their nature. Social interaction needs are not less important as other
physiological needs of humans (McQuail, 2010). Human beings differ in
the ways they look at their surroundings and act according to their
interpretation of their surroundings. However, human beings’
understanding of their social life is like the way they socialise within their
societies (Niiya et al., 2010; McQuail, 2010).
Individuals’ social image is an important part of their feelings of self-

worth (Baumeister &Leary, 1995). For example, when an individual
appears in the presence of others, there will usually be some reasons for
him or her to mobilise his or her activity so that it will convey an
impression to others which it is in his or her interests to convey (Goffman,
2002).
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Chapter One: Primer
The rise of social networking sites allows people to become even more
social, and provides them with more control over their social image than
it was possible in the past (Falola & Heaton, 2008; Niedermeier, Wang, &
Zhang, 2016). Recent years have witnessed the accelerated proliferation
of social media driven by the Web 2.0 technology, supports user-content
generation and interpersonal communication by enabling users to connect
with friends or people irrespective of time, place and circumstances (Kane,
Alavi, Labianca, & Borgatti, 2014). According to Ellison and Boyd (2013)
the concept of social media centers on four distinct features, namely digital
profile, search and privacy features, relational ties features and network
transparency.
Digital profile is mutually constructed by the social media platform e.g.,

Facebook and users. The search and privacy features allow users to access
the digital content or avoid it through search mechanisms provided by the
platform (Zywica & Danowski, 2008). The relational ties features furnish
users with a list of other members who share mutual relational connection
with them. Lastly, the network transparency facilitates users to view the
connections in that platform made by themselves and other members in
their network. The popular adoption of social media by the public can be
estimated from the fact that there are more than 2 billion social media users
worldwide with leading social networking platforms like Facebook having
more than 1.8 billion active users as at January 2017 (Statista, 2017).
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Chapter One: Primer
The use of social networking sites as a platform for self-identification and

self-presentation may be good or bad to users. Some of the negative
impacts of this connectivity can be realised in some aspects of their lives
such as the classroom, with the family at the dinner table, at the restaurant,
on vehicles and in places of worship (Zywica & Danowski, 2008). In what
could be described as an ‘extreme case’, some Facebook users
simultaneously drive or ride while interacting with their mobile phones,
e.g., answering calls or replying text messages. Kim and Lee (2011) argue
that the study of young people using this new technology is a rapidly
developing field, and it is therefore difficult for regular research to keep
pace with shifts in practice, for example, much of the available literature
focuses on the Internet and on mobile phones, which represented the first
wave of engagement of young people with Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs).
Previously, it was too difficult to conduct research over the use of social
media among Nigerian youth due to the digital gap. However, nowadays
with the rapid transformation of the economy this gap has already
narrowed. Related literature emphasises the innovative potential of
Facebook to change the nature of communication in communal social life
(FOTN, 2015). However, there is dispute over the extent and nature of
online communication and its relationship to social life as it is moving in
the real world. As online communication by isolating the individuals from
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the constraints of physical closeness, new social opportunities emerge.
According to Ahn (2011) there is a body of research that highlighted the

role of the Internet in facilitating engagement and social connectedness. In
addition, many of communication researchers believe that such online
activities and social networks do boost users’ self-esteem (Ahn, 2011). A
study conducted by Valkenburg, Peter and Schouten (2006) concluded that
the use of friend’s network sites may be an effective enhancement of one’s
self–esteem for young people in their study. However, many studies have
ignored the real behaviour of the youth in using Facebook (Wilson,
Gosling, & Graham, 2012). That is, they are increasingly becoming more
isolated from the real social life because of the use of Facebook. A research
study suggested that Facebook users have lower overall grades in their
school studies than non-users (Huang, 2010).
1.2 Facebook, the Internet and the Online World in Nigeria
To understand the Facebook use of Nigerian youths, we first need to

understand its demographic features. Nigeria is the most populous country
in Africa with more than 250 ethnic groups, 500 languages and its
population continues to rise rapidly. The most politically influential ethnic
groups are Hausa (Hausa-Fulani) 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo 18%, Ijaw
10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5% and Tiv 2.5% of the population. According
to World Population Projects the country has about 190 million people, a
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huge increase from 1950 when it had only 38 million people (CIA World
Fact Book, 2017). The United Nations (UN, 2013) has projected that the
country will be the third most populous nation in the world by 2050 (with
440 million people) (Falola & Heaton, 2008; UN, 2013).
The religious profile of the nation shows that Muslims constitute 50%,
Christian 40% and indigenous beliefs 10%. Additionally, Nigeria’s
population has a high percentage of young people as shown in the
following population age profile: 0-14 years old: 42.79% (male
40,744,956/female 38,870,303); 15-24 years old: 19.48% (male
3,595,293/female 3,769,986); and 65 years and over: 3.12% (male
2,754,040/female 3,047,002) (Josephson, 2017; CIA World Fact Book,
2017).
Internet penetration in Nigeria is progressively spreading, particularly

with the proliferation of mobile phone data and Fixed Wireless Access
(FWA) services. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC), by February 2015 there were over 83 million active mobile
Internet subscriptions on global system mobile telecommunication (GSM)
networks. Cited in Internet World Stats (IWS) (2017), according to NCC
Nigeria has a population of 191, 835,936, out of which 91,880,032 are
Internet users (which is 47.9% of the population as at December 2016).
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There are 16 million active Facebook users by June 2016 and Internet
penetration rate of 8.3%. the country has the largest population of Internet
and Facebook users in Africa (Reuters, 2015 Sept. 10). According to
Freedom on the Net Report (FOTN) the ICT market in Nigeria has
expanded considerably over the past decade, with the number of licensed
Internet service providers (ISPs) rising from 18 in 2000 to 189 as by the
end of March 2015 (FOTN, 2015; Reuters, 2015 Sept. 10).
Because of the global significance of Nigeria as a Facebook hub in Africa,

the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg visited the country on 1
September 2016, his first visit to Africa South of the Sahara, which has put
the country’s technology industry firmly in the global spotlight (Busari,
2016, Sept. 1). Facebook is the world’s most popular social networking
site (Jennings, Blount, & Weatherly, 2014). Facebook has been the most
used social networking site in Nigeria since January 2013 (FOTN, 2015;
Aichner & Perkmann, 2013). Accessing Facebook is increasingly
becoming much easier, whether through smartphones or other mobile
devices (Fan & Gordon, 2014), which contributes to its popularity with
over 1.49 billion monthly active users as of 2015 (Niedermeier et al.,
2016) and over 1.8 active users worldwide as at January 2017 (Statista,
2017).
On 30 September 2016 Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg added

Hausa, Fula (also known as Fulfulde/Fulani), Maltese and Corsican
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languages to Facebook. Hausa and Fulfulde are two of the most widely
spoken languages not only in Nigeria but also in West and Central African
sub-regions. With these new additions, Facebook is now accessible in
more than 100 languages (Seheed, 2016, Oct. 1). In addition, now with the
influence of smart phones even while people are commuting they can get
connected to the internet and check their Facebook. Globally, more than
475 mobile phone operators work to deploy and promote Facebook mobile
products (Smith, 2013).
Facebook users post pictures and updates about their daily lives (Go &
You, 2016). Facebook communication and collaboration forms
relationships among the users (Goi, 2014). There are 11 fixed wired access
(FWA) providers and four GSM mobile phone operators that provide
Internet access to millions of subscribers in the country. However, the
growth of ISPs and FWA services sector has slowed down in recent years
with the rise in mobile access. By February 2015, the four privately owned
GSM companies namely, MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat had
combined total subscribers of over 136 million (FOTN, 2015).
Further statistics have shown that in 2014, Internet penetration in Nigeria

was 43% as against 38% in 2013. In addition, in 2013, 78% of Nigerians
had access to mobile phone services, while it was 73% in 2013. By
contrast, the NCC reported a mobile phone teledensity of 102% in
February 2015. By the end of June 2015, there were 120 million active
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Facebook users in the country (FOTN, 2015). Citing Facebook.com,

Emmanuel (2015) stated that, more than 7.1 million Nigerians access
Facebook daily, making the country Africa’s biggest user of social media
platform.
Three features represent the core, defining characteristics of social

networking sites, namely profiles, friend traversing and friend lists (Ahn,
2011). For example, the feedback provided by one’s friends in Facebook
is influential in the development of social identity of others. This process
of creating identity is quite significant to youth who are experiencing a
time of rapid growth and development. Although social networks were and
still are more akin with the younger demographics, one cannot conclude
that social media is just for teens and younger people (Levy, 2010). A
survey shows that currently Facebook dominates more than 80% of the
account ownership regarding of the rest of social media.
The rapid growth in the use of Facebook has been astonishing. From 2008
to June 2009, Facebook use grew by 157% that means Facebook has
gained an estimated 208 million visitors (Levy, 2010). When Facebook hit
the 200 million active users record, it made a video about the 200 million
people as the active users of the cite and claimed that such a population
can be perceived as a country that its populace is more than Japan or Russia
(Levy, 2010). In addition to exhibiting a network of friends, other users
can click on their profiles and traverse ever-widening social networks.
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Facebook currently is the largest and most popular social networking site
(Saheed, 2016 Sept. 30).
This study attempted to investigate the association between self-

presentation on Facebook and youths’ social and psychological
(psychosocial) well-being. This study particularly focuses on youths’
disposition to have a personal profile for digital self-identity on Facebook,
using photos (digital images), favorite friends, comments, favorite music
and other personal information for self-identity and social interaction
online. Nowadays social networking sites are accessible through myriad
of technologies, e.g., personal computer, laptop, mobile phone,
smartphone and iPad. These facilities and devices provide the youth with
ample opportunity to stay connected to their network of friends on
Facebook always (Aichner & Perkmann, 2013; Niedermeier et al., 2016).
This study considered any young person as a cohort because the younger
generation (people between the ages of 17 and 24 years old) have been
recognised as innovators and early adopters of the latest technologies.
They possess potential susceptibility to develop patterns of problematic
use (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Therefore, these new technologies give
the social network an important role in the life of the younger generation.
The young people might be more eager to present themselves in certain
ways utilising Facebook now more than ever (Kim & Lee, 2011). This
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provides a preliminary evidence that the younger persons try to impress

others through social networks, which may lead to an increased concern
with others’ perceptions and possibly an increased value placed on
validation from others (Niiya et al., 2010).
1.3 The Posers that Triggered this Research
The theme of this study is grounded in the self-disclosure and similarity

attraction and theory of self-presentation principles, which postulate that
self-presentation involves sharing personal information by members of
one’s social community to see and appreciate or express disapproval. This
interaction permeates the discovery of interpersonal similarity, extending
validation of their ideas and personality and thus developing affiliation and
understanding between friends (Byrne, 1971, 1970; Jourard, 1971;
Goffman, 2002). This process is further facilitated by social networking
sites as people are lesser self-conscious to share personal information in
such on social networking sites using different behavioural clues, e.g.,
indicating approval by clicking the various rating and reaction icons
available such as ‘like’, ‘love’, ‘smile, ‘laugh’ ‘cry’, etc. or expressing
disapproval (Kramer, Feurstein, Kluck, Meier, Rother, & Winter, 2017).
In the recent decades, as communication technology becomes increasingly

prominent in Nigerian youths’ life, they become more and more interested
in using online social networks such as Facebook (Zywica & Danowski,
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2008). As social media application is developing fast, the way people

interact with the media in Nigeria is increasingly drawing research
attention. In other words, the traditional and new media are mixing up.
According to Leung (2012) this trend may influence the use and approach
of new media by adolescents, which in turn may produce several
psychological or psychosocial effects. According to Subrahmanyam and
Greenfield (2008) social media are an important social variable for today’s
youths and that the physical and virtual worlds are psychologically
connected. The virtual world serves as a playground for development
issues from the physical world such as identity construction and self-
expression (Gundogar, Bakim, Ozer, & Karamustafalioglu, 2012).
Although many research studies on the benefits and impacts of social

media and their use on users are available (refer to Chapter 2), little of such
evidence, if any, exists on the use of social media among Nigerian youths
based on psychosocial well-being, ethnic identity, gender and age, which
are the focus of this research. Hence, the urge by this research study to
explore the association and impact of Facebook use on the psychosocial
well-being, gender bias, age and ethnic identity of Nigerian youths as well
as try to close that literature void. Not only little evidence exists on links
and impact of social media on the well-being of Nigerian youths so far,
according to Wilson et al. (2012) no research has examined how
interacting with Facebook influences subjective well-being over time
some five years ago.
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The researchers examined 412 peer-reviewed publications and conference

proceedings on Facebook starting from January 2005 until January 2012.
They did not find a single study that had examined how using this social
networking site influences subjective well-being over time. However, the
findings of a research in 2012 indicated that 65.3% of the study’s
respondents were heavy users of Facebook. The findings of that study raise
concerns about the effect of the online community on youths’ well-being,
especially as more than 50% of the respondents used Facebook when they
felt depressed or lonely (Albert, 2012).
Like in many other parts of the world, in Nigeria, Facebook is the most
popular social networking site, which is used by many Nigerians,
especially people of younger age groups (Josephson, 2017; CIA World
Fact Book, 2017). Despite the limited literature on the use of Facebook as
self-presentation tool among Nigerian youths, experts’ observations have
consistently suggested that the use of social media can affect the behaviour
and psyche of users, especially heavy users. Furthermore, public opinions,
public lectures and undocumented addresses at many workshops and
seminars across the country have suggested that the use of social media by
the youth is increasingly becoming phenomenal, hence the need for
empirical investigation. These concerns are supported by Schlenker et al.
(2012) who found that there is a relationship between intense social media
use and social well-being. Though there are people who seldom use social
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Chapter One: Primer
networking sites but still they have weak ties with their physical and social
surroundings (Kramer et al., 2017).
Due to the vast cultural diversity and the opportunities the new social
media has given the youth to construct a desired image, identity, or
uniqueness in the multi-cultural environment of the country (Josephson,
2017), the forming of identity in social media among Nigerian youths is
very important to researchers. According to Fearson (1999) identity refers
to either (a) a social category, defined by member rules and all
characteristic attributes or expected behaviour, or (b) it refers to social
distinguishing features that a person takes a special pride in or views as
unchangeable but socially consequential. It can be both. Moreover, with
self-presentation youth create the desired identity that contributes to their
behaviour and affects their well-being. Thus, understanding how new
media effect youths’ identity construction and their subjective well-being
requires an empirical examination of the youths’ self-presentation
behaviour on social networking sites which are rapidly becoming a culture
among the youth (Kramer et al., 2017). Hence this book seeks to answer
some research questions and achieve some objectives as outlined below.
1.4 The Research Probes
The study attempted to provide answers the following research questions:
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1. What is the level of the respondents’ positive and negative self-

esteem perception in self-presentation on Facebook use?
2. What is the difference between genders in self-esteem on Facebook
use?
3. What is the correlation between intense Facebook use and low self-
esteem use?
4. What is the correlation between estimate of audience size and self-
esteem on Facebook?
5. What is the difference in the use of self-presentation tactics on
Facebook between Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo youths based on ethnic
identity?
6. What is the correlation between self-presentation tactics and
gender?
7. What is the correlation between self-presentation tactics and age?
1.5 The Research Goals
This study targeted the following goals:
1. To determine the level of the respondents’ positive and negative self-

esteem perception in self-presentation on Facebook use.
2. To determine the difference between genders in self-esteem on
Facebook use.
3. To determine the correlation between intense Facebook use and low
self-esteem use.
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4. To determine the correlation between estimate of audience size and self-

esteem on Facebook.
5. To determine the difference in the use of self-presentation tactics on
Facebook between Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo youths based on ethnic
identity.
6. To determine the correlation between self-presentation tactics and
gender.
7. To determine the correlation between self-presentation tactics and age.
1.6 The Substance of this Research
This study was prompted by the urge to respond to the concerns raised
about the links and impact of the use of social networking sites on the
psychological and behavioural well-being of Nigerian youths. Hence, it is
expected that the findings of this study original, empirical information and
data about the use of Facebook by Nigerian youths. This study is
significant because it is expected that its findings will provide empirical
evidences on behavioural patterns (differences or otherwise) of self-
presentation and identity tactics among Nigerian youths based on gender,
age and culture (ethnic identity). One of the far-reaching significance of
this study is that it is expected that the findings will provide some
exploratory insights into the social, political and cultural importance of
Nigerian indigenous (local) languages, especially toward adoption of a
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Nigerian local language as a language of instruction in schools (Olatayo,

2015).
Nigeria is a country with several hundreds of ethnic groups with three

major politically influential tribes, namely Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. To
the best of the researchers’ knowledge, there is no work in the literature
that addresses the use of social networking sites among Nigerian young
persons based on the respondents’ ethnic backgrounds, specifically Hausa,
Igbo and Yoruba. Hence, it is expected that this study will contribute
toward providing research evidence on the online behaviour of Nigerian
youths against the backdrop of their tribal or ethnic identity. The findings
of this study are expected to provide further understanding about the links
between Facebook use and cultural identity differences (diversity), and
individual users’ psychological and social (psychosocial) well-being and
the degree of his or her online presence and audience size (number of
friends on the social networking site).
It is expected that these findings will provide some benchmark data and
statistics for the Nigerian Government and government ministries and
departments focusing on ICT and social well-being/development of the
youth. Similarly, the findings of this study are expected to be a valuable
source of information to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and
civil society organisations (CSOs) whose central attention are youths’
well-being and technology adoption/use e.g., the United Nations
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International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the
North-East Youth Initiative Forum (NEYIF), among others.
This study is significant because its findings are expected provide some
exploratory clues to parents, community leaders, school authorities and
social analysts about the impact of social media use on the well-being of
the youth in the society. Furthermore, not only are the findings of this study
expected to provide useful data and information resource for the
development and enhancement of viable health and ICT policy but also
are expected to provide some empirical underpinnings toward the
development and enhancement of the contents of the national social media
use Act.
1.7 The Crucial Terms Defined
Identity: This term refers to a shared sense of belonging among members

of a given community or group to a culture, society, place or social
grouping. Identity involves many factors such as language, ethnic identity,
religion, belief, lifestyle, work and nationality. Social networking sites use
is associated with many different aspects of identity formation,
maintenance and dissolution. Social networking sites have been shown to
possess the power to drive and reflect social change and lead to integration
and assimilation of different cultures. At almost every turn, the study of
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media-related issues reminds us how much the social networking sites and
mass media, despite their apparent similarities across the globe, are
affected by differences of culture, e.g., at individual, subgroup and nation
levels. Most of behaviours users exhibit on social networking sites are
cultural practices, values, norms and beliefs that resist or gives in to the
universalising tendencies of the new social networking world (Khan, Iqbal
& Gazzaz, 2012; McQuail, 2010).
Self-Esteem: Self-esteem is the extent to which someone perceives that

he or she is has a high self-worth, and is evaluated as being a potential
friend or social network member and is a component of interpersonal
attraction (McCroskey & McCain, 1974). There is a consistent positive
association between self-presentation on social networking sites and self-
esteem (Antheunis, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2010). Individuals seeking to
exert their self-worth by being socially attractive to others (in the form of
intimacy and belonging) is a primary motivation for self-presentation
online (McCain, Borg, Rothenberg, Churillo, Weiler, & Campbell, 2016).
Interaction among friends on social networks is indicated as one of the
main reasons for self-presentation, which fulfills a need for social
integration in the virtual community (Adams et al., 2014; Rosenberg,
Schooler, Schoenbach, & Rosenberg, 1995).
Martin and Leary (1999) argued that there are three distinct reasons for
engaging in self-presentation which can be distinguished from existing
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literature: identity development, enhancing self-esteem and gaining social

rewards. It is very important to know of those three contexts in which self-
presentation occurs on Facebook and the consequences to which they may
lead on the youth well-being (Zhao, Grasmuck, & Martin, 2008).
Individuals that are actively involved in a lot of self-presentation acts on
social networking sites would usually woo the online community’s
approval and are rated by others as being more likeable and attractive or
otherwise (Re, Wang, He, & Rule, 2016).
However, the individuals who performed the self-presentation would

usually rate themselves as more attractive, confident and likeable than
others did (Re et al., 2016). For example, a study discovered that
participants rated individuals’ online self-presentation behaviour of
posting self-taken pictures (selfies) as being less socially attractive than
individuals who were in photos taken by another person (Kramer et al.,
2017). These patterns may extend to self-esteem personality characteristic
perceptual differences according to how an individual presented himself
or herself on his or her social network profile, such that the more they tried
to be seen and perceived as having self-esteem by others the more such
behaviour may affect their well-being (Crocker & Major, 1989; Marlow &
Lento, 2010; Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Walther, 1996).
Well-Being: Well-being in this context refers to the psychological well-

being of the individual using the social networking site as well as his or
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her psychological soundness (health) while using the social networks. One
of the popular definitions of health is the one by the World Health
Organisation (WHO), which states that, “Health is a state of complete
physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity”
(WHO, 1946, p. 100). The health implications or “risks to health”

(Soliman, Girgis & Morgan, 2014, p. 1) of self-presentation on social
networking sites has been categorised into two, namely: (i) Generic health
implications because of general use of social networking sites which
includes addiction potentials, cyber bullying and the spread of other online
risk behaviours, and (ii) Misuse and misinformation (these are not health
implications in themselves, rather they could lead to health risks) (Soliman
et al., 2014).
Youth: The definition of youth differs according to countries and

organisations that they are a citizen or member of, respectively. The
concept of youth is best understood as a period of transition from the
childhood dependency to adulthood’s independence and awareness of
individuals of their independency as members of a community. As a result,
youth is a more fluid category than a fixed age group. The United Nations
(UN), for statistical consistency across regions, defines youth as, those
persons between the ages of 15 to 24 years old, without prejudice to other
definitions by Member States (UN, 2013). All UN statistics on youth rely
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on the above definition of the term, as illustrated by the annual yearbooks

of statistics published by the United Nations system on demography,
education, employment, and health (Josephson, 2017; CIA World Fact
Book, 2017). Similarly, this study adopts the UN definition of youth
because currently a standard, official definition of youth in Nigeria is not
available.
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CHAPTER TWO
ANALYSIS OF PAST LITERATURE
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CHAPTER TWO
ANALYSIS OF PAST LITERATURE
2.1 Synopsis
This chapter critically discusses relevant existing literature on significant

issues pertaining to the use of social networking sites and self-presentation
in detail. The chapter also discusses relevant theoretical backgrounds upon
whose premise the research model of this study was designed and the
hypotheses formulated.
2.2 Internet, Social Media and Self-Presentation
The Internet has changed the way youth interact with their family and
friends. The recent development of social media especially Facebook has
created a new way that young people can present themselves to their peers,
by editing their profile and posting new pictures with an instant text
massage, enables them to present the desired image. Self-presentation
evokes images of gamesmanship, with people jockeying for position in the
social world by trying to convey an image of self to others (Schlenker,
2012). In fact, this definition is seen in different cultures around the world.
For example, “saving face” is a very important part of culture in Asian
countries. For people from certain Asian cultures life depends heavily on
how others perceive and evaluate them, just to avoid the embarrassment
of looking inappropriate, they involve with saving face culture.
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A great deal of human behaviour is, in part, determined or constrained by

people’s concerns with others' impressions and evaluations of them
(Pontari & Schlenker, 2000). People’s thoughts sometimes lead them to
understand self-presentation as something bad or deception, facade, or
some other forms of selfishness and manipulative motives. This, arguably
is not because it is human nature but because of the impact of the new
social media technology, and the constrained feelings over the impression
and self-evaluation (Antheunis et al., 2010).
Self-presentation is a part of everyone’s daily life. Imagine if people

stopped caring about how they look or stopped taking showers just because
they do not care about themselves, what mess would they present of
themselves? Self-presentation becomes more important when people want
to achieve a goal. The youth are aware of this, so they try to show off
certain characteristics they possess (Schlenker, 2012). The scholar
emphasised that self-presentation can be used to accomplish interpersonal
goals that can be realised only by influencing the responses of others to
oneself. This examination of self-presentation only encompasses part of it;
though self-presentation is not just a superficial, deceptive, or
manipulative activity. It can also be involved in attempts to convey to
audiences an ‘accurate’ portrait of oneself (Baumeister, 1982). In line with
this, Tedeschi and Melburg (1984) divided self-presentation tactics into
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two categories namely, assertive tactics and defensive tactics. Defensive

self-presentation tactics maybe identified through the following:
(i) Excuse: a verbal statement denying responsibility for negative

events.
(ii) Justification: providing overriding reasons for negative

behaviour as justified, but accepting the responsibility for it.
(iii) Disclaimer: expression- offering explanations before

predicaments occur.
(iv) Self–handicapping: the production of an obstacle to success

with the intention of preventing observers from making
dispositional inferences about one’s failure.
(v) Apologies: a confession of responsibility for any harm done to

others or negative events and expressions of remorse and guilt.
(vi) Assertive self-presentation tactics maybe identified when the

following are observed in the individual’s self-presentation
behaviour:
(vii) Ingratiation: action performed to get others to like the actors so

that the actor can gain some advantage from them. Ingratiation
may take the form of self-enhancing communication, flattery,
opinion conformity and doing favors or giving gifts.
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(viii) Intimidation: action that have the intent to project an identity

of the actors as someone who is powerful and dangerous.
(ix) Supplication: an actor projects himself or herself as weak and

display dependence to solicit help from a target person.
(x) Entitlement: claims by an actor of responsibility and credit for

positive achievement.
(xi) Enhancement: an actor persuades others that the outcomes of

his or her behaviour are more positive than they might have
originally believed.
(xii) Basking: an actor associates himself or herself with another

person or group which is perceived positively by others, or
asserts the worth of a group he or she is positively linked.
(xiii) Blasting: a behaviour intended to produce or communicate

negative evaluation of another person or groups with which the
actor is merely associated.
(xiv) Exemplification: a behaviour presenting the actors as morally

worthy and as having integrity.
According to Carver and Scheier (1985) by using these tactics, an actor

may elicit respect, imitation, or admiration from others. Self-presentation
is sometimes characterised as having additional features, including being
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self-conscious, pretentious and formal; or guided by power-augmenting

motives, or by the audience's values and beliefs rather than the actor's own
(Carver & Scheier, 1985). Schlenker (2012) found out that Self-
presentation is distinguished from other behaviours due to the importance
of the real or conventional reactions in influencing communications.
Despite the positive values attributed to self-presentation, it may have its

own interpersonal ends and effects, and might not be purely expressive of
feelings or descriptive of facts and self-beliefs. Children at a very young
age, around three years old, can distinguish between appearance and
reality. But when they reached the ages between eight and eleven years,
they become increasingly sophisticated in identifying the interpersonal
functions of self-presentation, for example, indicating that ingratiating
actions are designed to gain approval and not simply to express liking (Fu
& Lee, 2007). Like any social activity, a full range of motives can guide
the control of information. Indeed, people will strategically control
information to help their friends to have a good impression on audiences,
and this activity seems to be guided by a concern for the friends’ welfare
and the outcome is benefited by the friends, not themselves (Pontari &
Schlenker, 2000).
Furthermore, people get the impression of self-presentation as a complex

mechanism, which is guided by a variety of motives. These motives are
not exclusively based on gaining power, for example, seeking power by
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political means or fame by individual exploits, because it occurs between

friends even in familiar situations such as marriage. This kind of motives
gives youths a sense that they feel they are valuable people, and help to
boost their self-esteem and make them feel good. This means that self-
esteem is derived from thinking that we are good at things that we have
specifically control over them. For example, one male teenager may invest
his self-esteem in being a good football player, but not as a high-achieving
student. On the other hand, the opposite may be true for another teenager
(Neff, 2011). Cooley (1902) proposed that feelings of self-worth also stem
from the mirror of self - people’s perceptions or the mental picture that
other people depict of us. Social well-being can identify in area of overall
well-being involving social relationships, social participation, social
networks and social support. Feelings of having a ‘social role’ or identity
may also play a part in this aspect of well-being (Kramer et al., 2017).
Callaghan (2008) argued that there are other factors which play role for
joining the social network such as loneliness, which Callaghan described
as social pain, a psychological mechanism meant to alert an individual of
isolation as well as a motivate that you seek for social connections.
Findings of a study conducted by Erbring (2000) titled: “Internet and
Society”, showed that individuals who were lonely or did not have good
social skills could develop strong compulsive Internet use behaviours
resulting in negative life outcomes; for example, harming other significant
activities such as work, school, or significant relationships, instead of
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relieving their original problems. Such activity amplifies negative

outcomes, leads to isolate individuals from healthy social activities and
make them lonelier.
Previous studies that investigated self- presentation on Facebook were

more concerned about how youth disclose themselves in the arena of social
media by presenting themselves to friends and strangers, and the findings
indicated that the young people were aware of the multiple audience.
While other studies focused on methods that are centered on a content
analysis of user profile on Facebook. Content analysis of the profile
becomes something static because the communication flow on Facebook
are immediate, and the status and wall oriented messages in the form of
wall postings and status updates give the youth ample opportunity to twist
and negotiate their presentation of self on a daily, hourly, or even more
frequent basis.
It can be argued that Internet has revolutionised mediated communication

and communication flow. However, communication researchers have
continued to struggle with explaining various positive and negative effects
of Internet use that have garnered attention. It is often assumed that internet
use is maintained by the positive reinforcing consequences of such use, its
production of entertainment as a pass-time, or in information-seeking
(Haridakis, 2009). Many social network sites users are characterised by
indulgence in self-expression through plethora of means available on the
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ever-expanding matrices of the social media. The pay-offs of the online

self-disclosure could be either “psychologically functional or
dysfunctional” (Perloff, 2014, p. 12), and is usually supported by the near-
boundless freedom of expression, association and interaction via the
network.
2.3 The Nature of Self-Presentation
The concept of self-presentation is rooted in social psychology literature,

which suggests that self-presentation just like any other behaviours, can
vary in the extent to which it involves automatic versus controlled
cognitive processes (Bargh, Chen & Burrows 1996). Bargh, (1996) argued
that self-presentations automatic processes are those ones that occur at the
unconscious level of self, which in that the actor is unaware of the
initiation, flow, or impact of the activity. He also asserted that it involves
relatively little cognitive effort, in that the actor does not expend valuable
and limited cognitive resources on the activity.
Moreover, self-presentation happens outside of conscious awareness, this

means the actor or the person who conducts the act is not necessary aware
of his or her act. This can involve some efforts which may occur naturally
(Rosenberg et al., 1995). Leary (1996) introduced several self-presentation
tactics in everyday life routines such as self-descriptions, attitude
statements, nonverbal behaviours, social associations, conformity and
compliance, aggression and risk-taking.
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In our daily lives, there are roles that we play to accommodate ourselves
to different social situations. For example, a person can be a student and
at same time, he or she may function as an employee of a specific
organisation and simultaneously can be a father or mother at the domestic
life. These different roles require individuals to adjust themselves
according to their social settings, which in turn require different social
acting. Goffman (2002) referred to this phenomenon of social role playing
as front region control. According to him by keeping different targets away
from one another, people can avoid the awkwardness of trying to present
disparate images of themselves to two or more targets simultaneously.
During the social interaction, people function as actors in a performance

in a front stage area. The performance depends on the type of audience, so
individuals play different roles and wear different masks according to
social orders and power struggle (Fairclough, 2001). This is in line with
Goffman (2002) who maintained that people engage in self-presentation
to control other people’s reactions towards them, and that this influence is
in a desired way (Leary & Kowalski, 1990). For Facebook, the front stage
would be the persons profile home page and wall, which is generally
accessible to all ‘friends’, the ‘back stage’ actions would be private
messaging and updating their profile (Robinson, 2007).
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2.4 Self-Presentation Online
People’s self-presentation daily, is like stage-acting (Goffman, 2002). The

scholar explained that as a reference to how people present their “self” to
others. In social sciences, especially sociology and social psychology,
impression management is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious
process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other
people about a person, object or event. They do so by regulating and
controlling information in social interaction (Schlenker & Leary, 1982).
According to Leary (1996), self-presentation is the process by which
people convey that they are a certain kind of person or possess certain
characteristics. Psychology scholars have proposed that self-presentational
behaviour has six main goals as follows:
1. Self-presentation is used to create an internal sense of identity. It

is used as an external presentation of an image, of which one
assumes he/she is.
2. It is as a way of self-verify individuals’ identities.
3. It is used for self-affirmation.
4. It is an image of self-assessment, and finally.
5. It is a manifestation of self-enhancement in the eyes of others.
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According to Baumeister and Leary (1995) some of the most predominant

goals for self-presentation behaviours may influence others’ behaviours
and thoughts so that they are congruent with the wishes of the self to gain
social approval, to avoid disapproval, or to manipulate other perceptions
of his or her own opinions.
Self-presentation behaviours are often explained as underlying needs and

motives. The need to be liked, for example, manifests in ingratiating
behaviour, whereas the need to be blameless prompts excuses. Tedeschi
and Melburg (1984) categorised two of the most studied self-presentation
tactics as defensive and assertive. Accordingly, assertive tactics are
behaviours used proactively to establish or develop an actor’s identity,
whereas defensive tactics are behavioural efforts to repair or restore an
identity after it has been spoiled.
Defensive self-presentation has been associated with several indicators of

negative effects or emotions (Rosenberg et al., 1995). Schlenker & Leary
(1982), argued that social anxiety arises in real or imagined social
situations when people are motivated to make an impression on others, but
they doubt that they can do so, i.e. they have expectations of unsatisfactory
impression-relevant reactions from others, and they state that socially
anxious or shy individuals tend to employ defensive tactics such as verbal
disclaimers and self-handicapping. Lee, Quigley, Nesler, Corbett, and
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Tedeschi (1999) found that defensive tactics, but not assertive tactics, were
positively correlated with social anxiety and external locus of control.
Fenigstein, Seheier, and Buss (1975) stressed the connections between
general self-presentation tactics that are used for approval and fear of
negative evaluation such as anxiety, low self-esteem and fear of failure.
Moreover, Schlenker & Leary (1982) argued that people experience

social anxiety when they become concerned with how they will be
perceived and evaluated by others. However, individuals should feel
anxious only to the extent that they believe that others regard the
impressions they are making as an accurate reflection of their personal
characteristics (Fenigstein et al., 1975; Schlenker & Leary, 1982). Just like
a student making a presentation in front of the class or people, he or she
might feel uncomfortable because he or she has become the center
attention.
2.5 Self-Presentation Online and its Impact on Social Well-Being
Self-presentation online ordinarily refers to some sets of self-defining and

self-identifying behaviours performed by individual users in their digital
profiles to assert their self-worth among other online citizens (netizens)
(Aerni, 2014). Self-presentation is gaining huge popularity among the
young generation of social media communities. Studies found that
intensive self-presentation on social network sites poses health risks such
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as diseases caused by change in eating habits like diabetes, sedentary

lifestyle, narcissism, stress and personality disorders (Aerni, 2014;
Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2011).
There seem to be growing concerns over the manner young people use
social media generally. Those concerns usually hover around social and
physical well-being of social networking sites users. Apart from the moral
concerns (discussed above), some health concerns are also being raised.
Parents, teachers, doctors (health personnel) and authorities do complain
about, for example, the deterioration of the health condition, change in
lifestyle and eating habits, poor academic performance and indulgence in
some deviant behaviours by mostly young people who are addicted to
using social media. Leary, Tchividijian, and Kraxberger (1994) found that
(online) self-presentational concerns lead people to engage in behaviours
that enhance their appearance to others but simultaneously jeopardise their
own physical well-being (e.g., overexposure to the sun, excessive dieting).
Health (or physical well-being) in this context does not only refer to the
physical well-being (soundness) of the individual using the social
networking sites, rather include the individual’s social and psychological
(psychosocial) well-being as well (WHO, 1946).
Scholars argue that using too much of selfies on social network sites leads
to narcissism, others even argued that using the social media constitutes
narcissism, lack of self-esteem and the most annoying habit on social
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media capable of leading to social alienation of one’s friends and families

(O’shea, 2014; Blaine, 2013). A study conducted by three business schools
in Europe confirms the health risks of selfies. Similarly, a study on photo
use behaviour on Facebook found that people who perform more self-
presentation activities, e.g., posting more selfies, have shallow
relationships with people (Houghton, Joinson, Caldwell, & Marder, 2013).
This finding has been corroborated by a research study performed in the
United Kingdom (UK), which reveals that intensive self-presentation on
Facebook is related to a decreased sense of intimacy among one’s network
(Blaine, 2013).
Furthermore, a joint study conducted by the University of Birmingham,

the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University in 2013
concluded that increased frequency of sharing photographs of the self,
regardless of the type of sharing the photographs, is related to a decrease
in intimacy, which cause feelings of loneliness and worry (Blaine, 2013;
Houghton et al., 2013).
While social networking sites use may increase self-esteem, a

phenomenon described as ‘temporary effects of increased self-esteem’
when searching through the profiles and postings of close friends, is shown
to reduce self-control, leading those focused on strong ties to display self-
control after browsing a social networking site (Wilcox & Stephen, 2012,
pp. 1-2). The consequences of reduction in self-control may make social
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network sites users more vulnerable to posting information across

boundaries that could be considered inappropriate and that intensive social
network use is associated with a higher body mass index and, by extension,
higher level of credit card debt for individuals with strong ties to their
networks (Wilcox & Stephen, 2012; Erickson, 2013). Additionally, too
much performance of self-presentation activities online could lead to
anorexia. Anorexia is an eating disorder and mental health condition.
People suffering from anorexia have distorted body image cognition – they
feel overweight despite they are underweight (Soliman et al., 2014).
Internet use can enhance living conditions by providing access to diverse

information and widen users’ social circle, and enhance psychosocial well-
being (Kang, 2007). Israelashvili and Kim (2012) suggested that high use
of Internet (or social media) may be motivated by factors such as identity-
clarification, certainly in adolescent users. The identity–clarification
certainly plays an important role in self-presentation among the youth
especially in face to face interaction. Individuals who struggle to make
social connections in face-to-face interactions use the internet as a place to
enhance their interpersonal lives by forging social relationships online
(Wilson et al., 2012).
A study also found that the number of people’s online social networks
correlates positively with life satisfaction and well-being (Kim & Lee,
2011). However, one negative effect that has received considerable
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consideration over the past several years is the level of addiction to the
internet as people become more involved in the internet use. Although
Internet use as an addicted activity varies among the youth, using the
Internet for gambling and pornography is common amongst such
individuals. Moreover, the excessive use of Facebook by the youth may
cause addiction behaviour, such as neglecting personal life, mental
preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, intolerance; and
concealing the addictive behaviour which, appear to be widespread in
some people who use social network services excessively (Young, 2009).
The negative impact of excessive Internet use can be seen across a wide
range of aspects of the persons’ life as well as on many aspects of their
family functioning (Leung, 2012).
However, there has been virtually no research exploring the immediate

psychological impacts of internet exposure on ‘Internet addicts’, which
can act as a driver of such problematic behaviour (Schlenker, 2012). It is
known that individuals who could be classified as ‘Internet addicted’
manifest a range of co-morbid psychological or psychosocial symptoms,
such as depression, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, as well as
social isolation and low self-esteem (Gundogar et al., 2012). Those
symptoms can be seen on the intensive users of Facebook, saying that they
are afraid of going out and prefer to stay in a dark room.
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In line with this finding, other studies have shown that social-network site
use can lead to a variety of negative consequences such as decrease in real-
life communications and worsening of relationship problems (Leung,
2012). According to Kim and Lee (2011) a 24-year old female used social-
networking sites to such an extent that her professional and private life was
affected negatively. Therefore, she was introduced to a psychiatric clinic.
She was using Facebook for at least five hours a day and she missed her
job because she was repeatedly reported to be involved with Facebook
instead of her job; even in her clinical interview she used her smartphone
to access Facebook. The findings of the study indicated that not only did
the woman loses her job due to her addiction, but she also developed
anxiety symptoms as well as insomnia. This finding agrees with Schlenker
(2012) and Rosenberg et al. (1995).
Similarly, Leung (2011) argued that young people are at risk of

developing addictions to social networking sites. The maintenance of large
networks friends or staying connected at any time, are assumed to be the
factors of attraction, which might be explained why some individuals use
social network sites excessively. Facebook is based on a 24-hour-7-days-
a-week interaction among the users to present themselves to gain fame or,
to get support from the surrounding relationship circle in virtual realm.
Moreover, some researchers have linked Facebook use to specific
individual characteristic differences. For example, people scoring high on
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narcissism tend to be more active on social network sites, as social network

sites provide an opportunity for them to present themselves in a favorable
way that is in line with one’s ideal self (Mehdizadeh, 2010).
2.6 Self-Presentation on Social Networking Sites and Gender
Self-presentation on social networking sites is rapidly becoming a cyber

culture (Wrammert, 2014). Over the years, self-presentation on social
networking sites became a socio-cultural phenomenon, associated with
gender differentiation. According to West and Zimmerman (1987) gender
is a complex phenomenon. They argued that although males and females
are the ones that undertake gender (whose competence as members of
society is hostage to its production), gender involves a complex of socially
guided perceptual, interactional and micro-political activities that cast
pursuits as expressions of masculine and feminine natures. Hence, based
on the proposition of the Normative Theories of the Mass Media
(McQuail, 1987), as social media permeate societies, so are the media
influenced by the society.
Self-presentation online may not be an exception to the inevitable socio-

cultural influences of society and the pervasive influences of the social
media. However, Losh (2014) perceives selfie use differently. The scholar
argues that selfie use is a “proof of the vainglory of contemporary social
media obsessions” (p. 1). However, Anderson and Julie (2013) found that
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there was no significant difference in self-presentation on social networks

by gender. Agreeing with Bond (2009), Strano (2008) found that women
tend to change their profile photos more often than men do.
Furthermore, Bond (2009) found that female tend to use social networking
sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for self-disclosure with
friends and families while males tend to do self-disclosure more about
sports and amusement. Strano’s (2008) findings agree with the findings by
Selfiecity (2013) that women perform self-presentation acts on social
networking sites more than men do. Additionally, the study suggested that
older social network sites’ users tend to change their profile photo more
often than younger users, and are more likely to use profile photos of
themselves alone (e.g., selfie), not a group photo (e.g., groupie) or with
another person. Many previous studies have suggested that women
perform defensive self-presentation more often than men do.
Findings of studies conducted by Stefanone, Lackaff and Rosen (2011)

and Hew (2011) indicate that women spend more time managing their
social network sites profiles and sharing photos. Similarly, Mesch and
Meker (2010), Szarota (2010) and Matthews (2007) found that women are
more likely to have a profile image than men are. These claims have been
supported by the findings of some studies, that women take significantly
more selfies than men and that men seem to care less (or at least pretend
to) about their looks than women (Wrammert, 2014; Brown, 2014). A
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study conducted by a group of computer scientists known as Selfiecity in

2013 reveal that females are extremely enamored of taking using defensive
self-presentation tactics selfies than males (Selfiecity, 2013).
Perloff (2014) and Wilcox and Stephen (2012) argued that it is not natural
that women perform more defensive self-presentation tactics more than
men do. According to them many of those claims were based on non-
empirical bias and socio-cultural gender analogies, that since women’s
concerns for beauty is key to womanhood and that women spend more
time in front of the mirror applying make-ups, so they tend to perform
more defensive self-presentation tactics. The scholar further argued that
individual self-presentation performer’s gender can affect his or her
behaviour.
According to Nielsen (2014) individual differences and discretion are

significant factors in determining behaviour. Accordingly, Adamkolo &
Elmi-Nur (2015) argued that determining the gender bias of social
networking sites’ users should not be narrowed to the frequency of the
user’s posting of photo on their profiles or using defensive self-
presentation tactics. According to them users’ gender should rather be
determined based on the user’s socio-cultural backgrounds, context of use
of the digital images on their social networking sites and the purposes of
the use of the photos in addition to other salient less subjective factors.
Drawing from Baran and Davis (2012), Adamkolo & Elmi-Nur (2015)
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further argued that an individual’s behaviour, attitude practices, believes,

values and norms can only be judged fairly when they are studied
holistically.
2.7 Social Networking Sites and Cultural Identity
It is argued that there are no media contents, traditional or new that are
free from cultural biases and objectives, and advance no relation to power
and domination. Traditional media contents such as news, programs,
documentaries entertainment or commercial, as well as majority of the
user-generated contents on social networking sites contain some elements
of prejudices of class, gender, race or misrepresentation and social
segmentation (Khan et al., 2012; Rosengren, 1983). Importantly,
entertainment programs, which offer hedonic motivation to the audience
and are predominantly targeted at the youth are shown to be heavily
saturated with cultural biases and prejudices. These media contents
influence the political thoughts, shape or reshape the cultural traits, pose
or propose idols and icons, affect the social order, and alter the relationship
between social institutions (McQuail, 2010).
There are research studies which advocate the immense power of media
(Curran, Gurevitch, & Woollacott, 1982) and social networking sites
(Adams, Florell, Burton, & Hart, 2014) to create myths, renew, amplify
and extend the existing predispositions to constitute a dominant culture.
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According to Rosengren (1983) culture is the cognitive and evaluative

framework within which human beings act and feel. A comprehensive
definition of culture is that which is given by Watson (2003) who contends
that culture is made up of language, geography, art, history, tradition,
climate and even socio-economic values, and that every nation sizes its
current prosperity with the nature of its culture. Watson (2003) further
contends that culture is a correlate of identity, denoting that loss of culture
is tantamount to loss of identity.
Culture exists in the minds and habit patterns of members of a society,

community, or group. It is invisible in the behaviour of individual as they
are engaged in various forms of socially learned ways of doing things on
social networking sites. Individuals may not be conscious their behaviour,
but what they do and the they do things are streamlined accordingly to the
socially approved ways of society and the online community; hence,
enhanced self-presentation with the absence of deviance and cognitive
dissonance (Adams et al., 2014; Khan et al., 2012). This premise has been
supported by Reddi (1989) who says that culture is the way of life of
people, a composite of historical and living traditions, beliefs, values and
practices, which are reflected in every mode of social behaviour (Khan et
al., 2012).
Contemporary world has information and communication technology

(ICT) at its center, while the epicenter of cultural change is technology and
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communication. However, despite the relentless pursuits of both mass

media and social media as the means of communication within and across
cultures toward technological enhancements, there are available evidences
that show that they have potential to alter a culture, but they can invent and
impose a new culture in a social system (Khan et al., 2012). Many
examples can be cited in the current world scenario where media have
replaced centuries old cultures with media induced culture (e.g., nowadays
people, especially urban people are increasingly expressing their
preference of social media platforms as channels of integration and
communication rather than physical interaction); similarly, many old
languages, which are one of the main ingredients of a culture, have been
vanished (e.g., Archi in the South America and some indigenous languages
in Canada) (Adams et al., 2014; Khan et al., 2012).
Cultural identity has been defined as the internal image that individuals
portray of themselves. In other words, cultural identity refers to the
phenomenon that makes people try to denote and connote who they are,
what category of people they belong to, and how they relate to others
(Hogg & Abrams, 1988). Deng (1995) stressed that identity describes the
way individuals and groups define themselves and are defined by others
based on race, ethnic identity, religion, language and culture. For example,
when people indicate that they are concerned about how others evaluate
them or they are worried about how well they will perform in social
settings, it is an indication that they have an awareness of the relationship
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between themselves and the reactions of others toward them that in turn
requires a reaction, i.e. they have a self-presentational goal. Youth always
tend to construct their own identity by relating themselves to the kind of
activities that they are involved in. For example, they tend to relate
themselves to their favorite sport team, certain kind of music, or they tend
to connect themselves to celebrities (Adams et al., 2014).
Depending on the characteristics of the environment in which they are

involved in, individuals will choose to claim identities that can help them
to better situate themselves within the given social environment. True
selves, real selves, and hoped-for possible selves are products of different
situations rather than characteristics of different individuals. In addition, it
has been emphasised that self-presentation purpose is to create an internal
sense of identity (Shenyang, Sherri, & Jason, 2008). Therefore, the present
study explores the sort of identity that Nigerian youths try to depict of
themselves on their Facebook profiles, i.e. whether they are more inclined
toward national identity or toward the pop culture that has dominated the
young generation environment (Adams et al., 2014).
2.8 Social Networking Sites as Self-Promotion Tools
The terms social media/networks originate from sociology. In a business

context however, social networks refer to two or more connected human
relationships, where an exchange exists between individual partners or
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friends (Michaelidou, Siamagka & Christodoulides, 2011). Recent and

new development in information and communication technology (ICT)
such as the advent of Web 2.0 has created new and more effective ways to
communicate, collaborate and share content (Enders, Hungenberg,
Denker, & Mauch, 2008). Social media and specifically, social networking
sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn are popular online
activity platforms in terms of average time spent across societies and
cultures in the world (Nielsen Wire, 2010). Currently, there are more than
150 social networking sites. In 2009 and in 2017, Facebook has been
ranked the biggest social networking site with the largest number of users
(Sareah, 2015), the first in terms of popularity, with more than 2 billion
users globally (Nielsen Wire, 2010) and has more than one million small
or medium size businesses publicising their products on it. In addition, it
is estimated that larger companies spend as much as $100 million on
Facebook presentation of products annually (Michaelidou et al., 2011;
Sareah, 2015).
Social media, otherwise known as user-generated communication sites

now have grown to become a prevalent source of information. They have
changed the tools and strategies people use to communicate; and have
highlighted that nowadays information control lies with the individual
users (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). A study conducted by Cone (2008)
shows that 93% of social media users believe that social networking sites
have come to stay for good, while 85% of them believe that social
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networking sites (SNSs) have potential to connect the world through

enhancement of self-presentation tools. Progressively millions of people,
mostly of younger age brackets are now penetrating the social networking
platforms online, utilising the myriad of tools available to communicate
with friends and share pictures, video, information, etc. (Kaplan &
Haenlein, 2010).
Despite the popularity of social networking sites, their importance in

shaping individual users’ self-presentation needs (Mislove, Marcon,
Gummadi, Druschel, & Bhattacharjee, 2007) and other hedonic
motivations (Christodoulides, 2009) among Nigerian youths is very
limited. The notion of a network is based on the establishment of
connections or ties between individuals, groups of people and organisation
departments or corporations that lead to the creation of social networks
(Michaelidou et al., 2011). Social networks differ with respect to their size
and heterogeneity (Garton, Haythornthwaite & Wellman 1997). Smaller,
homogenous networks can be found in work groups (Lea, Wu, Maguluru
& Nichols, 2006), while larger, heterogeneous networks are typically
associated with more diverse social characteristics. Social networks offer
many benefits, such as the enhancement of communication between online
partners, friends, groups, networks, class, team, etc. (Stephen & Toubia,
2010).
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Many previous studies have used social networking theory to study the
social networks of business organisations in relation to customer
consumption behaviours (McCarthy, Pitt, Campell, van der Merwe, &
Salehi-Sangeri, 2007). In addition, the scholars used social network theory
to examine Internet links between firms that engaged in consumer
marketing. Social networks have been identified as an important avenue
for the survival of small businesses, and critical in competing with larger
businesses (Pitt, van der Merwe, Berthon, Salehi-Sangari, & Caruana,
2006).
Furthermore, over the years, innovations in information technologies have

changed the nature of social networks. While traditional social networks
have involved personal interactions of humans over time (Kimball &
Rheingold, 2000), computers now mediate interactions, which suggests a
more impersonal form of communication. These computer-mediated
networks or online social networks are more complex, and involve greater
of heterogeneity. Importantly, the benefits that are derivable from the use
of social networks are enhanced in an online environment, where the
challenges of time and space become less significant. For instance,
members of an online network can exchange information and provide
solutions to problems from locations across the world in a very short
period of time (Lea et al., 2006). Given the importance of social networks
and the Internet which facilitate direct, unmediated interpersonal and inter-
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group associations (Pitt et al., 2006), it is argued that social networking

sites can support online modeling and beauty industry by developing and
maintaining relationships between, e.g., celebrities and models and the arts
industry.
According to Mangold and Faulds (2009), social media consist of new

sources of online information such as social networking sites, blogs, chat
rooms, rating websites, video and photo sharing websites and podcasts that
are created and used for promotional purposes about issues including
products. Among social networking sites, Facebook is one of the most
popular and frequently visited online networking sites in the world
(Michaelidou et al., 2011); hence, individuals have recognised their
potential in helping to achieve personal, social, academic and other
mundane aims (van den Bulte & Wuyts, 2007). Furthermore, social media
are becoming more important as an Internet marketing tool given their
wide adoption by the public. Evidence from the literature suggests that in
the online self-presentation environment, social networking sites have
become de facto modus operandi (Mangold & Faulds, 2009) for people
who care very much about their looks and appearances.
Although research into the use of social media, and specifically social
networking sites as both self-presentation and promotional tool by
Nigerian youths and celebrities is still at an embryonic stage, interest is
focused mostly on the use of social networking sites for sociality and
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communication purposes (Adamkolo & Elmi-Nur, 2015). Social

networking sites may possess the potential to become future promotional
tools for celebrities, very important personalities (VIPs) and other
distinguished individual users, past studies have found that privacy, ethical
issues, the prevalence of social networking sites among groups (e.g.
students, professionals) and the motivations for use (Clark & Roberts,
2010; Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009) are some of the most
critical factors affecting the contexts surrounding the use of social
networking sites for self-presentation and self-promotion.
2.9 Social Networking Sites – Facebook
Social networking sites provide members with a platform to redefine the

characteristics associated with individual users (Senft, 2008). Moreover,
status on social networking sites have an implication in different
connotations, for instance, number of friends in the friends list, length of
the ‘wall’ on Facebook or the recognition one receives by posting status
(in terms of likes and comments) (Zywica & Danowski, 2008; Lee & Ma,
2012). The social networking site that is the focus of this research is
Facebook, online community. Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, and Zickuhr (2010)
found that 72% of all college students have a Facebook profile with 45%
of college students using a social media site at least once a day.
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Facebook here refers to an online group of individuals not bounded by

geographical boundaries on a specific social platform e.g. who voluntarily
chose to become member of that group owing to some common interest or
passion for an object, place or an activity. Facebook users are bounded by
common goals, to learn more about daily glimpses of lives of people living
in other/same parts of the world. They work together by engaging in social
interaction through commenting, liking and/or sharing comments, pictures
and video (Gundogar et al., 2012).
Facebook has sets of community standards that allow its users to

understand what is acceptable to share on. These community standards
moderate online behaviour on four levels protecting users from harassing
and cyber bullying, encouraging respectful behaviour, keeping users’
information and account secure and conserving the intellectual property of
users (Facebook, 2015). Therefore, Facebook provides comparatively
better opportunities for proper contact conditions to facilitate interpersonal
communication among diverse groups. In addition, such alternative media
spaces are neither profit-oriented and nor controlled by media
conglomerates, which allows users the freedom to become a kind of citizen
journalists and content creators on issues surrounding self-presentation
and public interest (Lee & Ma, 2012).
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2.10 The Theoretical Setting of this Research
The study has conceptualised self-presentation as it is subsumed in

Goffman’s (2002) theory of identity and social performance. Goffman
(2002) postulates that self-presentation is the intentional and tangible
component of identity, with social actors engaging in complex intra-self-
negotiations to project a desired impression. This impression is maintained
through consistently performing coherent and complementary behaviours
(Schlenker, 2012). The concept of self-presentation is linked to the need
for impression management, which relies on corporeal display (Goffman,
2002; Schlenker, 2012). According to Mauss (1973) corporeal displays are
body techniques used for communicating the desired identity of self. The
social actions required for self-presentation are consumption-oriented and
dependent upon individuals’ displaying signs, symbols, brands and
practices which are used to communicate the desired impressions
(Williams & Bendelow, 1998).
Goffman’s theory of self-presentation postulates that the art of self-

presentation is both a sign manipulation and an embodied representation
based on previous experiences to construct identity. Youths do a lot of self-
presentation daily as they select clothes, hairstyles, automobiles, logos,
and so forth (Schlenker, 2012). These social acts are performed to impress
others in any given contexts, for example, in a shopping mall, in movie
theatres, on the street, around university campus, etc. (Goffman, 2002;
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Wiley, 1994). Self-presentation is contextual; it is based on a specific

setting and facing a definable and anticipated audience, and that during
social interaction people function as ‘actors’ in a ‘performance’ in a ‘front
stage’ area. The performance depends on the type of audience. Thus,
individuals play different roles and wear masks according to the social
settings that they are involved in. it has been also stressed that people
engage in self-presentation to control other people’s reactions towards
them and direct this influence in a desired way for their own benefits
(Goffman, 2002; Leary & Kowalski, 1990).
The present study regards Facebook as a front stage, that is, the user’s
profile home page, where they arrange their wall in a way that is normally
accessible to all friends and it is at the back stage where the actions of
messaging and updating their profile take place. These acts are in line with
Leary and Kowalski (1990) who asserted that impression management is
used for self-esteem maintenance, which is, by receiving compliments and
praise, it will enhance self-esteem. People try to create impressions that
will trigger esteem enhancing reactions when they expect feedback from
others (Leary & Kowalski, 1990).
Past research shows that people’s strategic self-presentation can influence

how they privately characterise themselves later (Schlenker, 2012). People
shift their global self-evaluations and the specific contents of their self-
beliefs to bring them in line with their public behaviour (Tice, 1992).
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Public self-presentations are more likely to generate changes in private

self-beliefs when they appear to be representative of self (Schlenker &
Weigold, 1992). Self-discloser is very important issue to educate the
young people what can be shared and what cannot. Consequently,
understanding and analysing Facebook users’ self-presentation behaviour
is very important and requires systematic examination.
2.11 The Hypotheses of this Research
This study tested following hypotheses:
H1: There is a significant correlation between genders in self-esteem on

Facebook.
H2: There is a significant and positive correlation between intense

Facebook use and low self-esteem on Facebook.
H3: There is a significant and positive correlation between the estimate of

audience size and self-esteem on Facebook.
H4a: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

and defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Hausa and
Yoruba youths based on ethnic identity.
H4b: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

Igbo youths based on ethnic identity.
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H4c: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

other (minority) ethnic groups youths based on ethnic identity.
H4d: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

and defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Yoruba and
Igbo youths based on ethnic identity.
H4e: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

H4f: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

and defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Igbo and
H5: There is a significant difference between genders in intense Facebook

use.
H6: The use of self-presentation tactics on Facebook differs by the average

age of the respondents.
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CHAPTER THREE
PROCEDURE
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CHAPTER THREE
PROCEDURE
3.1 Synopsis
This section discusses the overall methods adopted and materials used to
conduct this study, including the respondents’ information, sampling and
data collection procedures, data analysis, etc.
3.2 The Locale of this Research
This research study was conducted with the students of University of

Maiduguri. University of Maiduguri was chosen because it is widely
believed that the university has students from all the six geopolitical zones
(north-east, north-west, north-central, south-east, south-south and south-
west) of the country and is one of the 10 most populated universities in the
country (The Scoop, 2015, Oct. 25). In addition, University of Maiduguri
is one of the best Federal Government public universities in the entire
northern sub-region of the country.
3.3 The Respondents and Sampling Procedure
The respondents of this study were 380 undergraduate students, aged 18

to 24 years old. They were from a population of over 43,423 students of
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Chapter Three: Procedure
the university using purposive sampling method. The sample size was
determined using the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sampling technique.
Only students who have active Facebook profile with not less than 100
friends were selected. To avoid selecting students with a dormant or
without a Facebook profile, each of the selected respondents was required
to show his or her active Facebook profile. That was simple because
nowadays virtually every student has at least one mobile device (CIA
World Fact Book, 2017).
Furthermore, only respondents who have Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba ethnic
origins and hailed from Hausa-majority states (e.g., Kano, Kaduna,
Katsina, Jigawa, etc.), or are Hausa by ethnic origins but hailed from non-
Hausa-majority states/regions (e.g., Taraba State, Plateau State, Kwara
State, etc./north-central region, etc.). to avoid selecting irrelevant
respondents, participants were required to provide their letters of local
government of origin. Most of the respondents were contacted at the
premises of their faculties/departments, classrooms/lecture hall and the
library. Prospective participants were mobilised and lectured on the
research, its objectives, ethics, instructions and formality requirements one
day before the questionnaire was administered to them; this was to allow
them to get their indigenisation letters ready.
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3.4 The Research Instrument
This study adopted the quantitative approach. A four-section quantitative

research instrument (questionnaire) with 37 items was designed and self-
administered to the respondents on a face-to-face basis. Section 1 of the
questionnaire contained eight structured questions which gathered data
about the demographic profiles of the participants, i.e. gender, age and
ethnic identity. Additionally, the section also contains questions that asked
respondents question about the number of their Facebook friends, their
frequency of changing respondents’ profile information, approximate time
they spent on Facebook in the previous week, the kind of picture they
posted on their profile and the device they often used to access Facebook.
Section 2 consists of 10 items which sought information about the
participants’ perception of self-esteem. Section 3 of the questionnaire
consists of seven items which gathered information about the respondents’
intensity Facebook use. Finally, Section 4 consists of 12 items which
gathered data about the respondents’ self-presentation tactics on
Facebook. A five-point Likert scale ranging from (1. Strongly disagree, to
(5. Strongly agree and/or (1. Rarely to (5. Always was adopted in relevant
sections throughout sections two to four.
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3.5 Data Collection and Analysis
According to Lodico, Spaulding and Voegtle (2006) there are four basic
ways of collecting data: self-administering, mailing, telephone or through
face-to-face interviews. This study used survey method. Data collection
involved self-administering of the 380 survey questionnaires to the
respondents on campus during class hours. It took each participant
between seven and twelve minutes to complete the questionnaire. All 380
(100%) completed questionnaires were retrieved from the respondents in
a field work which lasted for five days. However, only 377 valid
questionnaires were analysed after going through the necessary data
cleansing procedures.
Data analysis is the procedure of shortening data for making it

understandable (Creswell, 1994). This study employed descriptive
analysis, independent sample t-test and correlation analysis in SPSS
version 22, with a significance level of 0.05 as recommended by (Hair,
Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 2010). The central tendency (i.e., the
mean, mode and media), was employed to calculate the standard deviation,
variance and range, which were used to compute the dispersion of
distribution (Ary, Jacobs, Ravavich, & Sorensen, 2010).
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3.6 Pre-Test and Scale Reliability
To test the reliability of the instrument of the study, the researcher

conducted a pilot study with 35 respondents. The data collected from all
the respondents were analysed using SPSS. The researcher used Cronbach
alpha technique to measure the reliability of the instrument. The computed
reliability coefficient for self-esteem scale, Facebook intensity scale, and
self-presentation tactics scale are presented in Table 3-1. The overall
Cronbach alpha value for the pilot study (n= 40) was 0.90. in addition,
Scholars who are expert in these research purviews have tested and
verified the content validity of the instrument.
The reliability coefficient of 0.70 for Cronbach alpha is considered as

good (Robinson, Wrightsman, & Andrews, 1991). It is suggested that
when using Likert scale, it is imperative to calculate and report Cronbach
alpha coefficient for internal consistency reliability for the scales a
researcher use (Gliem & Gliem, 2003). The data analysis should then
follow the composite scales. The more the Cronbach alpha is closer to 0.1,
the greater the internal consistency of the items in the scale. According to
Gliem and Gliem (2003), cited in Alkhunaizan and Love (2012), the
lowest threshold for adequate reliability is 𝛼 = .70 ; it is however,
acceptable at a level of .60, to some extent.
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Reliability value calculation is suggested on four points, namely excellent

(>0.90), high (0.70 to 0.90), high-moderate (0.50 to 0.70) and low (<0.50)
(Hinton, McMurray, & Brownlow, 2014; Sekaran, 2003; Robinson et al.,
1991). Table 3-1 shows the value of the reliability coefficient for each of
the constructs together with their interpretation. The overall Cronbach
alpha value of the scale (.911) indicates a very high internal consistency
of the constructs (see Alkhunaizan & Love, 2012; 2010; Al-shafi &
Weerakkody, 2010; Ary et al., 2010).
Table 3-1: Internal Consistency Reliability of the Scale
No. of items Dimension Cronbach alpha
10 Self-esteem .968
7 Facebook intensity .889
12 Self-presentation tactics .878
Overall .911
As shown in Table 3-1, the scale’s reliability is very high based on

Creswell’s (2003) suggestion that a reliability coefficient of 0.70 and
above ensures the consistency of a measurement. Additionally, Noreen,
Richard, and Edward (2006) suggest that an acceptable scale must have a
reliability coefficient that ranges from 0.00 to 1.00 with no negative value.
The latter’s criteria are rather based on unitary value.
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3.7 Operationalisation of Variables and the Research Design
Self-Presentation: Self-presentation is the way people present their ‘self’

to others (Goffman, 2002). The youth are fond of using various self-
presentation tactics to present themselves to others. According to Tedeschi
and Melburg (1984) self-presentation tactics are divided in two, namely
assertive tactics and defensive tactics. To measure those tactics this study
used a 12-item ordinal scale to measure 12 different self-presentation
tactics, five items to measure defensive tactics and seven items to measure
assertive tactics, using a five-point Likert scale ranging from (1. Rarely to
(5. Always. The questions were measured in ordinal scale. The use of two
types of self-presentation tactics (assertive and defensive) were
investigated. The defensive self-presentation scale involves these tactics:
(i) excuse, (ii) justification, (iii) disclaimer, (iv) self-handicapping, and (v)
apologies. While the assertive self-presentation scale involves the
following tactics: (i) ingratiation (ii) intimidation, (iii) supplication, (iv)
entitlement, (v) enhancement, (vi) blasting, and (vii) exemplification.
Self-Esteem: The concept of self-esteem as McEachron (1993) defined

it, agrees with Rosenberg’s (1965) definition that self-esteem is the
attitude one holds toward themselves as an object. Self-esteem is
measurable by assessing people’s attitude about themselves as a ‘thing’.
People who have high self-esteem are happier and are more likely to
undertake difficult tasks and endure failure. However, low self-esteem
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reduces negatively affects individual’s confidence and perception of self-

worth in many aspects (McEachron, 1993; Morris, 1995), e.g., negative
feelings, relationship problem, fear of trying, perfectionism, fear of
judgment, low resilience, lack of self-care and self-harming behaviour.
This study adopted Rosenberg’s (1965) 10-item self-esteem scale.
Intense Facebook Use: The choice and use of media are influenced by
user’s relation with their communication partners (Hythornthwaite &
Wellman, 1998). Facebook characteristics such as proximity, interactivity,
connectedness, and heterogeneity in race were positively associated with
use patterns, including time spent using the network site, posting
messages, photos, changing profile contents and the number of individual
user’s friends on the network. This study adopted Ellison, Steinfield, and
Lampe’s (2007) Facebook intensity scale to measure Facebook use beyond
simple measure of frequency and duration, incorporating emotional
connectedness to the site and its integration into individuals’ daily
activities.
The Research Framework: Self-presentation was modelled as

independent variable with well-being as dependent variable. The self-
presentation construct was modelled to consist of five dimensions
(variables), namely profile information, number of Facebook
audience/friends, Facebook use by gender, Facebook use by ethnic identity
and frequency of access/use per day while the dependent variable (well-
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being) was modelled to consist of self-esteem as its component variable

(see Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1: The Research Framework of this Study
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CHAPTER FOUR
OUTCOMES AND TREATISE
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CHAPTER FOUR
OUTCOMES AND TREATISE
4.1 Synopsis
This chapter first presents and then subsequently discusses the findings of
this study. In the Discussion sub-section, the findings are synthesised and
referred to the existing literature in such a way that they are understood in
relation to previous research.
4.2 Respondents’ Demographic Information
The demographic data of the respondents show that most of them (69%)
were male and younger, with majority (73.1%) of them aged 18 to 21 years
old. Many (24.7% and 38.2%) of them have many Facebook friends, from
200 to 300, or more respectively. Similarly, many (44.3%) of the
respondents spent more than two hours using Facebook, with only 37.4%
of them spending less than one hour. Additionally, quite many (66.6%) of
them used smartphone to access Facebook. However, not so many of them
accessed Facebook using laptop (23.3%) and personal computer (PC)
(7.4%); and that a negligible percentage of the respondents used iPad
(1.9%) and tablet (0.8%) to access the social networking site (see Table 4-
1).
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Chapter Four: Outcomes and Treatise
Table 4-1: Respondents’ Demographic Profile (n = 377)

Variable Frequency Percentage
Gender
Male 260 69
Female 117 31
Total 377 100
Age Category
18 to 21 276 73.1
22 to 24 101 26.8
Number of Friends on Facebook

100 59 15.6
1001 to 200 81 21.5
2001 to 300 93 24.7
>3001 144 38.2
Total 377 100
Time Spent on Facebook

<10 minutes 23 6.1
10 to 30 minutes 118 31.3
31 to 60 minutes 69 18.3
>2 hours 167 44.3
Total 377 100
Devices Used to Access Facebook

Personal computer 28 7.4
Smartphone1 251 66.6
Laptop 88 23.3
iPad 7 1.9
Tablet 3 0.8
Total 377 100
Language Frequently Used to

Communicate on Facebook
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English 84 22.3
Hausa 189 50.1
Igbo 5 1.3
Pidgin English 90 23.9
Yoruba 9 2.4
Total 377 100
Ethnic identity
Hausa 220 58.4
Yoruba 95 25.2
Igbo 50 13.3
Other ethnics 12 3.2
Total 377 100
Note: 1= Smartphone refers to any type of mobile phone that can be used to browse the
Internet.
Furthermore, more than a half (50.1%) of the respondents often used

Hausa as language of communication on Facebook. Pidgin English
(Nigerian indigenous English language) has more users (23.9%) than the
‘official’ English language (22.3%). In a similar context, the result further
shows that more than a half (58.4%) of the respondents are people of
Hausa ethnic origins, or use Hausa as their every-day language of
communication, while only a little over one-quarter (25.2%) of them are
people of Yoruba ethnic origins, or use Yoruba as their every-day language
of communication. However, only a little over one-eighth (13.3%) of them
are people of Igbo ethnic origins, or use Igbo as their every-day language
of communication (refer to Table 4-1).
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4.3 Descriptive Statistics of the Self-Esteem Dimension
Objective 1 of this study sought to determine the respondents’ level of

positive and negative self-esteem perception in self-presentation on
Facebook use. The results in Tables 4-2 and 4-3 contain the data for the
achievement of the objective.
An analysis of the respondents’ level of positive self-esteem perception

revealed a high level as shown by the high mean value (M= 4.30, SD=
.79). In addition, the result also shows that the item “I can do things well
as most other people could,” scored the highest mean value (M= 4.42, SD=
.71) while the item “I feel I have many good qualities” scored the least
mean value (M= 4.06, SD= 1.08) on the scale as shown in Table 4-2.
Table 4-2: Level of Respondents’ Positive Self-Esteem Perception
S/No Item Mean SD
1 I can do things well as most other people could. 4.42 .71
2 Overall, I am satisfied with myself. 4.35 .71
3 I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal 4.32 .78

plane with others.
4 I take positive attitude toward myself. 4.32 .68
5 I feel I have many good qualities. 4.06 1.08
Over-all Mean Value 4.30 .79
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An analysis of the respondents’ level of negative self-esteem perception

was ran, and the overall result of the scale shows a moderate level as shown
by the mean value (M= 3.35, SD= .86). The item “Sometimes I feel that I
am not good at all,” scored the highest mean value (M= 3.65, SD= .99)
while the item “I wish I could have more respect for myself,” scored the
lowest mean value (M= 3.03, SD= .85) on the scale as shown in Table 4-
3.
Table 4-3: Level of Respondents’ Negative Perception of Self-Esteem
S/No Item Mean SD
1 Sometimes I feel that I am not good at all. 3.65 .99
2 Often, I feel I am useless. 3.50 .87
3 I feel I do not have much to be proud of. 3.32 .78
4 All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure. 3.25 .79
5 I wish I could have more respect for myself. 3.03 .85
Over-all Mean Value 3.35 .86
4.4 Test of Hypotheses
H1: There is a significant correlation between genders in self-esteem on

Facebook.
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Objective 2 of this study sought to determine the difference between

genders in self-esteem on Facebook use. Table 4-4 contains the data the
for the achievement of the objective.
A Comparison of the mean values of the genders (male and female) in self-
esteem difference was made employing equal variance t-test. The result
shows a significance value (.243), which is greater than .05: indicating that
there was no significant difference between genders in self-esteem on
Facebook as shown in Table 4-4. Hence, H1 was not accepted.
Table 4-4: Difference between Genders in Self-Esteem
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)
Equal variance assumed 5.429 .020 1.169 375 .243

Equal variance not 1.104 196.272 .271
assumed
H2: There is a significant and positive correlation between intense

Facebook use and low self-esteem on Facebook.
Objective 3 of this study sought to determine the correlation between

intense Facebook use and low self-esteem use. Table 4-5 provides the
information for the achievement of the objective.
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The result of an independent correlation statistical analysis shows that

there was a significant but negative correlation between intensity of
Facebook use and low self-esteem. This is shown by the negative r value
(-.001), (significant at .05 level). The negative value implies that as the
degree of Facebook use increases, the degree of low self-esteem decreases
(see Table 4-5), which in other words implies that lesser self-esteem is
gained and vise-vasa. Hence, H2 was partially accepted.
Table 4-5: Correlation between Intense Facebook Use and Low Self-
Esteem
Average Number of Hours-per-Day Spent on Facebook

Pearson Correlation 1 -.001⁎⁎
Sig. (2-tailed) .05
N 377 377
Self-Esteem
Pearson Correlation -.001 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .989
N 377 377
Note: N= number of sample; * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
H3: There is a significant and positive correlation between the estimate of

audience size and self-esteem on Facebook.
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Objective 4 of this study sought to determine the correlation between

estimate of audience size and self-esteem on Facebook. Table 4-6 contains
the data for the achievement of the objective. An independent correlation
analysis was performed to determine the correlation between the estimate
of an individual youth’s friend’s population on Facebook and self-esteem.
The result shows that there was a significant but negative correlation
between the estimate of audience size and self-esteem (r= -.014**,
significant at .05 level (2-tailed)). Hence, H3 was partially accepted.
Table 4-6: Correlation between Estimate of Audience Size and Self-

Esteem
Number of Friends Respondents Have on Facebook

Sig. (2-tailed) .05
N 377 377
Self-Esteem
Pearson Correlation -.014⁎⁎ 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .05
N 377 377
Note: Note: N= number of sample; * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
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4.4.1 Difference in Self-Presentation Tactics between Respondents

based on Ethnic Identity
H4a: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

Yoruba youth based on ethnic identity.
Objective 5 of this study sought to determine the difference in the use of

self-presentation tactics on Facebook between the youth based on ethnic
identity. Tables 4-7 to 4-12 provide the information for the achievement
of the objective.
Table 4-7 shows that there was no significant difference in the use of
assertive and defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between
Hausa and Yoruba youth based on their ethnic identity as shown by the
significance value (.130, (2-tailed)), which is greater than .05. Hence, H4a
was not accepted. This result implies that assertive (exemplification) and
defensive self-presentation tactics are neutral to users in the context of
ethnic identity. In other words, both Hausa and Yoruba youths use both
self-presentation tactics on Facebook in similar manner.
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Table 4-7: Difference in Use of Self-Presentation Tactics between

Hausa and Yoruba Youths
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)
Equal variance assumed .150 .699 1.518 313 .130

assumed
H4b: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

Igbo youth based on ethnic identity.
However, Table 4-8 shows that there was a significant and positive
difference in the use of assertive and defensive self-presentation tactics on
Facebook between Hausa and Igbo youths based on ethnic identity. This
is indicated by the significance value (.000, (2-tailed)), which is less than
.05. Hence, H4b was accepted.
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Table 4-8: Difference in use of Self-Presentation Tactics between

Hausa and Igbo Youths
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)
Equal variance assumed 8.403 .004 9.906 268 .000⁎

Equal variance not 8.668 64.307 .000⁎
assumed
Note: * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
H4c: There is significant and positive difference in the use of assertive and
defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Hausa and other
youth based on ethnic identity.
The result of the analysis on the difference in the use of assertive and
defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Hausa youths and
those of other (minority) ethnics revealed that there was no significant
difference between the ethnic groups as shown by these indices: (.099, sig
(2-tailed)) at .05 significance level (see Table 4-9). With this, H4c was
rejected.
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Hausa and Other Ethnics Youths
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)

assumed
H4d: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

Igbo youth based on ethnic identity.
The result of the analysis on the difference in the use of assertive and
defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Yoruba and Igbo
youths based on ethnic identity revealed that there was a significant and
positive difference between the ethnic groups as indicated by these indices:
(.000, sig (2-tailed)) at .05 level of significance (see Table 4-10). Hence,
H4d was accepted.
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Yoruba and Igbo Youths
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)
Equal variance assumed 9.729 .002 7.893 143 .00⁎⁎

Equal variance not 7.237 78.925 .00⁎⁎
assumed
H4e: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

other youth based on ethnic identity.
The result of the analysis for the difference in the use of assertive
(exemplification) and defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook
between Yoruba and other (minority) ethnics groups youths revealed that
there was no significant difference between the ethnic groups as indicated
by the following indices: (.296, sig (2-tailed)), which is greater than the
significance cut-off value of .05 (see Table 4-11). This led to the rejection
of H4e.
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Table 4-11: Difference in use of Self-Presentation Tactics between

Yoruba and other Ethnics Youths
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)

assumed
H4f: There is a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive

and defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Igbo and
other youth based on ethnic identity.
The analysis of the use of assertive and defensive self-presentation tactics

on Facebook between Igbo and other ethnic groups youths revealed that
there was a significant difference between the ethnic groups as shown by
these indices: (.004, sig (2-tailed)), significant at .05 level (see Table 4-
12). This shows that H4f was accepted.
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Igbo and Other Ethnics Youths
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)

assumed
4.4.2 Difference in Self-Presentation based on Respondents’ Gender

and Age
H5: There is a significant difference between genders in intense Facebook

use.
Objective 6 of this study sought to determine the correlation between self-

presentation tactics on Facebook and gender. Table 4-13 contains the
An equal variance t-test was performed to determine the difference

between genders in the intensity of Facebook use and the result shows that
a statistically significant difference existed between the mean values of the
male respondents (M= 4.32) and that of the female respondents (M= 2.05),
with sig (2-tailed) value of .032, which is less than the cut-off point value
of .05. Hence, H5 was accepted (see Table 4-13).
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Table 4-13: Difference between Genders in Intense Facebook Use
F Sig t df Sig (2-

tailed)
Equal variance assumed .067 .795 - 375 .032⁎⁎

1.328
Equal variance not - 223.8 .032⁎⁎
assumed 1.328
H6: The use of self-presentation tactics on Facebook differs by the average

age of the respondents.
Objective 7 of this study sought to determine the correlation between self-

presentation tactics on Facebook and age. Table 4-14 provides the
The use of assertive and defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook

differ significantly but negatively by the average age of the respondents as
shown by these indices: (r= -.017), (significant at .05 sig (2-tailed)).
Hence, H6 was accepted partially (see Table 4-14).
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Table 4-14: Correlation between Self-Presentation Tactics and Age
Age

Sig. (2-tailed) .05
N 377 377
Self-Presentation
Pearson Correlation -.017⁎⁎ 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .05
N 377 377
Note: Note: N= number of sample; * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed)
4.5 Discussion
4.5.1 The Respondents’ Socio-graphic Information
An empirical investigation was carried out to determine the links and

impact of Facebook use on the psychosocial well-being of Nigerian
youths. The findings are discussed in the paragraphs below. Nigerian
youths nowadays are often seen engaged with their smartphones, whether
in the classroom, at lecture halls, at mosques, churches, shopping malls or
at social gatherings. Social networking sites have been some of the most
online social networking platforms that the youth frequently visit,
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especially when there is Internet data on their phones or have access to

Wi-Fi Internet access points. All the communication devices which the
youth use to access social media are products of new technologies. Over
the couple of decades rapid technological innovations have changed many
of the previously known information and communication technologies
(ICTs), which have now become much more improved and enhanced
compared to those that had been used more three to four decades ago
(Verduyn, Ybarra, Resibois, Jonides, & Kross, 2017). Arguably, these
modern technologies seem to favor the younger persons. Nowadays unlike
decades ago, youth engage in myriads of social activities online, using
mobile or smartphones and are usually seen neck-bent, staring at their
mobile devices participating in online social activities.
The demographic information of the respondents shows that most of them

(69%) were male and younger, with majority (73.1%) of them aged 18 to
21 years old. This suggests that young, male persons get access to
university education more than young, female persons do, at least in the
north-eastern Nigeria context, where University of Maiduguri is located.
Similarly, many (24.7% and 38.2%) of them have many Facebook friends,
from 200 to 300, or more respectively. Along this line, the result also
shows that many (44.3%) of the respondents spent more than two hours
using Facebook, with only 37.4% of them spending less than one hour.
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According to the literature, having online audience of 250 and spending

two hours or more are regarded as having many friends and heavy
Facebook use for the young persons (see Holloway, 2017). This implies
that about 50% of the youth have many Facebook friends and are
moderate-to-heavy Facebook users; further suggesting that many Nigerian
young university students may be heavy Facebook users. Past research has
shown that intense social networking sites’ (addiction) use is associated
with negative personality and social well-being, such as loneliness,
anorexia, narcissism and low self-esteem (see Adamkolo & Elmi-Nur,
2015). Although this study does not claim that many Nigerian
undergraduate youths may be on the verge of being labelled as Facebook
addict and hence, may be closer to being affected by psychosocial
problems; however, such behaviour is more likely to affect their
concentration on studies and academic performance negatively. This
finding is supported in (Levine, Waite, & Bowman, 2007; Holloway,
2017; Verduyn et al., 2017).
After all, many of the existing evidences linking intense social networking
sites’ use with psychosocial well-being among young users are merely
suggesting the possibility of direct, cause-and-effect relationship, but not
confirmed (see Verduyn et al., 2017). In addition, the question of context
suitability may be raised here, because a clear majority of the existing
literature claiming the possibility of links between the degree of
individual’s use of a social networking site and his or her psychosocial
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well-being are from studies conducted in non-African contexts, and often

with Western-context scales (see Wissing, 2006). Hence, this book
recommends that social media use scale that can be suitable to African
context should be developed.
Smartphone (or other types of mobile phone) has been the most popular
device used by the respondents to access Facebook. The results show that
quite many (66.6%) of them used smartphone to access Facebook.
However, not so many of them accessed Facebook using laptop (23.3%)
and personal computer (PC) (7.4%). A negligible percentage of the
respondents used iPad (1.9%) and table (0.8%) to access the social
networking site. These results suggest that the youth predominantly use
smartphone (mobile and other types of cellular phone) to browse online
(Bharucha, 2017). This may have been due to issues regarding
affordability and ease-of-use (Juma, Robert, & Mwaura, 2017).
Becoming an active member on such a richly interactive social

networking platform like Facebook can only be possible and successful
with the availability and accessibility of language features, which are
being progressively enhanced and expanded (Kramer, 2017; Verduyn et
al., 2017). More than a half (50.1%) of the respondents often used Hausa
as language of communication on Facebook. This indicates that Hausa is
the most used language on the social networking site by the respondents
(without bias to the context, the environment where the study data was
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gathered, i.e., a university located in a region where Hausa is a lingua-

franca).
Even English, which is the official language as well as the language of

instruction in the country was sparingly used by most of the respondents.
In fact, Pidgin English (Nigerian indigenous English language) had more
users (23.9%) than the ‘official’ English language (22.3%). By and large,
even if both the percentages of the users of the ‘official’ English and Pidgin
English languages are combined (42.6%), the difference between the
combined percentage of the users of those two ‘Anglo’ languages and that
of the Hausa language users (3.9%) is greater than the combined
percentages of the respondents who used Igbo and Yoruba languages
(3.7%) as media of communication on the social networking site (once
again, this is without bias to the milieu where the study data was collected,
i.e., University of Maiduguri, which is in the north-eastern region of the
country where Hausa is widely spoken as a lingua-franca).
Moreover, probably with the recent addition of Hausa language to the

more than 100 languages on the social networking site by the founder of
Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (Busari, 2016, Sept. 1), more and more
youngsters may choose to use Hausa as the medium of communication on
the social networking site, more especially in the northern part of the
country. In a similar context, the result further shows that more than a half
(58.4%) of the respondents were people of Hausa ethnic origins, or use
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Hausa as their every-day language of communication, while only a little

over one-quarter (25.2%) of them are people of Yoruba ethnic origins, or
use Yoruba as their every-day language of communication. However, only
a little over one-eighth (13.3%) of them are people of Igbo ethnic origins,
or use Igbo as their every-day language of communication.
With the combined percentages of the users of Yoruba and Igbo languages
and that of other minority ethnic groups (41.7%) not reaching a 50%, these
findings indicate that Hausa is the dominant language of communication
among the university students. These findings and those from the context
of language of communication on Facebook (in the immediate preceding
paragraph) suggest two implications related to socio-cultural development
in Nigeria and national integration, namely: (i) implication of the
possibility of the adoption of Hausa as a language of instruction in schools
and higher institutions, and (ii) implication of the possibility of the
adoption of Hausa as a national language.
Nowadays youth do virtually all those things through online virtual public
spheres/communities in different ways behind the screens of their mobile
devices in a very personalised manner. Interestingly Facebook has become
very popular social media outlet among the youth. Facebook flexibly
allows users to share pictures, videos (links), user-generated contents and
similar social activities online through which they get to know, understand
one another, and make friends. Facebook also permits users to decide what
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picture to place on their profile for self-presentation and what to display

for others to see. Through these series of online activities, youths can
develop online identity. This process of developing identity is quite salient
to the youth who are undergoing period of rapid growth and development
in their lives.
Scholars have indicated that self-presentation is a behaviour that can

usually be classified into two main tactics categorises, namely assertive
and defensive based on a study by Tedeschi and Melburg (1984). Assertive
tactics are behaviours used to proactively establish or develop an identity,
and that is what often the male respondents used to emphasise their identity
as findings of this study show. Whereas the female respondents used the
defensive tactics, which are behavioural efforts to repair damaged identity
and restore its dignity after it has been spoiled (Lee et al., 1999). The
female respondents used the defensive tactics more than they used their
male counterparts, especially the justification tactics by 70%. However,
the male respondents also sometimes used the defensive tactics. This
shows how both genders are affected using Facebook.
4.5.2 The Self-Esteem Dimension
Further analysis of the finding of this study indicate that most of the
respondents indicated a high level of concern about their self-worth among
circles of friends on Facebook (refer to Table 4-2). This finding implies
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that most of the respondents were confident and believed that they had
recognisable self-worth in their circles of friends. By and large, this
finding suggests that most of the respondents were concerned about the
perceptions of others about them, too much of which studies show could
lead to psychological or personality problems such as anorexia and
narcissism (see). There is abundant evidence suggesting the link between
individuals’ degree of concern about their ‘self’ as it is seen and perceived
by others on social networks and negative psychosocial well-being
(Dobson, 2014; Perloff, 2014; Soliman et al., 2014; Wrammert, 2014).
Furthermore, the claims made earlier based on the evidence in the positive
self-esteem perception scale that most of the students had higher
tendencies to be self-aggrandising than on Facebook than otherwise was
substantiated by the results of the negative self-esteem perception scale.
Even though the moderate level of the scale may be regarded as a
‘moderately powerful’ self-esteem balancer (refer to Table and 4-3), the
fact that there is an empirical evidence suggesting that such negative
cognitive self-worth feelings did occur in the youths’ psyche is sufficient
to claim that some of their self-presentation behaviours on social
networking sites could have an untoward impact on their psychosocial
well-being.
As the levels of the favorable and unfavorable perceptions of self-esteem

were found to be correspondingly high and low among the youth, an equal
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variance t-test showed that there was no significant difference in self-

esteem between gender (refer to Table 4-4), which led to the rejection of
H1. This finding implies that self-presentation cognitive feelings
associated with self-worth and self-confidence are gender blind in
Facebook use context. Self-worth is an important element of the human
ego (Carpenter, 2012), self-presentation and social interaction on social
networking sites. Hence, its salience is not limited to either of the genders;
both male and female Facebook users would regard issues related to their
‘self-worth’ among circles of friends on the social network equally
whether favorable or otherwise. Generally, it is good for the youth,
especially students to be conscious of their self-worth and guard it, because
that can serve as a morale-booster for them to enable them to realise their
academic and other mundane dreams and pave the way for them to achieve
their adulthood goals and other pursuits later as life goes on.
4.5.3 Correlation between Intense Facebook Use and Estimate of

Audience Size and Self-Esteem
This work has discovered a significant but negative correlation between

intense Facebook use and low self-esteem (refer to Table 4-5), implying
that excessive Facebook use is correlated to the user’s low self-esteem in
such a way that as the degree of one variable increases, the degree of the
other variable decreases. Hence, H2 was partially accepted. From the
reverse perspective, the finding implies that the lower the degree of
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Facebook use, the higher the degree of low self-esteem, further implying
that more low self-esteem affects the user, which is naturally unfavorable
to the user, because under normal circumstances people favor having high
self-esteem (Arkin, 2013). Hence, as far as low self-esteem in Facebook
use is concerned, it would be advisable for users to use Facebook intensely
if they would not want to have low self-esteem, or if they would not want
the degree of their low self-esteem to rise, and vise-vasa. However, in the
pretext of wanting to boost their self-esteem, users are advised to avoid
excessive use of Facebook always because this book discovered only
correlation between intense (Facebook) use and low self-esteem; and
correlation does not translate to cause-and-effect relationship (Kim, 1973).
Similar findings have been reported in the literature (see).
Similarly, a significant but negative correlation was discovered between

number of an individual user’s Facebook friends and self-esteem (refer to
Table 4-6). Hence, H3 was partially accepted. This finding indicates that
as one variable increases in value, the other variable decreases in value as.
In addition, this suggests that having larger audiences (friends on
Facebook) could affects one’s self-esteem negatively. This could be
simply explained thus, the larger the size of an individual user’s Facebook
friends, the more time he or she would need to use Facebook and, most
importantly, the more psychological immersion he or she would need to
have to respond to the scores (sometimes even a hundred or more) of
notifications in his or her profile notifications tab to keep in touch with his
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or her audience, or at least those that matter the most, e.g., by reacting
to/liking their postings, comments, acknowledging tags, accepting new
friend requests, uploading pictures and video clips, as well as snapping
photos and tagging dozens of friends, etc.
Despite the enhanced user-friendliness of Facebooks features, an

individual user with a huge number of friends and a plethora of
membership of groups will certainly need longer time and ‘mega bits’ or
even ‘giga bits’ of his or her memory (psychology) to go around his or her
profile and maintain his or her membership of the social network
sufficiently routinely. Concurrently, some other side-commitments may be
competing for his or her attention which, often, could cause brainstorms
and temporary confusion (Dhir & Tsai, 2017; Dhir, Kaur, Lonka, & Tsai,
2017). Should such a behaviour persist, it could affect the user’s esteem
unfavorably.
4.5.4 Difference in the Use of Self-Presentation Tactics based on the

Youths’ Ethnic Identity
From the youths’ ethnic identity dimension, the result of the hypothesis
that there was significance and positive difference in the use of assertive
and defensive self-presentation tactics by Hausa and Yoruba youth on
Facebook indicates that there was no significant correlation, leading to the
rejection of H4a (refer to Table 4-7). This result implies that both assertive
(exemplification) and defensive self-presentation tactics are not peculiar
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to either of the ethnic groups youths in the context of ethnic identity. In

other words, both Hausa and Yoruba youths use similar assertive self-
presentation tactics on Facebook. Assertiveness is associated to
confidence; hence youth of both ethnic groups exhibit confident behaviour
on Facebook using similar tactics and clues.
However, a significant and positive difference in the use of

exemplification (assertive) and defensive self-presentation tactics on
Facebook by Hausa and Igbo youths was found (refer to Table 4-8), which
shows that H4b was accepted. This result suggests that based on their
cultural and ethnic identities, Hausa and Igbo youths behave differently on
Facebook in terms of asserting confidence and using exemplification, or
demonstrative communication tactics. Hausa youths tend to use defensive
self-presentation tactics more than their Igbo counterparts tend to. This
finding and the immediate preceding one may not be making a novel
discovery, however, they further confirming the claims by anthropologists
and sociologists that there is more cultural affinity between Hausa and
Yoruba ethnic groups than there is between Hausa and Igbo ethnic groups.
An analysis of the difference in the use of assertive self-presentation and

defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Hausa and other
minority ethnic groups youths shows no significant difference between the
groups, leading to the rejection of H4c. (refer to Table 4-9). This finding
suggests that Hausa culture continues to dominate the north-eastern part
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of Nigeria, where this study was conducted. Furthermore, with the addition
of Hausa language to Facebook, the profile of Hausa culture and its global
importance will continue to soar.
In what seems to correspond with the finding that shows that there was no
significant and positive difference in the use of either assertive or
defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Hausa and
Yoruba youths (refer to Table 4-7), the result in Table 4-10 shows that
there was a significant and positive difference in the use of assertive and
defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook between Yoruba and Igbo
youths, leading to the acceptance of H4d, a result that reaffirms the claims
that Hausa and Yoruba ethnic groups have more common cultural ties than
do have Hausa and Igbo groups (Ukonu, Edogor, & Ezugwu, 2017). This
implies that there is an affinity between Hausa and Yoruba ethnic groups
but there is weak or no affinity between Hausa and Igbo groups as there is
weak or no affinity between Yoruba and Igbo groups. The result also
shows that there was no significant difference between Yoruba and other
(minority) ethnic groups youth (refer to Table 4-11), which led to the
rejection of H4e.
Furthermore, the finding which shows that there was no significant

difference between Hausa and other (minority) ethnic groups youths in the
use of assertive or defensive self-presentation tactics on Facebook (refer
to Table 4-9) corroborates that finding. Igbo youths also differ
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significantly with other (minority) ethnic groups in the use of assertive

self-presentation tactics on Facebook, which suggests that Igbo youths
used exemplification (assertive) tactics more than the other groups (refer
to Table 4-12), and then, that led to the rejection of H4f.
On one hand, all these findings suggest that Hausa, Yoruba and other
(minority) ethnic groups have some affinity among them in terms of
cultural identity on social networking sites much more than they do have
any affinity with Igbo ethnic group in terms of cultural/ethnic identity. On
the other, the results suggest that Igbo youths used more assertive tactics
than do Hausa, Igbo or other (minority) ethnic groups do. Igbo people are
widely believed to be the most enterprising ethnic group in Nigeria. Their
use of assertive (exemplification) tactics in self-presentation on Facebook
may be correlated to their entrepreneurial cultural orientation (Chukwuezi,
2001). These findings variously imply that despite the youths’ affinity with
Western pop culture, which dominates the social networking world
(Wakefield & Wakefield, 2016), Nigerian youths could manage to
maintain ties to their ethnic and cultural backgrounds even in the global
melting pot of cultures (social networking sites).
From gender perspective, the male youths use more assertive

(exemplification) self-presentation tactics than do female youths on
Facebook. Many past studies have also associated the use of defensive
self-presentation tactics to female users (Aerni, 2014; Arkin, 2013;
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Schlenker, 2012). In addition, defensive self-presentation tactics have

been associated with several indictors of negative feelings or emotions.
Many problems in social life arise just from a single-minded focus on
gaining approval and acceptance from immediate audience. Public self-
consciousness, for example, is positively related to social anxiety, shyness
and fear of negative evaluation (Schlenker, 2012), which produces
conformity designed to please immediate audience (Wilson at el., 2012).
In addition, moderate self-esteem and use of defensive self-presentation
are from the negative consequences of having large audience, because it
requires a lot of time to invest in social network, and that leads to intensive
use of Facebook, which reflects negatively in the well-being of the youth.
4.5.5 Difference in Self-Presentation Tactics on Facebook based on

Gender and Age
This study found that a significant different exists between male and
female youths’ Facebook use (refer to Table 4-13), which led to the
acceptance of H6. This result suggests that the Facebook use behaviour of
male and female youths is significantly different. This result is not
surprising being that the study was performed in Nigerian context, a
country where access to, and use of ICT in general, especially social
networking sites are sensitively gendered, more particularly in the north-
eastern part of the country. Although this study did investigate the degree
of use by gender, in most cases, the culture there seems to permit the male
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person to access and use technologies and social networking sites more
than it gives the female person room to do so (Ibrahim & Adamu, 2016).
Often, browsing the social networking sites is regarded as a male persons’

exclusive preserve. Generally, in that part of the country, married women
are more restricted from accessing and using technologies and social
media than single women; with the restriction being more intense in the
rural areas. However, with the developmental interventions in scores of
gender empowerment schemes by non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs), gradually, more women
are getting access to and use new technologies, e.g., in small and micro
business.
Despite the intervention by the global development agencies, access and

use of social media is still very sensitively gendered not only in the north-
east, but also in the vast expanse of the entire northern region of the
country. These phenomena are rooted in the culture and beliefs of the
people in those regions. Age has been found to be correlated to self-
presentation tactics use on Facebook. The salience of the correlation
between self-presentation tactics on Facebook and age (refer to Table 4-
14) implies that even among the young users age matters. The negative
value however, indicates that as one variable (age) increases in value, the
other variable (self-presentation tactics) decreases in value.
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This result led to the partial acceptance of H7; and the result further
suggests that younger youths use more assertive self-presentation tactics
than do older youths. Many past studies have found correlation between
age and self-presentation tactics (e.g., Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007;
Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010). Moreover, the use of Facebook, and social
networking sites in general are significantly different between age groups
(Arkin, 2013; Schlenker, 2012). Younger users tend to use more self-
assertive tactics; and, male users have been shown to employ self-assertive
tactics more than do female users (Blachino, Przepiorka, & Rudnicka,
2013; Bond, 2009).
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CHAPTER FIVE
FINALE
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CHAPTER FIVE
FINALE
5.1 Synopsis
This chapter summarises the findings and implications of this study and
proffered some recommendations for further research and policymakers.
The chapter also outlines the limitations of this study.
5.2 Conclusion
The aim of this study was to explore further understanding regarding the
association between Nigerian youths’ Facebook use behaviour and
psychosocial well-being. Specifically, the study focused on the correlation
between the use of self-presentation tactics (assertive and defensive) on
Facebook and the effects such behaviour could have on the youths’ self-
esteem. The results showed that intense Facebook use is correlated to low
self-esteem. Similarly, intense Facebook use was found to be correlated to
gender difference, suggesting that the psychosocial well-being of either
male or female users would be affected based on the individual user’s
gender dispensation with the intensification of Facebook use. In a related
context, users’ age was found to be correlated to the users’ Facebook use
behaviour. The salience of gender and age implies that in north-eastern
Nigerian society Facebook use is largely gendered and that age determines
the use behaviour. In addition, as intense Facebook use may be associated
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Chapter Five: Finale
to an individual user’s Facebook friends’ size, this study has also found
that estimated size of a user’s audience (Facebook friends) could affect the
user’s self-esteem negatively, suggesting that the larger the size of an
individual respondent’s friends on Facebook, the lower his or her self-
esteem would become. However, self-esteem was not found to be affected
by users’ gender dispensation.
In Nigeria, especially in the north-east region most Facebook users are

young male persons. Many of them have a large Facebook friends’
population and spend several hours using the social networking site daily,
often accessing it using smartphones (or other brands of mobile phones).
Female users often employ defensive tactics to drive their message home
on the site. Male users appear more boisterous and assertive. Most users
have a positive perception of their looks, which suggests the possibility of
increasing rates of obsession with one’s appearance in relation to those of
others, a phenomenon that is often linked to mental problems like anorexia
and narcissism (Adamkolo & Elmi-Nur, 2015).
In the context of Facebook use behaviour based on users’ ethnic identity,

generally, youths who claimed to be Hausa and Yoruba and those who
belong to minority ethnic groups appear to have more similarity between
and among themselves in terms of Facebook use behaviour, i.e., the
display of overt use behaviour influenced by cultural identity more than
they appear to do so between them and Igbo youths. However, Igbo youths
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exhibit assertive (exemplification) behaviour on Facebook more than

Hausa, Yoruba and minority ethnic groups youth do. Furthermore, most
youths who hail from north-eastern part of the country often use Hausa
language on Facebook more than they use English (the official language
of the country) and other languages. It is also interesting to understand that
Pidgin English is used on Facebook (mostly by people who hail from the
southern parts of the country) more than English and Igbo languages are.
5.3 Implications of the Findings of this Research
The findings of the present research study have far-reaching implications,

both in theory and practice. In theory, the findings have further proven the
power of Goffman’s theory of self-presentation and various models related
to self-disclosure and similarity attraction online. Importantly, the salience
of gender and age dimensions in this research needs to be taken into serious
research consideration by integrating users’ socio-demographic variables,
especially gender and age as moderators into the model.
It is gratifying to note that some of the findings of this research have been
supported by Facebook company itself, acknowledging that social media
use can be bad for users’ mental health. Facebook researchers admitted
that even though spending time on Facebook passively consuming
information can leave people feeling fatigued, they argued that engaging
and interacting more with people on the platform can solve the mental
problem. Facebook’s research director, David Ginsberg and research
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scientists, Moira Burke have claimed that active interaction with fellow
social media platform users, especially close friends by sharing messages,
comments, posts and having fun such as reminiscing previous interactions
have been empirically linked to improvement in well-being (Levin, 2017).
Much as they made those claims, the authors, however, cited a study
finding which suggests that Facebook users who clicked four times as
many links as the average user reported worse mental well-being.
According to them, a similar study also found that reading about others
online can lead to negative social comparison, which often leads to mental
turbulence, dissatisfaction with one’s status and self-worth and envy
(Levin, 2017).
Many past studies have consistently found that the excessive use of
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social network sites
can damage the emotional well-being of the user, particularly the youth
(e.g., see Arkin, 2013; Bharucha, 2017; Diefenbach & Christoforakos,
2017; Rosen, Whaling, Rab, Carrier, & Cheever, 2013). Also, refer to
Chapter Two for more information on this assertion. In fact, the findings
of the present study and many others are continuously acknowledging that
the Internet, particularly social media are gradually succeeding in taking
people away from real-life (in-person) social engagement. Furthermore,
the findings of the present study provide hints to the claims made by
communication psychologists that social media use, especially via mobile
phone have redefined modern social relationships, by making people
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‘alone together, and that an increase in young persons’ depression,

especially teenagers’ has been linked to technology use, including social
media (Bharucha, 2017; Levin, 2017).
Furthermore, because of accumulating empirical evidences about the

negative effects of heavy Facebook and other social media platforms’ use
on users’ psychosocial well-being, as well as in a bid to make people’s
experience more meaningful, positive and healthier, Facebook company
has resolved to give facebookers more control over their news feeds by
launching a new feature on the social site called Snooze recently. This
feature allows users to hide a person, page or group for a whole month (30
days) without having to unfollow or unfriend him or her. Facebook has
also introduced a tool called Take a Break, which is meant to help users
undergoing relationships break-ups. The company came up with idea of
providing this tool for such groups of users to enable them control what
they can see of their ex-partners (ex-wives / ex-husbands, etc.) on
Facebook and what their ex-partners can see on their profiles because,
often, seeing an ex-partner’s social media activities can be emotionally
torturous (Levin, 2017).
5.4 Recommendations
This work recommends that information on the negative effects of

excessive concern about one’s self-worth online should be publicised by
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authorities and other key stakeholders in society such as Federal and State
Ministries of Health, WHO and UNICEF for the benefit of members of
public that use Facebook and other social networking sites. This study
recommends that similar research should be conducted in the other major
geopolitical regions of the country.
Following the discovery that there was no gender difference in self-esteem

on Facebook, caution should be exercised for the youth not be over-
obsessed with self-aggrandising mania due to inappropriate and excessive
over-use of the social networking site in the name of socialising and
deriving the abundant sociality hedonic motivations available on the site,
for instance, in the pretext of pastime. For example, as the adage goes that
all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, which may be true; however,
logically all play and no work would certainly make Jack a useless boy.
This book recommends that further studies should be conducted to further
understand the effect of low self-esteem arising from the use of Facebook
use by youths.
Given that the present study has found that intense Facebook is correlated
of low self-esteem negatively (i.e., the higher the intensity of use, the lower
the feeling of low self-esteem), this implies that as far as low self-esteem
in Facebook use is concerned, it would be advisable for users to use
Facebook intensely if they would not want to have low self-esteem, or if
they would not want the degree of their low self-esteem to rise, and vise-
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vasa. This finding is rather strange. However, since this study is

exploratory, it is recommended that future research should further
investigate the relationship between Facebook use behaviour (specifically,
the degree of use) and self-esteem. Social media technology developers
like Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram and MySpace should
emulate Facebook by integrating psychosocial well-being support features
in their social network platforms to provide users with more ability to
control their news feeds, interaction, etc.
In the pretext of wanting to boost their self-esteem, users are advised to

avoid excessive use of Facebook always because this book discovered only
correlation between intense (Facebook) use and low self-esteem; and
correlation does not necessarily signify actual cause-and-effect
relationship (Kim, 1973). Future research should investigate the
relationship between the Youths’ Facebook use and psychosocial well-
being. Future research should also expand the investigation to cover non-
student and older users, and in other parts of Nigeria. Similarly, future
research should adopt a qualitative approach, use larger sample size and
use factor analysis.
Regarding the significant but negative correlation between Facebook

friends size and self-esteem, since this study reports only correlation
between the constructs, it is recommended that future research should
investigate the relationship between the two variables so that further
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understanding of the phenomenon is obtained empirically. It is also

recommended that Nigerian youths should be encouraged to jealously
nurture their culture and that further research should be conducted to
determine the factors affecting the use of various self-presentation tactics
by Nigerian youths online based on ethnic identity.
Taking from the finding that Facebook use is largely gendered, this book
recommends that more longer-term gender empowerment development
intervention programs and projects should be executed at community and
grassroots levels by the Government in collaboration with both local and
international development agencies and organisations. The mass
communication two-steps-flow model approach should be strategically
adopted to engage community and opinion leaders consistently and
sustainably for the success of the programs.
As Nigeria aspires to become an excellent digital country, it is highly

recommended that as the Government strives to ‘digitise’ the country’s
youths for socio-economic development caution should be exercised
pertaining to the youths’ psychosocial well-being regarding the use of new
information and communication technologies. Because, for instance, as
Facebook continuously becomes an essential tool for communication and
interaction among youths, many studies (refer to Section Two) have shown
that its use has both positive and negative impacts on youths’ mental well-
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being. Therefore, parents, teachers, and social workers should complement

the Government’s efforts toward ensuring that Nigerian youths use social
media responsibly so that the country’s bright and promising future is
assured.
5.5 Limitations of this Research
Despite the successful conduct of this study, answering the research

questions and achieving the set goals, this book does not claim that the
present study was not without limitations. One of the key limitations of
this study is that it was conducted with only university undergraduate
students as respondents, majority of whom were young. Although studies
have indicated that most Facebook users are younger persons,
nevertheless, there are studies that show that social network use nowadays
is not limited to the younger generation only (Pfeil, Arjan, & Zaphiris,
2009; Sinclair & Grieve, 2017).
It is also a limitation worth mentioning that this study was carried out in
only one out of the many universities in the country; and the study was
conducted in north-east, a region where Hausa language is predominantly
spoken (as a lingua franca). Even though a sample size of 380 is good for
a study like this one, whose results can even be generalised among a
population of one million (see Sekaran, 2003), this book still regards this
study’s sample size (380 pre-data analysis/377 post-data analysis) as a
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limitation because Nigeria is ‘multi-millionaire’ in terms of national and

Facebook users’ population. Therefore, a larger sample size would be
better. The quantitative analysis approach adopted is another limitation
because numbers and figures may not generate sufficient information to
answer the research questions adequately. Hence, caution should be taken
when interpreting the findings of this study.
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Images
Title Description Source
Adamkolo The corresponding author’s Authors

Mohammed photo
Ibrahim
(MSc)
Prof. Dr. Md. The co-author’s photo Authors

Salleh Hj.
Hassan
Figure E-1 An organized Internet café, facebook.com/

symbolizing the need for twitter.com/
responsible use of social media whatsap.com/
by all and sundry, especially the goo.gl.com/images
youth
Figure E-2 An image illustrating the Google images:

Nigerian youths’ proverbial https://goo.gl/images/digital-
dream of becoming leaders of a economy.jpg
utopian ‘tomorrow’
142
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AUTHORS’ PROFILE
143
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AUTHORS’ PROFILE
ADAMKOLO MOHAMMED IBRAHIM1 studied Development

Communication at Master’s level at Faculty of Modern Languages and
Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia from 2013 – 2017 and BA
Mass Communication at Department of Mass Communication, University
of Maiduguri, Nigeria from 2002 – 2007. Currently, he teaches Mass
Communication in the latter university and is a regular research
manuscripts reviewer at Computers in Human Behaviour (CHB) journal
and a few others. His research areas include Development
Communication, ICT for entrepreneurial development, ICT for socio-
economic development, ICT4D, Social media and Mass communication
studies. He is the corresponding author, and can be reached via: postal
address: Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri,
PMB 1069 Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria; e-mail:
adamkoloibrahim@yahoo.com; phone: +2348035166525.
MD. SALLEH HJ. HASSAN2 is a Professor and Researcher at Faculty

of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. His
research areas include Agricultural communication studies, Development
Communication, ICT, Social Media, and Mass Communication studies.
He has authored many research papers, books and book chapters,
presented many research papers at both local and international conferences
and graduated many Master’s and PhD students. He can be reached via:
postal address: Department of Communication, Faculty of Modern
Languages and Communication, Universiti Pura Malaysia, UPM 43400
144
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Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; e-mail:

mdsalleh@upm.edu.my; salleh5045@gmail.com; phone: +60192677551.
145
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Self- Esteem

Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim

Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim

Two ANALYSIS OF PAST LITERATURE 23

2.8 Social Networking Sites as Self-

Four OUTCOMES AND TREATISE 69

4.5.4 Difference in the Use of Self-

Five FINALE 103

Table 3-1 Internal Consistency Reliability of the Scale 65

Table 4-3 Respondents’ Level of Negative Self-Esteem

Table 4-4 Difference between Genders in Self-Esteem 75

Table 4-6 Correlation between Estimate of Audience Size

Table 4-7 Difference in Use of Self-Presentation Tactics

Table 4-8 Difference in Use of Self-Presentation Tactics

Table 4-9 Difference in Use of Self-Presentation Tactics

Table 4-10 Difference in Use of Self-Presentation Tactics

Table 4-11 Difference in use of Self-Presentation Tactics

Table 4-12 Difference in Use of Self-Presentation Tactics

Table 4-13 Difference between Genders in Intense Facebook

Table 4-14 Correlation between Self-Presentation Tactics

Figure E-1 Organised Internet cafe, symbolising the need

Figure E-2 An image illustrating the Nigerian youths’

Figure 2-1 The Research Framework of this Study 68

“This book was written with relentless effort

….. DR NOR ADZHARUDDIN

Furthermore, this book delivers to the reader a detailed methodology and

this comprehensive and meticulous research work to fruition; my sincere

Nor Adzharuddin, PhD

“We are all social actors engaged in the

….. Ervin Goffman (1956)

Enhanced innovations in social networking sites have made Facebook so

To close this literature void, we explored young university students’ self-

theory of self-presentation perspective, we designed conceptual

Acknowledgements: This preface was written when the co-author, Pro.

work. This study was extracted from Adamkolo Mohammed Ibrahim’s

Danjuma Gambo, Associate Prof. Abubakar Mu’azu, Associate Professor

Web 2.0 is one of the unique evidences of modern information technology

individuals, groups, organisations, institutions and governments globally.

auspicious. Doesn’t it? However, just like their counterparts in

HELLO, O NIGERIAN YOUTH!

Hello there, Nigerian youth!

Arise Nigerian youths!

And here you are! At long last, it has come.

Here you are in the ‘tomorrow’ that’s already become ‘today.’

Communication is inherent in human culture (Niiya, Brook, & Crocker,

Individuals’ social image is an important part of their feelings of self-

Chapter One: Primer

Digital profile is mutually constructed by the social media platform e.g.,

Chapter One: Primer

The use of social networking sites as a platform for self-identification and

Chapter One: Primer

the constraints of physical closeness, new social opportunities emerge.

According to Ahn (2011) there is a body of research that highlighted the

1.2 Facebook, the Internet and the Online World in Nigeria

To understand the Facebook use of Nigerian youths, we first need to

Chapter One: Primer

Internet penetration in Nigeria is progressively spreading, particularly

Chapter One: Primer

Because of the global significance of Nigeria as a Facebook hub in Africa,

On 30 September 2016 Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg added

Chapter One: Primer

Further statistics have shown that in 2014, Internet penetration in Nigeria

Chapter One: Primer