Social media tools and entrepreneurial media firms’ growth in Minna Metropolis

Abstract

The advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has brought about a remarkable change in executing majority of human and business activities which includes small media firms. The continuous survival of these firms depends to a large extent on the utilization of information made available via various social media to compete favourably with other firms thereby enhancing their growth. Despite recent researches on social networks and media firms, little is known about social network’s influence on media firms’ growth. Hence, this study investigates the influence of social networks on media firm’s growth focusing on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter based on social exchange theory. Three null hypotheses were developed and tested at 95% confidence level. The population frame consists of 100 staffs of the marketing department from 10 registered media organizations in the context. A census based method was used for sample selection due to the small size of the population. Primary data was collected through the survey monkey and analyzed with the descriptive and inferential statistics. The analysis of results reveals that LinkedIn and Twitter contribute statistically positively and significantly to media firms’ growth in Minna, while Facebook does not. It therefore recommends professional short-term courses and training for employees to acquire technological knowledge on the use of social media tools especially LinkedIn and Twitter for organizational productivity and growth.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Growth, Media Firms, Social Networks, Technology