Published Article

ABSTRACT
The advent of social media platforms activities has diversely influenced family communication.
The study was undertaken to investigate social media platform activities and parent-child
communication in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Three research purposes
and questions were raised to guide the study. The population of the study comprised of 427873
parents in Uyo Local Government Area. A sample size of 400 respondents were drawn from the
four clans in the study area using stratified random sampling technique. An instrument tagged
"Social Media Platforms Activities and Parents Questionnaire" (SMPAPQ) was used for data
collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, all from the University of Uyo.
Cronbach Alpha statistical method was used to determine the internal consistency and a
reliability coefficient of 0.94 was obtained. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive
statistics (frequency, percentage). The findings obtained revealed the various social media
platforms used by parents in Uyo local government area, with Facebook (321; 97%) ranking the
highest, followed by WhatsApp (307; 93%), and others. The findings further reveal that
Facebook (189;57%) and WhatsApp (142: 43%) were the most and second most preferred
social media platforms respectively by parents in Uyo Local Government Area. The findings
equally revealed the various social media activities engaged by parents in Uyo Local
Government Area with chatting (197;73%) ranking the highest social media activity engaged by
parents in Uyo Local Government Area amongst others. Based on the findings of this study, it
was recommended amongst others, that parents should evolve more ways of using these social
media platforms to communicate frequently.
KEYWORDS: Social media, Platforms, Activities,