article · Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
A descriptive survey of 261 Mass Communication students at Federal Polytechnic Bauchi during the 2024 to 2025 academic session explores the reasons behind student engagement with TikTok and Snapchat. While entertainment and social connection emerge as the primary drivers, substantial numbers of students also report using these platforms for information seeking, creative self-expression, and acquiring new skills. Informal learning outcomes are particularly high, with 74.7 percent of respondents reporting gains in video editing or media production skills through TikTok and 82.8 percent noting similar benefits from Snapchat. Specific platform features, such as algorithmic recommendations and ephemeral content, shape these motivations. In light of these findings, recommendations include incorporating structured micro-learning assignments that channel student creativity, alongside institutional media-literacy programmes to address risks related to distraction, privacy, and digital wellbeing.
Social media platforms are frequently viewed merely as sources of distraction for young people. This research shows that platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat also serve as informal educational environments where students independently build technical media production and video editing capabilities. Understanding these patterns helps educators design modern learning strategies that capitalise on existing digital habits while safeguarding student wellbeing and privacy.
The findings offer early-stage insights for curriculum designers, educational technology developers, and higher education institutions seeking to create formal micro-learning tools or media-literacy programmes. While the research demonstrates that students readily acquire media production skills through existing commercial apps, it remains descriptive and pedagogical. Developing structured learning modules or institutional software that harnesses these informal habits represents a potential future application that has not yet been directly tested or commercialised.
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This article examines the principal motivations that drive Mass Communication students to use TikTok and Snapchat. The study draws on a descriptive survey of 261 students at Federal Polytechnic Bauchi during the 2024–2025 academic session. The research question addressed is what primary motivations underlie students’ engagement with these platforms. Analysis of the saved student dataset shows that entertainment and social connection are the most frequently endorsed motives, with substantial proportions also reporting information seeking, creative self-expression and skill acquisition as salient drivers. Self-reported learning outcomes were notable: 74.7% indicated they had acquired video editing or media production skills from TikTok and 82.8% reported similar gains from Snapchat. The methods combine standard descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations and factor-oriented interpretation to identify dominant motivational clusters. The findings are interpreted through the lens of Uses and Gratifications Theory which foregrounds user agency in media choice; platform affordances such as algorithmic recommendation and ephemerality are shown to shape the relative prominence of particular gratifications. Pedagogical implications are discussed. The article argues that educators and curriculum designers ought to recognise students’ instrumental use of short-form and ephemeral platforms while also attending to digital wellbeing and ethical practice. Recommendations include structured micro-learning assignments that harness students’ creativity and institutional media-literacy interventions to mitigate distraction and privacy risks. The study contributes empirical evidence from a polytechnic context in northern Nigeria and speaks to broader debates about short-form video platforms as sites of informal skill acquisition and social interaction. Received: 09 July 2026 / Accepted: 31 August 2026 / Published: September 2026
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DOI: 10.36941/ajis-2026-0143
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