Abstract

The study examined the utilisation of social media for skill acquisition among fashion designers in Lagos and Oyo States. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select a total of 230 fashion designers from the Nigerian Union of Tailors. Data were obtained using a questionnaire and interview schedule. Percentage, Mean and PPMC (?=0.05) were used to analyse the data. Most (60.4%) of the respondents were females with a mean age of 34.5±8.44 years. WhatsApp (93.9%) and Facebook (73.5%) were the most used platforms. Respondents’ engagement of social media included connection with other fashion designers (1.957), collection and save of style (1.865), interact with customers (1.830). Business size (1.261), finance (1.226) and data (0.939) were the factors influencing utilisation of social media for skill acquisition. Benefits derived included gain knowledge/information on fashion designing (1.439), more customers (1.409) and increasing income (1.374). Improper time management (=0.883), time consumption (= 0.848) and insufficient data (=0.765) were constraints to social media utilisation. There was low level of utilisation of social media for skill acquisition among 58.3% of respondents. Respondents' age (-0.165) and household size (-0.134) significantly correlated with utilisation of social media. Significant relationship existed between level of engagement (0.159), factors influencing the use of social media (0.656), benefit derived (0.446), challenges faced (0.265) and utilisation of social media for skill acquisition. Respondents exhibited low utilisation of social media for skill acquisition despite high engagement on social media. Need for sensitisation through campaigns and provision of network hubs to access internet services.

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