A lot of Nigerians find lasting friendships and, in many cases, love on various social media platforms despite certain demerits of social networking in recent years.

Coinciding with the Social Media Week (SMW) Lagos 2016, NOI polls released a report which sought to gauge the perception of Nigerians on social media usage and the prevalence of online dating in the country. According to the survey, Facebook is the leading online dating platform in Nigeria with 72 percent usage, followed by WhatsApp (15 percent), 2go (8 percent) and Badoo (5 percent).

facebook as the most oprefrred

Interestingly, in terms of usage, the poll further revealed WhatsApp as the most frequently used social media platform in Nigeria with 50 percent use, followed by Facebook with 45 percent. Despite the availability of other social networks like BlackBerry Messenger and Twitter, Facebook was the most used social platform by Nigerians due to the unique features (like, share and upload content) of the platform.

The respondents to the poll indicated that women tend to belong to the social media platforms that have dating features like Facebook, BBM and Whatsapp, unlike men whose preferred platforms is like LinkedIn, Twitter since it affords them the opportunity to share business ideas or information.

More findings from the poll revealed a majority of Nigerians (90 percent) believe there is a prevalence of online dating in Nigeria as 3 in 10 of this proportion (30 percent) affirmed that they either knew someone or were engaged in online dating themselves. Respondents in this category were mostly aged between 18-35 years.

Despite the challenges and the risks involved, respondents further showed that dating mostly takes place on Facebook as it creates easy opportunities for romance. This is followed by Whatsapp (15 percent), 2go (8 percent) and Badoo (5 percent) amongst other social media platforms, dating websites and applications.

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