In the advanced societies, the use of online or distance education is constantly on the increase, particularly at the tertiary levels. But this method of enhancing education delivery has not taken much root in developing worlds, especially in Nigeria. In fact, many of the institutions in Nigerian are yet to think of implementing distance education programmes at her tertiary levels of education system. Generally, the issue of social presence has been of much concern in all online learning environments in schools, be it in the developed or underdeveloped worlds. Hence, the authors discussed the concepts of social presence as perceived by scholars and other stakeholders in the field of education, and how lack of social presence affects online learners. The paper attempts to explore the need and general consequences of the absence of social presence in online/distance education programmes in schools. Also discussed are the types and the need for social presence in online programmes. The article concisely enumerated possible best practices for enhancing social presence in online learning environments, especially for beginner institutions via the review of related literature in the field.