essay on social media as a tool for learning

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

student opinion

Can Social Media Be a Tool for Learning and Growth in Schools?

Or is it something to keep as far away as possible from the classroom and extracurricular activities?

By Michael Gonchar

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

How does your school view social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok ? Does it have its own social media accounts? Do teachers and staff use any of these popular apps to engage with students in the classroom or in after-school clubs?

Do you think social media provides opportunities for learning and growth? Or are these apps at best just entertainment and distractions from school, and at worst, places for gossip, bullying and misinformation?

In “ High Schools to TikTok: We’re Catching Feelings ,” Taylor Lorenz writes about how the app TikTok is getting the stamp of approval in some schools:

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — On the wall of a classroom that is home to the West Orange High School TikTok club , large loopy words are scrawled across a whiteboard: “Wanna be TikTok famous? Join TikTok club.” It’s working. “There’s a lot of TikTok-famous kids at our school,” said Amanda DiCastro, who is 14 and a freshman. “Probably 20 people have gotten famous off random things.” The school is on a quiet palm-tree-lined street in a town just outside Orlando. A hallway by the principal’s office is busy with blue plaques honoring the school’s A.P. Scholars. Its choir director, Jeffery Redding, won the 2019 Grammy Music Educator Award. Amanda was referring to a different kind of stardom: on TikTok, a social media app where users post short funny videos, usually set to music , that is enjoying a surge in popularity among teenagers around the world and has been downloaded 1.4 billion times, according to SensorTower. The embrace of the app at this school is mirrored on scattered campuses across the United States, where students are forming TikTok clubs to dance, sing and perform skits for the app — essentially drama clubs for the digital age, but with the potential to reach huge audiences. And unlike other social media networks, TikTok is winning over some educators, like Michael Callahan, a teacher at West Orange, who had never heard of TikTok before the students told him about it. He is an adviser to the school’s club and said he loves how the app brings students from different friend groups together. “You see a lot more teamwork and camaraderie,” he said, “and less — I don’t want to say bullying — but focus on individuals.” In many of the videos on the app, which are 15 seconds to a minute long, school hallways, classrooms and courtyards serve as a recurrent backdrop. And if kids aren’t filming themselves at school, they’re making jokes about school. One popular meme on the app mocks the class of 2023 (freshmen this year) for being cringey and trying too hard.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Does your school see social media as a tool for learning? Share how your school and teachers use social media as part of the education process?

Should schools and teachers take better advantage of social media to engage with students? Do you wish your school did? Or should the two worlds remain separate — for everyone’s sake?

Are you familiar with TikTok, the app discussed in the article. What’s your take on it? The reporter states that “teachers at many schools say they view TikTok culture as a net positive.” What do you think?

Do you have any suggestions for how your school could use social media like TikTok to promote student learning and growth? Please share.

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Advertisement

The Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media in Higher Education: A Literature Review

• Review Article
• Published: 14 September 2021
• Volume 2 , article number  455 , ( 2021 )

Cite this article

• Kam Cheong Li 1 &
• Billy Tak-ming Wong   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6584-4392 1  

1038 Accesses

2 Citations

Explore all metrics

This paper presents a review of the use of social media for learning and teaching in higher education, as well as the opportunities and challenges revealed from its use. A total of 77 related case studies published from 2010 to 2019 were collected from Scopus and Google Scholar for analysis. The results showed that social media was usually used as a learning management system and for enhancing learner engagement. The use of social media has brought opportunities for educational practices in terms of its high popularity among students, and its capacity to support two-way communication, easy knowledge sharing, community building, and collaborative learning, which enhance student learning experience. The challenges reported in the case studies cover the blurring of the boundary between the public and private life of students and between the relationships of students and instructors, as well as its doubtful effectiveness for knowledge construction, the inadequacy of instructors’ pedagogical and technological skills, and the lack of integration with instructional design. The results suggest the need for further work on examining suitable ways of using social media which would be viewed positively and accepted by users. There should also be future work on surveying the need for support for instructors for their involvement in teaching with social media, and developing effective pedagogies which cope with the features of social media.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Social Media in Higher Education: A Review of Their Uses, Benefits and Limitations

Social Media and Higher Education: A Literature Review

Social media usage by higher education academics: A scoping review of the literature

Ritesh Chugh, Robert Grose & Stephanie A. Macht

Availability of Data and Materials

Not applicable.

Code Availability

Dabbagh N, Kitsantas A. Personal learning environments, social media, and self-regulated learning: a natural formula for connecting formal and informal learning. Int High Educ. 2012;15:3–8.

Google Scholar  

Pew Research Centre. Social Media Fact Sheet. 2019. http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/ . Accessed 9 Dec 2020

Dabbagh N, Reo R. Impact of Web 2.0 on higher education. In: Surry DW, Stefurak T, Gray R, editors. Technology integration in higher education: social and organizational aspects. Hershey: IGI Global; 2011. p. 174–87.

Kassens-Noor E. Twitter as a teaching practice to enhance active and informal learning in higher education: the case of sustainable tweets. Act Learn High Educ. 2012;13:9–21.

Manca S, Ranierit M. Is it a tool suitable for learning? A critical review of the literature on Facebook as a technology-enhanced learning environment. J Comput Assist Learn. 2013;29:487–504.

Chugh R, Grose R, Macht SA. Social media usage by higher education academics: a scoping review of the literature. Educ Inf Technol. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10288-z .

Article   Google Scholar  

Tess PA. The role of social media in higher education classes (real and virtual)—a literature review. Comput Hum Behav. 2013;29:A60–8.

Smith T, Lambert R. A systematic review investigating the use of Twitter and Facebook in university-based healthcare education. Health Educ. 2014;114:347–66.

Chugh R, Ruhi U. Social media in higher education: a literature review of Facebook. Educ Inf Technol. 2018;23:605–16.

Balakrishnan V, Gan C. Students’ learning styles and their effects on the use of social media technology for learning. Telemat Inform. 2016;33:808–21.

Manca S, Ranieri M. “Yes for sharing, no for teaching!”: social media in academic practices. Int High Educ. 2016;29:63–74.

Hung HT, Yuen SCY. Educational use of social networking technology in higher education. Teach High Educ. 2010;15:703–14.

Gikas J, Grant M. Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones and social media. Int High Educ. 2013;19:18–26.

Brooks DC, Pomerantz J. ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology. Colorado: ECAR; 2017.

Ajjan H, Hartshorne R. Investigating faculty decisions to adopt Web 2.0 technologies: theory and empirical tests. Int High Educ. 2008;11:71–80.

Moran M, Seaman J, Tinti-Kane H. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Facebook: how today’s higher education faculty use social media. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions; 2012.

Scott N, Goode D. The use of social media (some) as a learning tool in healthcare education: an integrative review of the literature. Nurse Educ Today. 2020;87:104357.

Cheston CC, Flickinger TE, Chisolm MS. Social media use in medical education: a systematic review. Acad Med. 2013;88:893–901.

Van Den Beemt A, Thurlings M, Willems M. Towards an understanding of social media use in the classroom: a literature review. Technol Pedagog Educ. 2020;29:35–55.

Zachos G, Paraskevopoulou-Kollia EA, Anagnostopoulos I. Social media use in higher education: a review. Educ Sci. 2018;8:194.

Li KC, Wong BTM. The use of student response systems with learning analytics: a review of case studies (2008–2017). Int J Mob Learn Organ. 2020;14:63–79.

Wong BTM, Li KC. A review of learning analytics intervention in higher education (2011–2018). J Comput Educ. 2020;7:7–28.

DiVall M, Kirwin JL. Using Facebook to facilitate course-related discussion between students and faculty members. Am J Pharm Educ. 2012;76:32.

Irwin C, Ball L, Desbrow B. Students’ perceptions of using Facebook as an interactive learning resource at university. Australas J Educ Technol. 2012;28:1221–32.

Lieberman S. Using Facebook as an interactive learning environment in European political studies. Eur Polit Sci. 2014;13:23–31.

Albayrak D, Yildirim Z. Using social networking sites for teaching and learning: students’ involvement in and acceptance of Facebook as a course management system. J Educ Comput Res. 2015;52:155–79.

Dutta A, Roy R, Seetharaman P. Course management system adoption and usage: a process theoretic perspective. Comput Hum Behav. 2013;29:2535–45.

Deng L, Tavares NJ. From Moodle to Facebook: exploring students’ motivation and experiences in online communities. Comput Educ. 2013;68:167–76.

McCarthy J. Blended learning environments: using social networking sites to enhance the first year experience. Australas J Educ Technol. 2010;26:729–40.

Deed C, Edwards A. Unrestructed student blogging: implications for active learning in a virtual text-based environment. Act Learn High Educ. 2011;12:11–21.

Junco R, Heiberger G, Loken E. The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades. J Comput Assist Learn. 2011;27:119–32.

Menkhoff T, Chay YW, Benggtsson ML, Woodard CJ, Gan B. Incorporating microblogging (“tweeting”) in higher education: lessons learnt in a knowledge management course. Comput Hum Behav. 2015;51:1295–302.

Kuh G. What student affairs professionals need to know about student engagement. J Coll Stud Dev. 2009;50:683–706.

Andrade A, Castro C, Ferreira SA. Cognitive communication 2.0 in higher education: to tweet or not to tweet? Electron J E-Learn. 2012;10:293–305.

LeppIsaarI I, Kleimola R, Herrington J, Maunula M, Hohenthal T. Developing more authentic E-Courses by integrating working life mentoring and social media. J Interact Learn Res. 2014;25:209–34.

Megele C. eABLE: embedding social media in academic curriculum as a learning and assessment strategy to enhance students learning and e-professionalism. Innov Educ Teach Int. 2015;52:414–25.

McCarthy J. Enhancing feedback in higher education: students’ attitudes towards online and in-class formative assessment feedback models. Act Learn High Educ. 2017;18:127–41.

Rambe P, Nel L. Technological utopia, dystopia and ambivalence: teaching with social media at a South African university. Br J Edu Technol. 2015;46:629–48.

Díaz-Lázaro J, Fernández IMS, Sánchez-Vera MM. Social learning analytics in higher education. An experience at the primary education stage. J New Approach Educ Res. 2017;6:119–26.

Rodrigo I. Assisting language learning with new technologies: a case of Spanish degrees facing a European educational change process. CALL-EJ. 2017;18:40–61.

Lim JSY, Agostinho J, Harper B, Chicharo JF. The engagement of social media technologies by undergraduate informatics students for academic purpose in Malaysia. J Inf Commun Ethics Soc. 2014;12:177–94.

Liburd JJ, Christensen IMF. Using web 2.0 in higher tourism education. J Hosp Leis Sport Tour Educ. 2013;12:99–108.

Sobaih A, Moustafa M. Speaking the same language: the value of social networking sites for hospitality and tourism higher education in Egypt. J Hosp Tour Educ. 2016;28:21–31.

Baran E. Connect, participate and learn: transforming pedagogies in higher education. Bull IEEE Tech Committee Learn Technol. 2013;15:9–12.

Feliz T, Ricoy C, Feliz S. Analysis of the use of Twitter as a learning strategy in master’s studies. Open Learn J Open Distance e-Learn. 2013;28:201–15.

Reed P. Hashtags and retweets: using Twitter to aid community, communication and casual (informal) learning. Res Learn Technol. 2013;21:19692.

Carroll JA, Diaz A, Meiklejohn J, Newcomb M, Adkins B. Collaboration and competition on a wiki: the praxis of online social learning to improve academic writing and research in under-graduate students. Australas J Educ Technol. 2013;29:513–25.

Al-Rahmi WM, Othman MS, Musa MA. The improvement of students’ academic performance by using social media through collaborative learning in Malaysian higher education. Asian Soc Sci. 2014;10:210–21.

Jang Y. Convenience matters: a qualitative study on the impact of use of social media and collaboration technologies on learning experience and performance in higher education. Educ Inf. 2015;31:73–98.

Cuesta M, Eklund M, Rydin I, Witt AK. Using Facebook as a co-learning community in higher education. Learn Media Technol. 2016;41:55–72.

Laborda J, Litzler M. English for business: student responses to language learning through social networking tools. ESP Today. 2017;5:91–107.

Ricoy MC, Feliz T. Twitter as a learning community in higher education. Educ Technol Soc. 2016;19:237–48.

Tur G, Marín V, Carpenter J. Using twitter in higher education in Spain and the USA. Comunicar. 2017;25:19–27.

O’Bannon BW, Beard JL, Britt VG. Using a Facebook group as an educational tool: effects on student achievement. Interdiscip J Pract Theory Appl Res. 2013;30:229–47.

Firpo D, Ractham P. Using social networking technology to enhance learning in higher education: a case study using Facebook. In: HICSS 44th Hawaii International Conference System Science. Kauai, USA; 2011.

Goktalay SB. Challenges facing higher education: faculty’s concerns about technologies of social media. Int J Contin Eng Educ Life Long Learn. 2013;23:67–90.

Rochefort B, Richmond N. Connecting instruction to connected technologies—why bother? An instructional designer’s perspective. RUSC Univ Knowl Soc J. 2011;8:217–32.

Bennett S, Bishop A, Dalgarno B, Waycott J, Kennedy G. Implementing Web 2.0 technologies in higher education: a collective case study. Comput Educ. 2012;59:524–34.

Demirbilek M. Social media and peer feedback: what do students really think about using Wiki and Facebook as platforms for peer feedback? Act Learn High Educ. 2015;16:211–24.

McLoughlin CE, Alam SL. A case study of instructor scaffolding using Web 2.0 tools to teach social informatics. J Inf Syst Educ. 2014;25:125–36.

Pinto MB. The use of Yammer in higher education: an exploratory study. J Educ Online. 2014;11:n1.

Li KC, Lee LYK, Wong SL, Yau ISY, Wong BTM. Evaluation of mobile learning for the clinical practicum in nursing education: application of the FRAME model. J Comput High Educ. 2019;31:290–310.

Li KC, Wong BTM. Blended learning in Hong Kong higher education. In: Singh, Makhanya, editors. Essays in online education—a global perspective. Berlin: UNISA Press; 2019. p. 107–20.

Li KC, Wong BTM. Features and trends of personalised learning: a review of journal publications from 2001 to 2018. Interact Learn Environ. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1811735 .

Wong BTM, Li KC, Choi SPM. Trends in learning analytics practices: a review of higher education institutions. Interact Technol Smart Educ. 2018;15:132–54.

Ang KLM, Ge FL, Seng KP. Big educational data and analytics: survey, architecture and challenges. IEEE Access. 2020;8:116392–414.

Al-rahmi WM, Othman MS, Yusof LM, Musa MA. Using social media as a tool for improving academic performance through collaborative learning in Malaysian higher education. Rev Eur Stud. 2015;7:265–75.

Page KL, Reynolds N. Learning from a wiki way of learning. Stud High Educ. 2015;40:988–1013.

Soluk L, Buddle CM. Tweets from the forest: Using Twitter to increase student engagement in an undergraduate field biology course. F1000Research. 2015;4:82.

Wong BYY, Wong BTM, Pang S, et al. A framework for effectiveness of institutional policies on technology-enhanced learning. In: Li KC, et al., editors. Technology in education. Transforming educational practices with technology. Berlin: Springer; 2015. p. 175–86.

Crook C. Web 2.0 technologies for learning: the current landscape—opportunities, challenges and tensions. Becta: Coventry; 2008.

Manca S, Ranieri M. Facebook and the others. Potentials and obstacles of social media for teaching in higher education. Comput Educ. 2016;95:216–30.

Download references

No funding was received to support and conduct this research.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, China

Kam Cheong Li & Billy Tak-ming Wong

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Billy Tak-ming Wong .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Li, K.C., Wong, B.Tm. The Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media in Higher Education: A Literature Review. SN COMPUT. SCI. 2 , 455 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00857-5

Download citation

Received : 25 December 2020

Accepted : 18 August 2021

Published : 14 September 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00857-5

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Social media
• Social networking sites
• Higher education
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

• Open access
• Published: 16 March 2020

Exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning the new domain of learning

• Jamal Abdul Nasir Ansari 1 &
• Nawab Ali Khan 1  

Smart Learning Environments volume  7 , Article number:  9 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

368k Accesses

172 Citations

19 Altmetric

Metrics details

This study is an attempt to examine the application and usefulness of social media and mobile devices in transferring the resources and interaction with academicians in higher education institutions across the boundary wall, a hitherto unexplained area of research. This empirical study is based on the survey of 360 students of a university in eastern India, cognising students’ perception on social media and mobile devices through collaborative learning, interactivity with peers, teachers and its significant impact on students’ academic performance. A latent variance-based structural equation model approach was followed for measurement and instrument validation. The study revealed that online social media used for collaborative learning had a significant impact on interactivity with peers, teachers and online knowledge sharing behaviour.

Additionally, interactivity with teachers, peers, and online knowledge sharing behaviour has seen a significant impact on students’ engagement which consequently has a significant impact on students’ academic performance. Grounded to this finding, it would be valuable to mention that use of online social media for collaborative learning facilitate students to be more creative, dynamic and research-oriented. It is purely a domain of knowledge.

Introduction

The explosion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has led to an increase in the volume and smoothness in transferring course contents, which further stimulates the appeasement of Digital Learning Communities (DLCs). The millennium and naughtiness age bracket were Information Technology (IT) centric on web space where individual and geopolitical disperse learners accomplished their e-learning goals. The Educause Center for Applied Research [ECAR] ( 2012 ) surveyed students in higher education mentioned that students are pouring the acceptance of mobile computing devices (cellphones, smartphones, and tablet) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), roughly 67% surveyed students accepted that mobile devices and social media play a vital role in their academic performance and career enhancement. Mobile devices and social media provide excellent educational e-learning opportunities to the students for academic collaboration, accessing in course contents, and tutors despite the physical boundary (Gikas & Grant, 2013 ). Electronic communication technologies accelerate the pace of their encroachment of every aspect of life, the educational institutions incessantly long decades to struggle in seeing the role of such devices in sharing the contents, usefulness and interactivity style. Adoption and application of mobile devices and social media can provide ample futuristic learning opportunities to the students in accessing course contents as well as interaction with peers and experts (Cavus & Ibrahim, 2008 , 2009 ; Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008 ; Nihalani & Mayrath, 2010 ; Richardson & Lenarcic, 2008 , Shih, 2007 ). Recently Pew Research Center reported that 55% American teenage age bracket of 15–17 years using online social networking sites, i.e. Myspace and Facebook (Reuben, 2008 ). Social media, the fast triggering the mean of virtual communication, internet-based technologies changed the life pattern of young youth.

Use of social media and mobile devices presents both advantages as well as challenges, mostly its benefits seen in terms of accessing course contents, video clip, transfer of the instructional notes etc. Overall students feel that social media and mobile devices are the cheap and convenient tools of obtaining relevant information. Studies in western countries have confronted that online social media use for collaborative learning has a significant contribution to students’ academic performance and satisfaction (Zhu, 2012 ). The purpose of this research project was to explore how learning and teaching activities in higher education institutions were affected by the integration and application of mobile devices in sharing the resource materials, interaction with colleagues and students’ academic performance. The broad goal of this research was to contemporise the in-depth perspectives of students’ perception of mobile devices and social media in learning and teaching activities. However, this research paper paid attention to only students’ experiences, and their understanding of mobile devices and social media fetched changes and its competency in academic performance. The fundamental research question of this research was, what are the opinions of students on social media and mobile devices when it is integrating into higher education for accessing, interacting with peers.

A researcher of the University of Central Florida reported that electronic devices and social media create an opportunity to the students for collaborative learning and also allowed the students in sharing the resource materials to the colleagues (Gikas & Grant, 2013 ). The result of the eight Egyptian universities confirmed that social media have the significant impact on higher education institutions especially in term of learning tools and teaching aids, faculty members’ use of social media seen at a minimum level due to several barriers (internet accessibility, mobile devices etc.).

Social media and mobile devices allow the students to create, edit and share the course contents in textual, video or audio forms. These technological innovations give birth to a new kind of learning cultures, learning based on the principles of collective exploration and interaction (Selwyn, 2012 ). Social media the phenomena originated in 2005 after the Web2.0 existence into the reality, defined more clearly as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundation of web 2.0 and allow creation and exchange of user-generated contents (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010 ). Mobile devices and social media provide opportunities to the students for accessing resources, materials, course contents, interaction with mentor and colleagues (Cavus & Ibrahim, 2008 , 2009 ; Richardson & Lenarcic, 2008 ).

Social media platform in academic institutions allows students to interact with their mentors, access their course contents, customisation and build students communities (Greenhow, 2011a , 2011b ). 90% school going students currently utilise the internet consistently, with more than 75% teenagers using online networking sites for e-learning (DeBell & Chapman, 2006 ; Lenhart, Arafeh, & Smith, 2008 ; Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005 ). The result of the focus group interview of the students in 3 different universities in the United States confirmed that use of social media created opportunities to the learners for collaborative learning, creating and engaging the students in various extra curriculum activities (Gikas & Grant, 2013 ).

Research background and hypotheses

The technological innovation and increased use of the internet for e-learning by the students in higher education institutions has brought revolutionary changes in communication pattern. A report on 3000 college students in the United States revealed that 90% using Facebook while 37% using Twitter to share the resource materials as cited in (Elkaseh, Wong, & Fung, 2016 ). A study highlighted that the usage of social networking sites in educational institutions has a practical outcome on students’ learning outcomes (Jackson, 2011 ). The empirical investigation over 252 undergraduate students of business and management showed that time spent on twitter and involvement in managing social lives and sharing information, course-related influences their performance (Evans, 2014 ).

Social media for collaborative learning, interactivity with teachers, interactivity with peers

Many kinds of research confronted on the applicability of social media and mobile devices in higher education for interaction with colleagues.90% of faculty members use some social media in courses they were usually teaching or professional purposes out of the campus life. Facebook and YouTube are the most visited sites for the professional outcomes, around 2/3rd of the all-faculty use some medium fora class session, and 30% posted contents for students engagement in reading, view materials (Moran, Seaman, & Tinti-Kane, 2011 ). Use of social media and mobile devices in higher education is relatively new phenomena, completely hitherto area of research. Research on the students of faculty of Economics at University of Mortar, Bosnia, and Herzegovina reported that social media is already used for the sharing the materials and exchanges of information and students are ready for active use of social networking site (slide share etc.) for educational purposes mainly e-learning and communication (Mirela Mabić, 2014 ).

The report published by the U.S. higher education department stated that the majority of the faculty members engaged in different form of the social media for professional purposes, use of social media for teaching international business, sharing contents with the far way students, the use of social media and mobile devices for sharing and the interactive nature of online and mobile technologies build a better learning environment at international level. Responses on 308 graduate and postgraduate students in Saudi Arabia University exhibited that positive correlation between chatting, online discussion and file sharing and knowledge sharing, and entertainment and enjoyment with students learning (Eid & Al-Jabri, 2016 ). The quantitative study on 168 faculty members using partial least square (PLS-SEM) at Carnegie classified Doctoral Research University in the USA confirmed that perceived usefulness, external pressure and compatibility of task-technology have positive effect on social media use, the higher the degree of the perceived risk of social media, the less likely to use the technological tools for classroom instruction, the study further revealed that use of social media for collaborative learning has a positive effect on students learning outcome and satisfaction (Cao, Ajjan, & Hong, 2013 ). Therefore, the authors have hypothesized:

H1: Use of social media for collaborative learning is positively associated with interactivity with teachers.

Additionally, Madden and Zickuhr ( 2011 ) concluded that 83% of internet user within the age bracket of 18–29 years adopting social media for interaction with colleagues. Kabilan, Ahmad, and Abidin ( 2010 ) made an empirical investigation on 300 students at University Sains Malaysia and concluded that 74% students found to be the same view that social media infuses constructive attitude towards learning English (Fig. 1 ).

Research Model

Reuben ( 2008 ) concluded in his study on social media usage among professional institutions revealed that Facebook and YouTube used over half of 148 higher education institutions. Nevertheless, a recent survey of 456 accredited United States institutions highlighted 100% using some form of social media, notably Facebook 98% and Twitter 84% for e-learning purposes, interaction with mentors (Barnes & Lescault, 2011 ).

Information and communication technology (ICT), such as web-based application and social networking sites enhances the collaboration and construction of knowledge byway of instruction with outside experts (Zhu, 2012 ). A positive statistically significant relationship was found between student’s use of a variety of social media tools and the colleague’s fellow as well as the overall quality of experiences (Rutherford, 2010 ). The potential use of social media leads to collaborative learning environments which allow students to share education-related materials and contents (Fisher & Baird, 2006 ). The report of 233 students in the United States higher educations confirmed that more recluse students interact through social media, which assist them in collaborative learning and boosting their self-confidence (Voorn & Kommers, 2013 ). Thus hypotheses as

H2: Use of social media for collaborative learning is positively associated with interactivity with peers.

Social media for collaborative learning, interactivity with peers, online knowledge sharing behaviour and students’ engagement

Students’ engagement in social media and its types represent their physical and mental involvement and time spent boost to the enhancement of educational Excellency, time spent on interaction with peers, teachers for collaborative learning (Kuh, 2007 ). Students’ engagement enhanced when interacting with peers and teacher was in the same direction, shares of ideas (Chickering & Gamson, 1987 ). Engagement is an active state that is influenced by interaction or lack thereof (Leece, 2011 ). With the advancement in information technology, the virtual world becomes the storehouse of the information. Liccardi et al. ( 2007 ) concluded that 30% students were noted to be active on social media for interaction with their colleagues, tutors, and friends while more than 52% used some social media forms for video sharing, blogs, chatting, and wiki during their class time. E-learning becomes now sharp and powerful tools in information technology and makes a substantial impact on the student’s academic performance. Sharing your knowledge will make you better. Social network ties were shown to be the best predictors of online knowledge sharing intention, which in turn associated with knowledge sharing behaviour (Chen, Chen, & Kinshuk, 2009 ). Social media provides the robust personalised, interactive learning environment and enhances in self-motivation as cited in (Al-Mukhaini, Al-Qayoudhi, & Al-Badi, 2014 ). Therefore, it was hypothesised that:

H3: Use of social media for collaborative learning is positively associated with online knowledge sharing behaviour.

Broadly Speaking social media/sites allow the students to interact, share the contents with colleagues, also assisting in building connections with others (Cain, 2008 ). In the present era, the majority of the college-going students are seen to be frequent users of these sophisticated devices to keep them informed and updated about the external affair. Facebook reported per day 1,00,000 new members join; Facebook is the most preferred social networking sites among the students of the United States as cited in (Cain, 2008 ). The researcher of the school of engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland, designed and developed Grasp, a social media platform for their students’ collaborative learning, sharing contents (Bogdanov et al., 2012 ). The utility and its usefulness could be seen in the University of Geneva and Tongji University at both two educational places students were satisfied and accept ‘ Grasp’ to collect, organised and share the contents. Students use of social media will interact ubiquity, heterogeneous and engaged in large groups (Wankel, 2009 ). So we hypotheses

H4: More interaction with teachers leads to higher students’ engagement.

However, a similar report published on 233 students revealed that social media assisted in their collaborative learning and self-confidence as they prefer communication technology than face to face communication. Although, the students have the willingness to communicate via social media platform than face to face (Voorn & Kommers, 2013 ). The potential use of social media tools facilitates in achieving higher-level learning through collaboration with colleagues and other renewed experts in their field (Junco, Heiberger, & Loken, 2011 ; Meyer, 2010 ; Novak, Razzouk, & Johnson, 2012 ; Redecker, Ala-Mutka, & Punie, 2010 ). Academic self-efficacy and optimism were found to be strongly related to performance, adjustment and consequently both directly impacted on student’s academic performance (Chemers, Hu, & Garcia, 2001 ). Data of 723 Malaysian researchers confirmed that both male and female students were satisfied with the use of social media for collaborative learning and engagement was found positively affected with learning performance (Al-Rahmi, Alias, Othman, Marin, & Tur, 2018 ). Social media were seen as a powerful driver for learning activities in terms of frankness, interactivity, and friendliness.

Junco et al. ( 2011 ) conducted research on the specific purpose of the social media; how Twitter impacted students’ engagement, found that it was extent discussion out of class, their participation in panel group (Rodriguez, 2011 ). A comparative study conducted by (Roblyer, McDaniel, Webb, Herman, & Witty, 2010 ) revealed that students were more techno-oriented than faculty members and more likely using Facebook and such similar communication technology to support their class-related task. Additionally, faculty members were more likely to use traditional techniques, i.e. email. Thus hypotheses framed is that:

H5: More interaction with peers ultimately leads to better students’ engagement.

Social networking sites and social media are closely similar, which provide a platform where students can interact, communicate, and share emotional intelligence and looking for people with other attitudes (Gikas & Grant, 2013 ). Facebook and YouTube channel use also increased in the skills/ability and knowledge and outcomes (Daniel, Isaac, & Janet, 2017 ). It was highlighted that 90% of faculty members were using some sort of social media in their courses/ teaching. Facebook was the most visited social media sites as per study, 40% of faculty members requested students to read and views content posted on social media; majority reports that videos, wiki, etc. the primary source of acquiring knowledge, social networking sites valuable tool/source of collaborative learning (Moran et al., 2011 ). However, more interestingly, in a study which was carried out on 658 faculty members in the eight different state university of Turkey, concluded that nearly half of the faculty member has some social media accounts.

Further reported that adopting social media for educational purposes, the primary motivational factor which stimulates them to use was effective and quick means of communication technology (Akçayır, 2017 ). Thus hypotheses formulated is:

H6: Online knowledge sharing behaviour is positively associated with the students’ engagement.

Using multiple treatment research design, following act-react to increase students’ academic performance and productivity, it was observed when self–monitoring record sheet was placed before students and seen that students engagement and educational productivity was increased (Rock & Thead, 2007 ). Student engagement in extra curriculum activities promotes academic achievement (Skinner & Belmont, 1993 ), increases grade rate (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994 ), triggering student performance and positive expectations about academic abilities (Skinner & Belmont, 1993 ). They are spending time on online social networking sites linked to students engagement, which works as the motivator of academic performance (Fan & Williams, 2010 ). Moreover, it was noted in a survey of over 236 Malaysian students that weak association found between the online game and student’s academic performance (Eow, Ali, Mahmud, & Baki, 2009 ). In a survey of 671 students in Jordan, it was revealed that student’s engagement directly influences academic performance, also seen the indirect effect of parental involvement over academic performance (Al-Alwan, 2014 ). Engaged students are perceptive and highly active in classroom activities, ready to participate in different classroom extra activities and expose motivation to learn, which finally leads in academic achievement (Reyes, Brackett, Rivers, White, & Salovey, 2012 ). A mediated role of students engagement seen in 1399 students’ classroom emotional climate and grades (Reyes et al., 2012 ). A statistically significant relation was noticed between online lecture and exam performance.

Nonetheless, intelligence quotient, personality factors, students must be engaged in learning activities as cited in (Bertheussen & Myrland, 2016 ). The report of the 1906 students at 7 universities in Colombia confirmed that the weak correlation between collaborative learning, students faculty interaction with academic performance (Pineda-Báez et al., 2014 ) Thus, the hypothesis

H7: Student's Engagement is positively associated with the student's academic performance.

Methodology

To check the students’ perception on social media for collaborative learning in higher education institutions, Data were gathered both offline and online survey administered to students from one public university in Eastern India (BBAU, Lucknow). For the sake of this study, indicators of interactivity with peers and teachers, the items of students engagement, the statement of social media for collaborative learning, and the elements of students’ academic performance were adopted from (AL-Rahmi & Othman, 2013 ). The statement of online knowledge sharing behaviour was taken from (Ma & Yuen, 2011 ).

The indicators of all variables which were mentioned above are measured on the standardised seven-point Likert scale with the anchor (1-Strongly Disagree, to 7-Strongly Agree). Interactivity with peers was measured using four indicators; the sample items using social media in class facilitates interaction with peers ; interactivity with teachers was measured using four symbols, the sample item is using social media in class allows me to discuss with the teacher. ; engagement was measured using three indicators by using social media I felt that my opinions had been taken into account in this class ; social media for collaborative learning was measured using four indicators collaborative learning experience in social media environment is better than in a face-to-face learning environment ; students’ academic performance was measured using five signs using social media to build a student-lecturer relationship with my lecturers, and this improves my academic performance ; online knowledge sharing behaviour was assessed using five symbols the counsel was received from other colleague using social media has increased our experience .

Procedure and measurement

A sample of 360 undergraduate students was collected by convenience sampling method of a public university in Eastern India. The proposed model of study was measured and evaluated using variance based structured equation model (SEM)-a latent multi variance technique which provides the concurrent estimation of structural and measurement model that does not meet parametric assumption (Coelho & Duarte, 2016 ; Haryono & Wardoyo, 2012 ; Lee, 2007 ; Moqbel, Nevo, & Kock, 2013 ; Raykov & Marcoulides, 2000 ; Williams, Rana, & Dwivedi, 2015 ). The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to ensure whether the widely accepted criterion of discriminate and convergent validity met or not. The loading of all the indicators should be 0.50 or more (Field, 2011 ; Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1992 ). And it should be statistically significant at least at the 0.05.

Demographic analysis (Table 1 )

The majority of the students in this study were females (50.8%) while male students were only 49.2% with age 15–20 years (71.7%). It could be pointed out at this juncture that the majority of the students (53.9%) in BBAU were joined at least 1–5 academic pages for their getting information, awareness and knowledge. 46.1% of students spent 1–5 h per week on social networking sites for collaborative learning, interaction with teachers at an international level. The different academic pages followed for accessing material, communication with the faculty members stood at 44.4%, there would be various forms of the social networking sites (LinkedIn, Slide Share, YouTube Channel, Researchgate) which provide the facility of online collaborative learning, a platform at which both faculty members and students engaged in learning activities.

As per report (Nasir, Khatoon, & Bharadwaj, 2018 ), most of the social media user in India are college-going students, 33% girls followed by 27% boys students, and this reports also forecasted that India is going to become the highest 370.77 million internet users in 2022. Additionally, the majority of the faculty members use smartphone 44% to connect with the students for sharing material content. Technological advantages were the pivotal motivational force which stimulates faculty members and students to exploits the opportunities of resource materials (Nasir & Khan, 2018 ) (Fig. 2 ).

Reasons for Using Social Media

When the students were asked for what reason did they use social media, it was seen that rarely using for self-promotion, very frequently using for self-education, often used for passing the time with friends, and so many fruitful information the image mentioned above depicting.

Instrument validation

The structural model was applied to scrutinize the potency and statistically significant relationship among unobserved variables. The present measurement model was evaluated using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and allied procedures to examine the relationship among hypothetical latent variables has acceptable reliability and validity. This study used both SPSS 20.0 and AMOS to check measurement and structural model (Field, 2013 ; Hair, Anderson, et al., 1992 ; Mooi & Sarstedt, 2011 ; Norusis, 2011 ).

The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to ensure whether the widely accepted criterion of discriminant and convergent validity met or not. The loading of all the indicators should be 0.70 or more it should be statistically significant at least at the 0.05 (Field, 2011 ; Hair, Anderson, et al., 1992 ).

CR or CA-based tests measured the reliability of the proposed measurement model. The CA provides an estimate of the indicators intercorrelation (Henseler & Sarstedt, 2013 . The benchmark limits of the CA is 0.7 or more (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994 ). As per Table 2 , all latent variables in this study above the recommended threshold limit. Although, Average Variance Extracted (AVE) has also been demonstrated which exceed the benchmark limit 0.5. Thus all the above-specified values revealed that our instrument is valid and effective. (See Table 2 for the additional information) (Table 3 ).

In a nutshell, the measurement model clear numerous stringent tests of convergent validity, discriminant validity, reliability, and absence of multi-collinearity. The finding demonstrated that our model meets widely accepted data validation criteria. (Schumacker & Lomax, 2010 ).

The model fit was evaluated through the Chi-Square/degree of freedom (CMIN/DF), Root Mean Residual (RMR), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and Goodness of fit index (GFI) and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI). The benchmark limit of the CFI, TLI, and GFI 0.90or more (Hair et al., 2016 ; Kock, 2011 ). The model study demonstrated in the table, as mentioned above 4 that the minimum threshold limit was achieved (See Table 4 for additional diagnosis).

Path coefficient of several hypotheses has been demonstrated in Fig.  3 , which is a variable par relationship. β (beta) Coefficients, standardised partial regression coefficients signify the powers of the multivariate relationship among latent variables in the model. Remarkably, it was observed that seven out of the seven proposed hypotheses were accepted and 78% of the explained variance in students’ academic performance, 60% explained variance in interactivity with teachers, 48% variance in interactivity with peers, 43% variance in online knowledge sharing behaviour and 79% variance in students’ engagement. Social media collaborative learning has a significant association with teacher interactivity(β = .693, P  < 0.001), demonstrating that there is a direct effect on interaction with the teacher by social media when other variables are controlled. On the other hand, use of social media for collaborative learning has noticed statistically significant positive relationship with peers interactivity (β = .704, p  < 0.001) meaning thereby, collaborative learning on social media by university students, leads to the high degree of interaction with peers, colleagues. Implied 10% rise in social media use for learning purposes, expected 7.04% increase in interaction with peers.

Path Diagram

Use of social media for collaborating learning has a significant positive association with online knowledge sharing behaviour (β = .583, p  < 0.001), meaning thereby that the more intense use of social media for collaborative learning by university students, the more knowledge sharing between peers and colleagues. Also, interaction with the teacher seen the significant statistical positive association with students engagement (β = .450, p  < 0.001), telling that the more conversation with teachers, leads to a high level of students engagement. Similarly, the practical interpretation of this result is that there is an expected 4.5% increase in student’s participation for every 10% increase in interaction with teachers. Interaction with peers has a significant positive association with students engagement (β = .210, p  < 0.001). Practically, the finding revealed that 10% upturn in student’s involvement, there is a 2.1% increase in peer’s interaction. There is a significant positive association between online knowledge sharing behaviour and students engagement (β = 0.247, p  < 0.001), and finally students engagement has been a statistically significant positive relationship with students’ academic performance (β = .972, p  < 0.001), this is the clear indication that more engaged students in collaborative learning via social media leads to better students’ academic performance.

Discussion and implication

There is a continuing discussion in the academic literature that use of such social media and social networking sites would facilitate collaborative learning. It is human psychology generally that such communication media technology seems only for entertainment, but it should be noted here carefully that if such communication technology would be followed with due attention prove productive. It is essential to acknowledge that most university students nowadays adopting social media communication to interact with colleagues, teachers and also making the group be in touch with old friends and even a convenient source of transferring the resources. In the present era, the majority of the university students having diversified social media community groups like Whatsapp, Facebook pages following different academic web pages to upgrade their knowledge.

Practically for every 10% rise in students’ engagement, expected to be 2.1% increase in peer interaction. As the study suggested that students engage in different sites, they start discussing with colleagues. More engaged students in collaborative learning through social media lead better students’ academic performance. The present study revealed that for every 10% increase in student’s engagement, there would be an expected increase in student academic performance at a rate of 9.72. This extensive research finding revealed that the application of online social media would facilitate the students to become more creative, dynamics and connect to the worldwide instructor for collaborative learning.

Accordingly, the use of online social media for collaborative learning, interaction with mentors and colleagues leadbetter student’s engagement which consequently affects student’s academic performance. The higher education authority should provide such a platform which can nurture the student’s intellectual talents. Based on the empirical investigation, it would be said that students’ engagement, social media communication devices facilitate students to retrieve information and interact with others in real-time regarding sharing teaching materials contents. Additionally, such sophisticated communication devices would prove to be more useful to those students who feel too shy in front of peers; teachers may open up on the web for the collaborative learning and teaching in the global scenario and also beneficial for physically challenged students. It would also make sense that intensive use of such sophisticated technology in teaching pedagogical in higher education further facilitates the teachers and students to interact digitally, web-based learning, creating discussion group, etc. The result of this investigation confirmed that use of social media for collaborative learning purposes, interaction with peers, and teacher affect their academic performance positively, meaning at this moment that implementation of such sophisticated communication technology would bring revolutionary, drastic changes in higher education for international collaborative learning (Table 5 ).

Limitations and future direction

Like all the studies, this study is also not exempted from the pitfalls, lacunas, and drawbacks. The first and foremost research limitation is it ignores the addiction of social media; excess use may lead to destruction, deviation from the focal point. The study only confined to only one academic institution. Hence, the finding of the project cannot be generalised as a whole. The significant positive results were found in this study due to the fact that the social media and mobile devices are frequently used by the university going students not only as a means of gratification but also for educational purposes.

Secondly, this study was conducted on university students, ignoring the faculty members, it might be possible that the faculty members would not have been interested in interacting with the students. Thus, future research could be possible towards faculty members in different higher education institutions. To the authors’ best reliance, this is the first and prime study to check the usefulness and applicability of social media in the higher education system in the Indian context.

Concluding observations

Based on the empirical investigation, it could be noted that application and usefulness of the social media in transferring the resource materials, collaborative learning and interaction with the colleagues as well as teachers would facilitate students to be more enthusiastic and dynamic. This study provides guidelines to the corporate world in formulating strategies regarding the use of social media for collaborative learning.

Availability of data and materials

The corresponding author declared here all types of data used in this study available for any clarification. The author of this manuscript ready for any justification regarding the data set. To make publically available of the data used in this study, the seeker must mail to the mentioned email address. The profile of the respondents was completely confidential.

Akçayır, G. (2017). Why do faculty members use or not use social networking sites for education? Computers in Human Behavior, 71 , 378–385.

Article   Google Scholar  

Al-Alwan, A. F. (2014). Modeling the relations among parental involvement, school engagement and academic performance of high school students. International Education Studies, 7 (4), 47–56.

Al-Mukhaini, E. M., Al-Qayoudhi, W. S., & Al-Badi, A. H. (2014). Adoption of social networking in education: A study of the use of social networks by higher education students in Oman. Journal of International Education Research, 10 (2), 143–154.

Google Scholar  

Al-Rahmi, W. M., Alias, N., Othman, M. S., Marin, V. I., & Tur, G. (2018). A model of factors affecting learning performance through the use of social media in Malaysian higher education. Computers & Education, 121 , 59–72.

Al-Rahmi, W. M., & Othman, M. S. (2013). Evaluating student’s satisfaction of using social media through collaborative learning in higher education. International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology, 6 (4), 1541–1551.

Arbuckle, J. (2008). Amos 17.0 user's guide . Chicago: SPSS Inc..

Barnes, N. G., & Lescault, A. M. (2011). Social media adoption soars as higher-ed experiments and reevaluates its use of new communications tools . North Dartmouth: Center for Marketing Research. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Bertheussen, B. A., & Myrland, Ø. (2016). Relation between academic performance and students’ engagement in digital learning activities. Journal of Education for Business, 91 (3), 125–131.

Bogdanov, E., Limpens, F., Li, N., El Helou, S., Salzmann, C., & Gillet, D. (2012). A social media platform in higher education. In Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1–8). IEEE.

Byrne, B. M. (1994). Structural equation modeling with EQS and EQS/windows: basic concepts, applications, and programming . Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Cain, J. (2008). Online social networking issues within academia and pharmacy education. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. https://doi.org/10.5688/aj720110 .

Cao, Y., Ajjan, H., & Hong, P. (2013). Using social media applications for educational outcomes in college teaching: a structural equation analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44 (4), 581–593. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12066 .

Cavus, N., & Ibrahim, D. (2008). A mobile tool for learning English words, Online Submission (pp. 6–9) Retrieved from http://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED504283&site=ehost-live&scope=site .

Cavus, N., & Ibrahim, D. (2009). M-learning: An experiment in using SMS to support learning new English language words. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40 (1), 78–91.

Chemers, M. M., Hu, L. T., & Garcia, B. F. (2001). Academic self-efficacy and first-year college student performance and adjustment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93 (1), 55–64. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.93.1.55 .

Chen, I. Y. L., Chen, N.-S., & Kinshuk. (2009). International forum of Educational Technology & Society Examining the factors influencing participants’ knowledge sharing behavior in virtual learning communities published by : International forum of Educational Technology & Society Examining the factor. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (1), 134–148.

Chickering, A. W., & Gamson, Z. F. (1987). Seven principles for good practise in undergraduate education. AAHE bulletin, 3 , 7.

Coelho, J., & Duarte, C. (2016). A literature survey on older adults' use of social network services and social applications. Computers in Human Behavior, 58 , 187–205.

Connell, J. P., Spencer, M. B., & Aber, J. L. (1994). Educational risk and resilience in African-American youth: Context, self, action, and outcomes in school. Child Development, 65 (2), 493–506.

Daniel, E. A., Isaac, E. N., & Janet, A. K. (2017). Influence of Facebook usage on employee productivity: A case of university of cape coast staff. African Journal of Business Management, 11 (6), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM2017.8265 .

DeBell, M., & Chapman, C. (2006). Computer and internet use by students in 2003. Statistical analysis report. NCES 2006-065. National Center for education statistics.

Dziuban, C., & Walker, J. D. (2012). ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2012 (Research Report) . Louisville: EDUCAUSE Centre for Applied Research.

Eid, M. I. M., & Al-Jabri, I. M. (2016). Social networking, knowledge sharing, and student learning: The case of university students. Computers and Education, 99 , 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.04.007 .

Elkaseh, A. M., Wong, K. W., & Fung, C. C. (2016). Perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of social media for e-learning in Libyan higher education: A structural equation modeling analysis. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 6 (3), 192.

Eow, Y. L., Ali, W. Z. b. W., Mahmud, R. b., & Baki, R. (2009). Form one students’ engagement with computer games and its effect on their academic achievement in a Malaysian secondary school. Computers and Education, 53 (4), 1082–1091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.05.013 .

Evans, C. (2014). Twitter for teaching: Can social media be used to enhance the process of learning? British Journal of Educational Wiley Online Library, 45 (5), 902–915. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12099 .

Fan, W., & Williams, C. M. (2010). The effects of parental involvement on students’ academic self-efficacy, engagement and intrinsic motivation. Educational Psychology, 30 (1), 53–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410903353302 .

Field, A. (2011). Discovering statistics using SPSS: (and sex and drugs and rock'n'roll) (Vol. 497). London: Sage.

Field, A. (2013). Factor analysis using SPSS. Scientific Research and Essays, 22 (June), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-52272-6.00519-5 .

Fisher, M., & Baird, D. E. (2006). Making mLearning work: Utilizing mobile technology for active exploration, collaboration, assessment, and reflection in higher education. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 35 (1), 3–30.

Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones &amp; social media. Internet and Higher Education Mobile, 19 , 18–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2013.06.002 .

Greenhow, C. (2011a). Online social networks and learning. On the horizon, 19 (1), 4–12.

Greenhow, C. (2011b). Youth, learning, and social media. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 45 (2), 139–146. https://doi.org/10.2190/EC.45.2.a .

Hair Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1992). Multivariate data analysis. International Journal of Pharmaceutics . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2011.02.019 .

Hair Jr., J. F., Sarstedt, M., Matthews, L. M., & Ringle, C. M. (2016). Identifying and treating unobserved heterogeneity with FIMIX-PLS: part I–method. European Business Review.

Harrington, D. (2009). Confirmatory factor analysis . Oxford university press.

Haryono, S., & Wardoyo, P. (2012). Structural Equation Modeling (Vol. 331).

Henseler, J., & Sarstedt, M. (2013). Goodness-of-fit indices for partial least squares path modeling. Computational Statistics, 28 (2), 565–580.

Jackson, C. (2011). Your students love social media… and so can you. Teaching Tolerance, 39 , 38–41.

Junco, R., Heiberger, G., & Loken, E. (2011). The effect of twitter on college student engagement and grades. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27 (2), 119–132.

Kabilan, M. K., Ahmad, N., & Abidin, M. J. Z. (2010). Facebook: An online environment for learning of English in institutions of higher education? The Internet and Higher Education, 13 (4), 179–187.

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53 (1), 59–68.

Kock, N. (2011). Using WarpPLS in e-collaboration studies: Mediating effects, control and second order variables, and algorithm choices. International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC), 7 (3), 1–13.

Kuh, G. D. (2007). What student engagement data tell us about college readiness. Peer Review, 9 (1), 4–8.

Kukulska-Hulme, A., & Shield, L. (2008). An overview of mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction. ReCALL, 20 (3), 271–289.

Lee, S.-Y. (2007). Structural equation modeling: A Bayesian approach (Wiley series in probability and statistics). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 73 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2009.09.012 .

Leece, R. (2011). Engaging students through social media. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association, 38 , 10–14 Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anthony_Jorm/publication/235003484_Introduction_to_guidelines_for_tertiary_education_institutions_to_assist_them_in_supporting_students_with_mental_health_problems/links/0c96052ba5314e1202000000.pdf#page=67 .

Lenhart, A., Arafeh, S., & Smith, A. (2008). Writing, technology and teens . Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Lenhart, A., Madden, M., & Hitlin, P. (2005). Teens and technology (p. 2008). Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts Retrieved September 29.

Liccardi, I., Ounnas, A., Pau, R., Massey, E., Kinnunen, P., Lewthwaite, S., …, Sarkar, C. (2007). The role of social networks in students’ learning experiences. In ACM Sigcse Bulletin (39, 4, 224–237).

Ma, W. W. K., & Yuen, A. H. K. (2011). Understanding online knowledge sharing: An interpersonal relationship perspective. Computers & Education, 56 (1), 210–219.

Madden, M., & Zickuhr, K. (2011). 65% of online adults use social networking sites. Pew Internet & American Life Project, 1 , 14.

Meyer, K. A. (2010). A comparison of web 2.0 tools in a doctoral course. The Internet and Higher Education, 13 (4), 226–232.

Mirela Mabić, D. G. (2014). Facebook as a learning tool. Igarss, 2014 (1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0173-7.2 .

Mooi, E., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). A concise guide to market research: The process, data, and methods using IBM SPSS statistics . Springeringer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12541-6 .

Moqbel, M., Nevo, S., & Kock, N. (2013). Organizational members’ use of social networking sites and job performance. Information Technology & People, 26 (3), 240–264. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-10-2012-0110 .

Moran, M., Seaman, J., & Tinti-Kane, H. (2011). Teaching, learning, and sharing: How Today’s higher education faculty use social media (pp. 1–16). Babson survey research group, (April. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.015 .

Nasir, J. A., & Khan, N. A. (2018). Faculty member usage of social media and mobile devices in higher education institution. International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research, 6 (1), 17–25.

Nasir, J. A., Khatoon, A., & Bharadwaj, S. (2018). Social media users in India: A futuristic approach. International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 5 (4), 762–765 Retrieved from http://ijrar.com/ .

Nihalani, P. K., & Mayrath, M. C. (2010). Statistics I. Findings from using an iPhone app in a higher education course. In White Paper .

Norusis, M. (2011). IBM SPSS statistics 20 brief guide (pp. 1–170). IBM Corporation Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/support .

Novak, E., Razzouk, R., & Johnson, T. E. (2012). The educational use of social annotation tools in higher education: A literature review. The Internet and Higher Education, 15 (1), 39–49.

Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychological theory .

Pineda-Báez, C., José-Javier, B. A., Rubiano-Bello, Á., Pava-García, N., Suárez-García, R., & Cruz-Becerra, F. (2014). Student engagement and academic performance in the Colombian University context. RELIEVE-Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa, 20 (2), 1–19.

Raykov, T., & Marcoulides, G. A. (2000). A First Course in Structural Equation Modeling .

Redecker, C., Ala-Mutka, K., & Punie, Y. (2010). Learning 2.0-the impact of social media on learning in Europe. Policy brief. JRC scientific and technical report. EUR JRC56958 EN, Available from http://bit.ly/cljlpq . Accessed 6 Feb 2011.

Reuben, B. R. (2008). The use of social Media in Higher Education for marketing and communications : A guide for professionals in higher education (Vol. 5) Retrieved from httpdoteduguru comwpcontentuploads200808socialmediainhighereducation pdf)). https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-9968(2012)0000005018 .

Book   Google Scholar  

Reyes, M. R., Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., White, M., & Salovey, P. (2012). Classroom emotional climate, student engagement, and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104 (3), 700–712. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027268 .

Richardson, J., & Lenarcic, J. (2008). Text Messaging as a Catalyst for Mobile Student Administration: The “Trigger” Experience. International Journal of Emerging Technologies & Society, 6 (2), 140–155.

Roblyer, M. D., McDaniel, M., Webb, M., Herman, J., & Witty, J. V. (2010). Findings on Facebook in higher education: A comparison of college faculty and student uses and perceptions of social networking sites. The Internet and Higher Education, 13 (3), 134–140.

Rock, M. L., & Thead, B. K. (2007). The effects of fading a strategic self-monitoring intervention on students’ academic engagement, accuracy, and productivity. Journal of Behavioral Education, 16 (4), 389–412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-007-9049-7 .

Rodriguez, J. E. (2011). Social media use in higher education : Key areas to consider for educators. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 7 (4), 539–550 https://doi.org/ISSN1558-9528 .

Rutherford, C. (2010). Using online social media to support Preservice student engagement. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6 (4), 703–711 Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no4/rutherford_1210.pdf .

Schumacker, R. E., & Lomax, R. G. (2010). A Beginner’s Guide to structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

Selwyn, N. (2012). Making sense of young people, education and digital technology: The role of sociological theory. Oxford Review of Education, 38 (1), 81–96.

Shih, Y. E. (2007). Setting the new standard with mobile computing in online learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 8 (2), 1–16.

Skinner, E. A., & Belmont, M. J. (1993). Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year. Journal of educational psychology, 85 (4), 571.

Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S., & Ullman, J. B. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (Vol. 5). Boston: Pearson.

Voorn, R. J., & Kommers, P. A. (2013). Social media and higher education: Introversion and collaborative learning from the student’s perspective. International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 1 (1), 59–73.

Wankel, C. (2009). Management education using social media. Organization Management Journal, 6 (4), 251–262.

Williams, M. D., Rana, N. P., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2015). The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT): a literature review. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28 (3), 443–488.

Zhu, C. (2012). Student satisfaction, performance, and knowledge construction in online collaborative learning. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 15 (1), 127–136.

Download references

Acknowledgements

We want to express our special gratitude to the Almighty who has blessed us with such hidden talent to give the shape of this research paper.

The authors of this manuscript, solemnly declared that no funding agency was supported to execute this research project.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Commerce, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

Jamal Abdul Nasir Ansari & Nawab Ali Khan

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

Jamal Abdul Nasir Ansari: The first author of this manuscript has performed all sorts of necessary works like the collection of data from respondents, administration of the questionnaire. Collection of information from the respondents was quite challenging. The author faced a lot of difficulties while collecting data. The main contribution of the author in this manuscript is that the entire work, like data analysis and its interpretation performed by him. Additionally, the author has tried to explore and usefulness of social media and its applicability in transferring the course contents. Nawab Ali Khan: The second author of this manuscript has checked all types of grammatical issues, and necessary corrections wherever required. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jamal Abdul Nasir Ansari .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Ansari, J.A.N., Khan, N.A. Exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning the new domain of learning. Smart Learn. Environ. 7 , 9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7

Download citation

Received : 27 November 2019

Accepted : 18 February 2020

Published : 16 March 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Social media
• Higher education
• Faculty members

Social Media as a Professional Learning Tool

• Faculty+Staff
• Make an Appointment
• Access Epic CareLink
• Access the Network
• Get Directions
• Request Medical Records
• Find a Specialist
• Find Departments
• Search Jobs
• Donate or Volunteer
• Contact the Institute
• Refer a Patient
• Pay My Bill

Frequently Searched Terms and Topics

• Resources for Patients & Families

Faculty & Staff

Centers & programs.

• , Directions

General Information

With Mindy Johnson - Instructional Designer, Social Media & Communications Strategist at CAST October 25, 2017

Mindy is a former high school special educator whose passion for inclusive design and Universal Design for Learning are only slightly surpassed by her love of connecting with other educators around these topics using social media. She is one of the co-moderators of #UDLchat on Twitter and coordinates the social media and digital communications for CAST . Find Mindy on Twitter at @min_d_j .

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using social media for personal professional development?

Social media is part of our daily lives, even if we don’t use it daily. It’s part of our culture, for better or worse.. But what if we harnessed the good aspects of social media and used it to our advantage to make connections with educators and education leaders that we’d never have access to otherwise? That’s the power of building a personal/professional learning network (PLN) using social media. It’s using free, ubiquitous social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Snapchat, etc.) and developing a community around our practice, providing resources, questions, insights, inspiration, and support. When you’re a connected educator using social media for professional learning, you have the power of thousands, if not millions, of other educators and thought leaders behind you and at your fingertips. How exciting is that?

What are the different stages of getting involved in online communities of educators?

Participation looks very different in a digital learning environment than it does in a face-to-face learning environment. I often refer to the digital participation pyramid, otherwise known as the 90-9-1 rule for marketing, communication, and social media , to help others understand the landscape of what participation means in social media. This model states that 90% of the people using social media are lurkers or “quiet participants,” 9% are editors and critics, and 1% are content creators. That means most of us are simply watching what others are posting rather than creating the posts ourselves. There’s really nothing wrong with this type of participation in social media, especially as an entry point. But if we want to start engaging others and becoming part of an online community of educators, we have to show people that we are listening.

To listen actively in the digital world, we can like a post or +1 a post, we can retweet or share a post that resonates with us, or we can follow someone new. All of these actions let the original content creator know that we are listening, and that can be a powerful way to build new connections with our online community.

When we’re ready for a new level of participation, we can amplify others’ ideas. We can add a comment to a post, quote someone’s post, ask a question, or reply to a question. All of these actions amplify the ideas that resonate with us because we’re sharing those ideas with our own followers.

Finally, when we’re ready to make the biggest participation leap of all, we can become creators. We can write posts, make shareable images (with image descriptions , of course), create a quick video (with closed captions , of course), tag others in our posts, use hashtags to connect our ideas with different topics, or engage new people in a conversation.

The important thing to remember when we’re dipping our toes into these online communities is to come with a goal in mind. What do you want to learn? What do you want to contribute? How often do you want to participate? Without a goal, social media can feel like a firehose. But with the right tools and a focused goal, our PLN becomes a powerful social learning community.

How can teachers find online communities?

Start where you feel the most comfortable. Choose a tool you already use, search for educator groups and education hashtags, and follow some other educators, bloggers, schools, or education-focused organizations.  If you don’t use social media tools regularly, test one out that you’ve been wanting to try. Twitter can be a fun place to start, but can also be overwhelming. Pinterest can be an amazing place to collect resources and find other educators to follow. LinkedIn is more professionally-focused and might feel more comfortable if you’re just starting out. It’s about finding an online community that fits with your goals. And don’t try everything at once. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Take your time and find the best fit for you.

If someone is new to Twitter, how can they get involved in something like a Twitter chat?

Twitter is one of my favorite tools for professional learning, because there are so many educators and education-focused learning groups that inspire me and provide me with resources when I need them. The first step is to find a chat that matches your learning goals and topic interests. Jerry Blumengarten (otherwise known as @Cybraryman) has an amazing calendar of education-focused Twitter chats that can help you find what you’re looking for. Participate also has an amazing list of education-focused chats , as well as a great tool that archives each chat and generates a list of resources shared. There are also plenty of articles on getting started with Twitter chats by educators as well as great tools like Twubs and TweetChat for helping keep track of the chat in real time so you don’t get overwhelmed or distracted. And don’t forget the digital participation pyramid. It’s not creepy in social media to lurk on a Twitter chat or check out the past chat transcripts to make sure it’s something you’re looking for. And if you’re missing that face-to-face interaction, meet a friend for coffee and join the chat as you sit together. Sometimes just having that little bit of in-person support can help your participation move from lurker to listener. And don’t forget to follow your new tweeps !

What are some don’ts of using social media for personal professional development?

Without getting into the don’ts of social media in general (you probably already have a sense of those if you pay any attention to the news), one of the biggest don’ts I warn against is ignoring social media for professional learning completely. Even if you don’t care to wade fully into a digital community of practice, not knowing what’s out there means that you are excluding yourself from an important conversation. If social media isn’t your cup of tea, or if you’d rather keep social media as a recreational tool rather than a professional one, find another way to connect. A connected educator is an educator who models connected learning, something we want our students to do as well. It doesn’t have to be social media, but it does have to be social. Find your tribe, listen, and share.

Watch Mindy’s TED-style talk:  #UDLrockstars and the Culture of Sharing  from the 2017 UDL-IRN Summit in Orlando, FL.  Learn more about the UDL-IRN Summit , another great professional learning community.  

Have a topic or question you would like to see addressed in a future Linking Research to Classrooms blog?

Enter your topic /question in our  contact form ., touching lives & making a difference articles, blogs, stories and more.

March 2023: Cancer Treatment in Children

Children With Chronic Health Conditions, and Those With Special Education Needs, Should Receive More Help With Online Learning

Expert Interview with Cliff Thornton: Supporting Childhood Cancer Survivors Through Medical and School Team Communication

August 2021: The Neuroscience Of Learning

Supporting Elementary Students' Executive Function Skills Online

Executive Function and Online Learning

How to Vet Free Digital Resources for Home Learning

Creating Daily Schedules During School Closures

Home Learning and Distance Learning: Supporting Students When Schools are Closed

How do Language Skills Impact Math Learning?

January 2018: Teaching the Teachers

Podcasts for Professional Learning (and Summer Fun)

Virtual Book Studies: Professional Learning in your PJs

Brainy Reads: A Curated List of Neuroscience Books for Teachers

Giving Back the Gift of Learning

Feb 15, 2023

6 Example Essays on Social Media | Advantages, Effects, and Outlines

Got an essay assignment about the effects of social media we got you covered check out our examples and outlines below.

Social media has become one of our society's most prominent ways of communication and information sharing in a very short time. It has changed how we communicate and has given us a platform to express our views and opinions and connect with others. It keeps us informed about the world around us. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn have brought individuals from all over the world together, breaking down geographical borders and fostering a genuinely global community.

However, social media comes with its difficulties. With the rise of misinformation, cyberbullying, and privacy problems, it's critical to utilize these platforms properly and be aware of the risks. Students in the academic world are frequently assigned essays about the impact of social media on numerous elements of our lives, such as relationships, politics, and culture. These essays necessitate a thorough comprehension of the subject matter, critical thinking, and the ability to synthesize and convey information clearly and succinctly.

But where do you begin? It can be challenging to know where to start with so much information available. Jenni.ai comes in handy here. Jenni.ai is an AI application built exclusively for students to help them write essays more quickly and easily. Jenni.ai provides students with inspiration and assistance on how to approach their essays with its enormous database of sample essays on a variety of themes, including social media. Jenni.ai is the solution you've been looking for if you're experiencing writer's block or need assistance getting started.

So, whether you're a student looking to better your essay writing skills or want to remain up to date on the latest social media advancements, Jenni.ai is here to help. Jenni.ai is the ideal tool for helping you write your finest essay ever, thanks to its simple design, an extensive database of example essays, and cutting-edge AI technology. So, why delay? Sign up for a free trial of Jenni.ai today and begin exploring the worlds of social networking and essay writing!

Want to learn how to write an argumentative essay? Check out these inspiring examples!

We will provide various examples of social media essays so you may get a feel for the genre.

6 Examples of Social Media Essays

Here are 6 examples of Social Media Essays:

The Impact of Social Media on Relationships and Communication

Introduction:.

The way we share information and build relationships has evolved as a direct result of the prevalence of social media in our daily lives. The influence of social media on interpersonal connections and conversation is a hot topic. Although social media has many positive effects, such as bringing people together regardless of physical proximity and making communication quicker and more accessible, it also has a dark side that can affect interpersonal connections and dialogue.

Positive Effects:

Connecting People Across Distances

One of social media's most significant benefits is its ability to connect individuals across long distances. People can use social media platforms to interact and stay in touch with friends and family far away. People can now maintain intimate relationships with those they care about, even when physically separated.

Improved Communication Speed and Efficiency

Additionally, the proliferation of social media sites has accelerated and simplified communication. Thanks to instant messaging, users can have short, timely conversations rather than lengthy ones via email. Furthermore, social media facilitates group communication, such as with classmates or employees, by providing a unified forum for such activities.

Negative Effects:

Decreased Face-to-Face Communication

The decline in in-person interaction is one of social media's most pernicious consequences on interpersonal connections and dialogue. People's reliance on digital communication over in-person contact has increased along with the popularity of social media. Face-to-face interaction has suffered as a result, which has adverse effects on interpersonal relationships and the development of social skills.

Decreased Emotional Intimacy

Another adverse effect of social media on relationships and communication is decreased emotional intimacy. Digital communication lacks the nonverbal cues and facial expressions critical in building emotional connections with others. This can make it more difficult for people to develop close and meaningful relationships, leading to increased loneliness and isolation.

Increased Conflict and Miscommunication

Finally, social media can also lead to increased conflict and miscommunication. The anonymity and distance provided by digital communication can lead to misunderstandings and hurtful comments that might not have been made face-to-face. Additionally, social media can provide a platform for cyberbullying , which can have severe consequences for the victim's mental health and well-being.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the impact of social media on relationships and communication is a complex issue with both positive and negative effects. While social media platforms offer many benefits, such as connecting people across distances and enabling faster and more accessible communication, they also have a dark side that can negatively affect relationships and communication. It is up to individuals to use social media responsibly and to prioritize in-person communication in their relationships and interactions with others.

The Role of Social Media in the Spread of Misinformation and Fake News

Social media has revolutionized the way information is shared and disseminated. However, the ease and speed at which data can be spread on social media also make it a powerful tool for spreading misinformation and fake news. Misinformation and fake news can seriously affect public opinion, influence political decisions, and even cause harm to individuals and communities.

The Pervasiveness of Misinformation and Fake News on Social Media

Misinformation and fake news are prevalent on social media platforms, where they can spread quickly and reach a large audience. This is partly due to the way social media algorithms work, which prioritizes content likely to generate engagement, such as sensational or controversial stories. As a result, false information can spread rapidly and be widely shared before it is fact-checked or debunked.

The Influence of Social Media on Public Opinion

Social media can significantly impact public opinion, as people are likelier to believe the information they see shared by their friends and followers. This can lead to a self-reinforcing cycle, where misinformation and fake news are spread and reinforced, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

The Challenge of Correcting Misinformation and Fake News

Correcting misinformation and fake news on social media can be a challenging task. This is partly due to the speed at which false information can spread and the difficulty of reaching the same audience exposed to the wrong information in the first place. Additionally, some individuals may be resistant to accepting correction, primarily if the incorrect information supports their beliefs or biases.

In conclusion, the function of social media in disseminating misinformation and fake news is complex and urgent. While social media has revolutionized the sharing of information, it has also made it simpler for false information to propagate and be widely believed. Individuals must be accountable for the information they share and consume, and social media firms must take measures to prevent the spread of disinformation and fake news on their platforms.

The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health and Well-Being

Social media has become an integral part of modern life, with billions of people around the world using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay connected with others and access information. However, while social media has many benefits, it can also negatively affect mental health and well-being.

Comparison and Low Self-Esteem

One of the key ways that social media can affect mental health is by promoting feelings of comparison and low self-esteem. People often present a curated version of their lives on social media, highlighting their successes and hiding their struggles. This can lead others to compare themselves unfavorably, leading to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem.

Cyberbullying and Online Harassment

Another way that social media can negatively impact mental health is through cyberbullying and online harassment. Social media provides a platform for anonymous individuals to harass and abuse others, leading to feelings of anxiety, fear, and depression.

Social Isolation

Despite its name, social media can also contribute to feelings of isolation. At the same time, people may have many online friends but need more meaningful in-person connections and support. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and depression.

Addiction and Overuse

Finally, social media can be addictive, leading to overuse and negatively impacting mental health and well-being. People may spend hours each day scrolling through their feeds, neglecting other important areas of their lives, such as work, family, and self-care.

In sum, social media has positive and negative consequences on one's psychological and emotional well-being. Realizing this, and taking measures like reducing one's social media use, reaching out to loved ones for help, and prioritizing one's well-being, are crucial. In addition, it's vital that social media giants take ownership of their platforms and actively encourage excellent mental health and well-being.

The Use of Social Media in Political Activism and Social Movements

Social media has recently become increasingly crucial in political action and social movements. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have given people new ways to express themselves, organize protests, and raise awareness about social and political issues.

Raising Awareness and Mobilizing Action

One of the most important uses of social media in political activity and social movements has been to raise awareness about important issues and mobilize action. Hashtags such as #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, for example, have brought attention to sexual harassment and racial injustice, respectively. Similarly, social media has been used to organize protests and other political actions, allowing people to band together and express themselves on a bigger scale.

Connecting with like-minded individuals

A second method in that social media has been utilized in political activity and social movements is to unite like-minded individuals. Through social media, individuals can join online groups, share knowledge and resources, and work with others to accomplish shared objectives. This has been especially significant for geographically scattered individuals or those without access to traditional means of political organizing.

Challenges and Limitations

As a vehicle for political action and social movements, social media has faced many obstacles and restrictions despite its many advantages. For instance, the propagation of misinformation and fake news on social media can impede attempts to disseminate accurate and reliable information. In addition, social media corporations have been condemned for censorship and insufficient protection of user rights.

In conclusion, social media has emerged as a potent instrument for political activism and social movements, giving voice to previously unheard communities and galvanizing support for change. Social media presents many opportunities for communication and collaboration. Still, users and institutions must be conscious of the risks and limitations of these tools to promote their responsible and productive usage.

The Potential Privacy Concerns Raised by Social Media Use and Data Collection Practices

With billions of users each day on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, social media has ingrained itself into every aspect of our lives. While these platforms offer a straightforward method to communicate with others and exchange information, they also raise significant concerns over data collecting and privacy. This article will examine the possible privacy issues posed by social media use and data-gathering techniques.

Data Collection and Sharing

The gathering and sharing of personal data are significant privacy issues brought up by social media use. Social networking sites gather user data, including details about their relationships, hobbies, and routines. This information is made available to third-party businesses for various uses, such as marketing and advertising. This can lead to serious concerns about who has access to and uses our personal information.

Lack of Control Over Personal Information

The absence of user control over personal information is a significant privacy issue brought up by social media usage. Social media makes it challenging to limit who has access to and how data is utilized once it has been posted. Sensitive information may end up being extensively disseminated and may be used maliciously as a result.

Personalized Marketing

Social media companies utilize the information they gather about users to target them with adverts relevant to their interests and usage patterns. Although this could be useful, it might also cause consumers to worry about their privacy since they might feel that their personal information is being used without their permission. Furthermore, there are issues with the integrity of the data being used to target users and the possibility of prejudice based on individual traits.

Government Surveillance

Using social media might spark worries about government surveillance. There are significant concerns regarding privacy and free expression when governments in some nations utilize social media platforms to follow and monitor residents.

In conclusion, social media use raises significant concerns regarding data collecting and privacy. While these platforms make it easy to interact with people and exchange information, they also gather a lot of personal information, which raises questions about who may access it and how it will be used. Users should be aware of these privacy issues and take precautions to safeguard their personal information, such as exercising caution when choosing what details to disclose on social media and keeping their information sharing with other firms to a minimum.

The Ethical and Privacy Concerns Surrounding Social Media Use And Data Collection

Our use of social media to communicate with loved ones, acquire information, and even conduct business has become a crucial part of our everyday lives. The extensive use of social media does, however, raise some ethical and privacy issues that must be resolved. The influence of social media use and data collecting on user rights, the accountability of social media businesses, and the need for improved regulation are all topics that will be covered in this article.

Effect on Individual Privacy:

Social networking sites gather tons of personal data from their users, including delicate information like search history, location data, and even health data. Each user's detailed profile may be created with this data and sold to advertising or used for other reasons. Concerns regarding the privacy of personal information might arise because social media businesses can use this data to target users with customized adverts.

Additionally, individuals might need to know how much their personal information is being gathered and exploited. Data breaches or the unauthorized sharing of personal information with other parties may result in instances where sensitive information is exposed. Users should be aware of the privacy rules of social media firms and take precautions to secure their data.

Responsibility of Social Media Companies:

Social media firms should ensure that they responsibly and ethically gather and use user information. This entails establishing strong security measures to safeguard sensitive information and ensuring users are informed of what information is being collected and how it is used.

Many social media businesses, nevertheless, have come under fire for not upholding these obligations. For instance, the Cambridge Analytica incident highlighted how Facebook users' personal information was exploited for political objectives without their knowledge. This demonstrates the necessity of social media corporations being held responsible for their deeds and ensuring that they are safeguarding the security and privacy of their users.

Better Regulation Is Needed

There is a need for tighter regulation in this field, given the effect, social media has on individual privacy as well as the obligations of social media firms. The creation of laws and regulations that ensure social media companies are gathering and using user information ethically and responsibly, as well as making sure users are aware of their rights and have the ability to control the information that is being collected about them, are all part of this.

Additionally, legislation should ensure that social media businesses are held responsible for their behavior, for example, by levying fines for data breaches or the unauthorized use of personal data. This will provide social media businesses with a significant incentive to prioritize their users' privacy and security and ensure they are upholding their obligations.

In conclusion, social media has fundamentally changed how we engage and communicate with one another, but this increased convenience also raises several ethical and privacy issues. Essential concerns that need to be addressed include the effect of social media on individual privacy, the accountability of social media businesses, and the requirement for greater regulation to safeguard user rights. We can make everyone's online experience safer and more secure by looking more closely at these issues.

In conclusion, social media is a complex and multifaceted topic that has recently captured the world's attention. With its ever-growing influence on our lives, it's no surprise that it has become a popular subject for students to explore in their writing. Whether you are writing an argumentative essay on the impact of social media on privacy, a persuasive essay on the role of social media in politics, or a descriptive essay on the changes social media has brought to the way we communicate, there are countless angles to approach this subject.

However, writing a comprehensive and well-researched essay on social media can be daunting. It requires a thorough understanding of the topic and the ability to articulate your ideas clearly and concisely. This is where Jenni.ai comes in. Our AI-powered tool is designed to help students like you save time and energy and focus on what truly matters - your education. With Jenni.ai , you'll have access to a wealth of examples and receive personalized writing suggestions and feedback.

Whether you're a student who's just starting your writing journey or looking to perfect your craft, Jenni.ai has everything you need to succeed. Our tool provides you with the necessary resources to write with confidence and clarity, no matter your experience level. You'll be able to experiment with different styles, explore new ideas , and refine your writing skills.

So why waste your time and energy struggling to write an essay on your own when you can have Jenni.ai by your side? Sign up for our free trial today and experience the difference for yourself! With Jenni.ai, you'll have the resources you need to write confidently, clearly, and creatively. Get started today and see just how easy and efficient writing can be!

Try Jenni for free today

Create your first piece of content with Jenni today and never look back

Essay on Social Media for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on social media.

Social media is a tool that is becoming quite popular these days because of its user-friendly features. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more are giving people a chance to connect with each other across distances. In other words, the whole world is at our fingertips all thanks to social media. The youth is especially one of the most dominant users of social media. All this makes you wonder that something so powerful and with such a massive reach cannot be all good. Like how there are always two sides to a coin, the same goes for social media. Subsequently, different people have different opinions on this debatable topic. So, in this essay on Social Media, we will see the advantages and disadvantages of social media.

Advantages of Social Media

When we look at the positive aspect of social media, we find numerous advantages. The most important being a great device for education . All the information one requires is just a click away. Students can educate themselves on various topics using social media.

Moreover, live lectures are now possible because of social media. You can attend a lecture happening in America while sitting in India.

Furthermore, as more and more people are distancing themselves from newspapers, they are depending on social media for news. You are always updated on the latest happenings of the world through it. A person becomes more socially aware of the issues of the world.

In addition, it strengthens bonds with your loved ones. Distance is not a barrier anymore because of social media. For instance, you can easily communicate with your friends and relatives overseas.

Most importantly, it also provides a great platform for young budding artists to showcase their talent for free. You can get great opportunities for employment through social media too.

Another advantage definitely benefits companies who wish to promote their brands. Social media has become a hub for advertising and offers you great opportunities for connecting with the customer.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Disadvantages of Social Media

Despite having such unique advantages, social media is considered to be one of the most harmful elements of society. If the use of social media is not monitored, it can lead to grave consequences.

Thus, the sharing on social media especially by children must be monitored at all times. Next up is the addition of social media which is quite common amongst the youth.

This addiction hampers with the academic performance of a student as they waste their time on social media instead of studying. Social media also creates communal rifts. Fake news is spread with the use of it, which poisons the mind of peace-loving citizens.

In short, surely social media has both advantages and disadvantages. But, it all depends on the user at the end. The youth must particularly create a balance between their academic performances, physical activities, and social media. Excess use of anything is harmful and the same thing applies to social media. Therefore, we must strive to live a satisfying life with the right balance.

FAQs on Social Media

Q.1 Is social media beneficial? If yes, then how?

A.1 Social media is quite beneficial. Social Media offers information, news, educational material, a platform for talented youth and brands.

Q.2 What is a disadvantage of Social Media?

A.2 Social media invades your privacy. It makes you addicted and causes health problems. It also results in cyberbullying and scams as well as communal hatred.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Help | Advanced Search

Computer Science > Machine Learning

Title: cross-platform hate speech detection with weakly supervised causal disentanglement.

Abstract: Content moderation faces a challenging task as social media's ability to spread hate speech contrasts with its role in promoting global connectivity. With rapidly evolving slang and hate speech, the adaptability of conventional deep learning to the fluid landscape of online dialogue remains limited. In response, causality inspired disentanglement has shown promise by segregating platform specific peculiarities from universal hate indicators. However, its dependency on available ground truth target labels for discerning these nuances faces practical hurdles with the incessant evolution of platforms and the mutable nature of hate speech. Using confidence based reweighting and contrastive regularization, this study presents HATE WATCH, a novel framework of weakly supervised causal disentanglement that circumvents the need for explicit target labeling and effectively disentangles input features into invariant representations of hate. Empirical validation across platforms two with target labels and two without positions HATE WATCH as a novel method in cross platform hate speech detection with superior performance. HATE WATCH advances scalable content moderation techniques towards developing safer online communities.

Submission history

Access paper:.

• HTML (experimental)
• Other Formats

References & Citations

• Google Scholar
• Semantic Scholar

BibTeX formatted citation

Bibliographic and Citation Tools

Code, data and media associated with this article, recommenders and search tools.

• Institution

arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators

arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.

Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.

Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs .