Even
though most higher education institutions have learning management systems that
are intended to provide each class with a platform for communication and
content sharing, some students and faculty members are tapping into social
media for those purposes.
In the
January 2018 Student Panel Survey fielded by NACS OnCampus Research, 69% of the
student respondents said they had personally used social media for some type of
academic purpose (such as sharing notes or asking questions) and 38% indicated
at least one of their professors had incorporated social media into a course
(creating a community or posting content, for example).
When
asked which social media sites they had accessed for academic reasons, 53% of
students named Facebook, followed by YouTube (30%), Snapchat (23%), LinkedIn
and Instagram (12% each), Twitter (11%), Pinterest (6%), and “other” (5%),
which were mainly document-sharing and messenging platforms.
Facebook
probably received the most use because more students have accounts there (89%)
compared to YouTube (75%), Instagram (74%), or Snapchat (72%), but it’s not the
most popular site with college students. Asked to pick their favorite social
media (up to three), more students chose Instagram (51%) and Snapchat (50%)
over Facebook (42%), despite fewer students having an account with Instagram or
Snapchat.
Facebook
could lose more ground with collegians. OnCampus Research data show student
accounts with Facebook have remained relatively static since 2015, while other
sites have enjoyed substantial growth. For example, just 49% of students had
Snapchat accounts in 2015.
