Social Media Usage in Education Related Web Search - An Analysis of the Information Behavior of Students of Education Related Study Paths in Germany.

This paper discusses social media usage and quality evaluation for education related information seeking. To address this, we conducted a focus group study and an online survey with students enrolled in education related study paths. Altogether, results show that social media and classic or standard information resources do not compete but rather complement each other. Social media are primarily consulted in early phases of the information seeking process and for communication and knowledge management purposes.