The Effect of Social Networking Sites on Students

The Effect of Social Networking Sites on Students' Academic Performance in Girne American University, North Cyprus NAPOLEON, EGEDEGBE 29 Mayıs 2013  http://ydemokrat.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-effect-of-social-networking-sites.html Abstract: Social network is a platform for people share their ideals, to meet new friends and to reconnect with old friends. Social networking sites offer people new and varied ways to communicate via the internet, whether through their PC or their mobile phone. Examples include MySpace, Facebook, Skype etec. They allow people to easily and simply create their own online page or profile and to construct and display an online network of contacts, often called ‘friends’. Users of these sites can communicate via their profile both with their ‘friends’ and with people outside their list of contacts. With SNS it is easy to communicate with your classmate, discuss class assignment and even submit project to your lecturer, watch videos, make comment on your friend page etc. This study will focus on the effect of SNS on student academic performance, using GAU as a case study. What are student using SNS for, does it affect their studies, or help them to learn easily. This project will talk about the history of SNS, development and the users of SNS especially by student and lecturers in communicating with colleague and student as well. A 15 question personally administered questionnaire was designed and sent to about 50 students from different country and department in GAU. Keywords: Social Networking, E-learning, Communication, Academic Performance, Social Media. CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Introduction Since the introduction of social network sites years ago, to communicate with friends and family has been easy once you have access to internet. The internet has given us the ability to connect with people from around the globe with a few clicks of a button.  And you can easily send information to a friend or get information. Social network sites (SNSs) such as MySpace, Facebook, Youtube, Skype etc, have attracted millions of users, many of whom have integrated these sites into their daily practices. People consume a lot of time on this sites uploading or downloading, getting information concerning their career or academic work. People are always online every second, chatting with friends, watching online movies, doing research. Social site has become an habit for some people, they find it difficult to study for one hour without login to one network site. Some people have become very smart because of the information they get from this sites, why some have become very poor academically, because it easy to get almost any materials for school assignment. 1.2. The Early Years of SNS Social networking began in 1978 with the Bulletin Board System (or BBS.) The BBS was hosted on personal computers, requiring that users dial in through the modem of the host computer, exchanging information over phone lines with other users. This was the first system that allowed users to sign in and interact with each other, although it was quite slow since only one user could be logged in at a time. Later in the year, the very first copies of web browsers were distributed using the bulletin board Usenet. Usenet was created by Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott, and it allowed users to post news articles or posts, which were referred to as “news”. The difference between Usenet and other BBS and forums was that it didn’t have a dedicated administrator or central server. There are modern forums that use the same idea as Usenet today, including Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups. The first version of instant messaging came about in 1988 with Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC was Unix-based, limiting access to most people. It was used for link and file sharing, and generally keeping in touch with one another.1 The first meaningful social network site is SixDegrees.com, it was launched in 1997. It was the SNS that allowed users to create profiles, list their Friends and, beginning in 1998, surf the Friends lists. Each of these features existed in some form before SixDegrees, of course. Profiles existed on most major dating sites and many community sites. AIM and ICQ buddy lists supported lists of Friends, although those Friends were not visible to others. Classmates.com allowed people to affiliate with their high school or college and surf the network for others who were also affiliated, but users could not create profiles or list Friends until years later. SixDegrees was the first to combine these features. SixDegrees promoted itself as a tool to help people connect with and send messages to others. While SixDegrees attracted millions of users, it failed to become a sustainable business and, in 2000, the service closed. Looking back, its founder believes that SixDegrees was simply ahead of its time (A. Weinreich, personal communication, July 11, 2007). While people were already flocking to the Internet, most did not have extended networks of friends who were online. Early adopters complained that there was little to do after accepting Friend requests, and most users were not interested in meeting strangers. From 1997 to 2001, a number of community tools began supporting various combinations of profiles and publicly articulated Friends. AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, and MiGente allowed users to create personal, professional, and dating profiles—users could identify Friends on their personal profiles without seeking approval for those connections (O. Wasow, personal communication, August 16, 2007). Likewise, shortly after its launch in 1999, LiveJournal listed one‐directional connections on user pages. LiveJournal's creator suspects that he fashioned these Friends after instant messaging buddy lists (B. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, June 15, 2007)—on LiveJournal, people mark others as Friends to follow their journals and manage privacy settings. The Korean virtual worlds site Cyworld was started in 1999 and added SNS features in 2001, independent of these other sites (see Kim & Yun, this issue). Likewise, when the Swedish web community LunarStorm refashioned itself as an SNS in 2000, it contained Friends lists, guestbooks, and diary pages (D. Skog, 2007). The next wave of SNSs began when Ryze.com was launched in 2001 to help people leverage their business networks. Ryze's founder reports that he first introduced the site to his friends primarily members of the San Francisco business and technology community, including the entrepreneurs and investors behind many future SNSs (A. Scott, personal communication, June 14, 2007). In particular, the people behind Ryze, Tribe.net, LinkedIn, and Friendster were tightly entwined personally and professionally. They believed that they could support each other without competing (Festa, 2003). In the end, Ryze never acquired mass popularity, Tribe.net grew to attract a passionate niche user base, LinkedIn became a powerful business service, and Friendster became the most significant, if only as "one of the biggest disappointments in Internet history".   1.3. What is a social networking site? “Social” as the word sounds is deals with the way will communicate in our society, in which you meet and spend time with other people. Network is the connection of parts together to allow movement or communication with other parts. Social networking is the connection of friends or family together which allow you to communicate easily. With social networking sites you can have a long chain of friends you can chat or share information or ideal with. According to Boyd & Ellison (2008), “SNS can be defined as web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”.  At the most basic level social networking sites allow users to set up online profiles or personal homepages, and develop an online social network. The profile page functions as the user’s own webpage and includes profile information ranging from their date of birth, gender, religion, politics and hometown, to their favourite films, books quotes and what they like doing in their spare time. In addition to profile information, users can design the appearance of their page, and add content such as photos, video clips and music files. . CHAPTER TWO 2.1. Literature Review When talking of about communication, scholars have always made emphasis, that “communication is the essence of science” (Garvey, 1979), and that “without communication there would no science (Lacy & Bush, 1983, p.193). this means that communication is one of the basic tools to human science. The increased use of Social Networking Websites has become a global phenomenon in the past few years. What started out as a hobby for some computer literate people has become a social norm and way of life for people around the globe (Boyd, 2007). Teenagers and youth especially student have embraced these sites as a way to connect with their friend and make new once, share information, photos of their activities such as birthday, photo with friend in class etc, and showcase their social lives. With the increase of technology used for communicating with the spread of the Internet, “Social Networking” has become an activity that is done primarily on the Internet, with sites like MySpace, Face book, Skype, etc (Coyle et al., 2008). Many people especially student spend a lot of time on this site creating profile, updating or doing research concerning their career or academic work, while some just use it to chat with friends, post latest pictures of event they attended, e.g., Young et al., 2009,  have examined their profiles to determine why and to what extent they are keen on posting their entire identity, sharing pictures and videos, and indicating their religious affiliations, marital status, and political orientations on the internet. These users interact with others, exchange information about their interests, raise discussions about new topics, follows news about specific topics on different Social Networking Sites. With the advent of social network it has become easy to get information on nearly every issue around the globe. Before now it is not easy getting information, you need to buy newspaper, stay close to your TV set or radio to get information. Internet has change everything and social network has made it more flexible (lewis. 2008). According to the questionnaire used for this project, everybody who answered the questionnaire has access to the internet, and they are connected to one social network. 2.2. Social Network and the users The issue of whether social networking helps or hurts a student’s academic performance is often depend on the larger issues identified with the overall use of SNS (e.g., its psychological effects;  individual self-discipline and self-regulation concerns; human adaptability concerns). The benefit of using SNS includes: It create room for creativity among individuals, encouraging greater social interaction via electronic mediums; it provides greater access to information and information sources; it give individuals a sense of belonging among users of the same SNS; reduces barriers to group interaction and communications such as distance and social/economic status; and increasing the technological competency levels of frequent users of social media (Zwart, Lindsay, Henderson, & Phillips, 2011). Internet usage has grown rapidly over the last few years. Users are able to build a network of connections that they can display as a list of friends. These friends may be people they have never met before in their life or people they only know or have met in real life. Most people have more friends on social network than they do in real life.  It is important to note that the term ‘friend’, as used on a social networking site, is different from the way we approach it in the real life. In this project we will use the term as it is used on a social networking site. The use of SNS is very common today. Facebook alone has over 750 million members, Twitter having over 177 million tweet per day, and about 3 billion people view Youtube each passing day. (Chen, & Bryer, 2012). The use of social networking sites has been repeatedly found to be the highest among those between the ages of 18-29 (Rainie, 2011); while the fastest growing segment utilizing SNSs since 2008 has been among those age 35 and older (Hampton, Sessions-Goulet, Rainie, & Purcell, 2011, p. 8). Approximately 61% of teens age 12-17 utilize SNSs to send messages to their friends on a regular basis (Lenhart, 2009). Overall, it has been found that women use SNS more than men to communicate and exchange information (Hampton, Sessions-Goulet, Rainie, & Purcell, 2011). The research carried out for this project female responded more than male. So what this study will look at is the effect or impact of social network on student, does it affect their studies negatively or it help in increasing their performance academically. 2.3 Effect of Social Network on Academic performance Sound Quality education produces productive students who lead to the prosperity of their respective educational institution and subsequently are proved as strong contributors to the national well-being. Tuckman (1975) defined performance as the apparent demonstration of understanding, concepts, skills, ideas and knowledge of a person and proposed that grades clearly depict the performance of a student. Hence, their academic performance must be managed efficiently keeping in view all the factors that can positively or negatively affect their educational performance. Use of technology such as internet is one of the most important factors that can influence educational performance of students positively or adversely. Shah et al. (2001) proposed that student users are affected by the internet and this impact is determined by the type of internet usage. They are positively affected by the informative use of internet while having drastic impact of recreational use of internet on them. Also, Oskouei (2010) proposed that internet is advantageous to both students and teachers if used as a tool of knowledge creation and dissemination. The effect of SNS usage will depend on the type of SNS the student is using, if   student uses the internet for the purpose of leisure activity that interferes with academic, it will affect the student academic performance negatively. The University of New Hampshire agrees, and believes that current college students grew up in the technology era and social networking is now just a part of a student's daily routine. Their research show that '63% of heavy users received high grades, compared to 65% of light users' (U of NH, 2009). The University of New Hampshire said that a majority of students use social networking for social connections and entertainment, but are also using it for education and professional reasons. Kirschnera revealed that students who multi-task between social networking sites and homework are likely to have 20% lower grades than a student who does not have a social networking site in visual range. Kirschnera believes that even running a social networking site on the background on a student's PC while studying or doing homework could lower a student's grade. He believes that "the problem is that most people have Facebook or other social networking sites, their e-mails and maybe instant messaging constantly running in the background while they are carrying out their tasks" (Enriquez, 2010). American Educational Research Association conducted a research and it was declared on its annual conference in San Diego, California (2009) that SNSs users study less and generated lower grades eventually (21stcenturyscholar.org). Similarly, Banquil et al. (2009) found a continuing drop of grades among student users of social networking sites. However, many researchers also found a positive association between use of internet and SNS and academic performance of the student users. Students, using internet frequently, scored higher on reading skills test and had higher grades as well (Linda et al., 2006). Negative Effects of Social Networking Sites for Students Published on November 2, 2012 http://performancing.com/negative-effects-of-social-networking-sites-for-students/ The popularity of the social networking sites increased rapidly in the last decade. This is probably due to the reason that college and university students as well as teens used it extensively to get global access. These social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become a raging craze for everyone nowadays. The negative effects of these social networking sites overweigh the positive ones. These sites have caused some potential harm to society. The students become victims of social networks more often than anyone else. This is because of the reason that when they are studying or searching their course material online, they get attracted to these sites to kill the boredom in their study time, diverting their attention from their work. Other negative side effects of social networking websites include the following: Reduced learning and research capabilities Students have started relying more on the information accessible easily on these social networking sites and the web. This reduces their learning and research capabilities. Multitasking Students who get involved in activities on social media sites while studying result in reduction in their focus of attention. This causes reduction in their academic performance, and concentration to study well. Reduction in real human contact The more time the students spend on these social media sites, the less time they will spend socializing in person with others. This reduces their communication skills. They will not be able to communicate and socialize effectively in person with others. The employers are getting more and more unsatisfied with the communication skills of the fresh graduates due to this reason. The effective communication skills are key to success in the real world. Reduces command over language use age and creative writing skills Students mostly use slang words or shortened forms of words on social networking sites. They start relying on the computer grammar and spelling check features. This reduces their command over the language and their creative writing skills. Time wastage Students, while searching and studying online, get attracted to using social media sites and sometimes they forget why they are using internet. This wastes their time and sometimes students are not able to deliver their work in the specified time frame. Low grades Students get low grades in school due to lack of the desired information and writing skills. Loss of motivation in students The student’s motivational level reduces due to the use of these social networking sites. They rely on the virtual environment instead of gaining practical knowledge from the real world. Effect on health The excessive use of these sites affect the mental as well as physical health. Students do not take their meals on time and take proper rest. They take excessive amount of coffee or tea to remain active and focused which effects negatively on their health. The overuse of these sites on a daily basis has many negative effects on the physical and mental health of students making them lethargic and unmotivated to create contact with the people in person. The parents should check and balance on their children when they use the internet. They should be on guard whether they are using it for appropriate time period or not. The peers and teachers should also help students make them aware of the negative effects and explain what they are losing in the real world by sticking to these social networking sites.   The Journal of Technology in Student Affairs Summer 2013 Edition   [home] http://www.studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Summer_2013/EffectsOfStudentEngagementWithSocialMedia.html Effects of Student Engagement with Social Media on Student Learning: A Review of Literature  Kristen Tarantino Doctoral Student The College of William and Mary [email protected]  Jessica McDonough Doctoral Student The College of William and Mary [email protected]  Ma Hua Doctoral Student The College of William and Mary [email protected]  Abstract Social media, Internet-based tools that promote collaboration and information sharing (Junco, Helbergert, & Loken, 2011), can be used in academic settings to promote student engagement and facilitate better student learning (Kabilan, Ahmad, & Abidin, 2010). Because student engagement represents the time and effort that students invest in collaborative and educational activities (Kuh, 2001), it is often linked with the achievement of positive student learning outcomes, such as critical thinking and individual student development (Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006; Kuh, 1993). This review discusses the connections between student engagement and student learning, followed by the prevalence of social media use and how it can impact peer interactions, collaboration, and knowledge creation. Finally, recommendations for educators on how to incorporate social media in course content are presented.  * * * * * * * * * * The rapid development of information and communication technologies has sparked the creative incorporation of social media into current pedagogical applications and processes. Social media includes a variety of web-based tools and services that are designed to promote community development through collaboration and information sharing (Arnold & Paulus, 2010; Junco, Helbergert, & Loken, 2011). These tools provide opportunities for individual expression as well as interactions with other users (Arnold & Paulus, 2010). Social media can include blogs, wikis, media (audio, photo, video, text), sharing tools, networking platforms (including Facebook), and virtual worlds. Current research has indicated that using social media as an educational tool can lead to increased student engagement (Annetta, Minogue, Holmes, & Cheng, 2009; Chen, Lambert, & Guidry, 2010; Junco, 2012a; Junco et al., 2011; Patera, Draper, & Naef, 2008). By encouraging engagement with social media, students develop connections with peers, establish a virtual community of learners and ultimately increase their overall learning (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Heafner & Friedman, 2008; Jackson, 2011; Kuh, 1993; Liu, Liu, Chen, Lin & Chen, 2011; Nelson Laird & Kuh, 2005; Yu, Tian, Vogel, & Kwok, 2010). This literature review will explore the dimensions of student engagement through social media as a means of fostering increased student learning and implications for educators on how to incorporate social media with academic course content. Student engagement represents both the time and energy students invest in interactions with others through educationally purposeful activities (Kuh, 2001). Nelson Laird and Kuh (2005) reported that students who use information technology for academics also have a higher likelihood of contributing and participating in active, academic collaboration with other students. This collaboration indicates that as engagement with technology increases, engagement with academics also increases, promoting a deeper connection between the students, educators, and course content (Mehdinezhad, 2011). By participating in a community of learners, students become more engaged with the course content which increases the achievement of popular learning outcomes, such as critical thinking and individual student development (Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006; Kuh, 1993, 2009; Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinsie, & Gonyea, 2008; Pike, Kuh, & McCormick, 2011). Therefore, student engagement through social media can increase connections to create a virtual community that leads to better content learning.  Significance of Review Social media use has increased in recent years across all age levels. The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that although 73% of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 use social media, the rates of social media use are even higher (83%) for young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010; Madden & Zickuhr, 2011). Due to age restrictions and limited access to social media, pre-adolescent students do not appear to have the same level of social media use as older students (Lenhart et al., 2010). In addition to the number of teens and young adults using social media, two-thirds of adult Internet users are also using social media (Madden & Zickhur, 2011). Social media has also been implemented in academic settings to motivate students to participate, share, and learn with other collaborators (Kabilan, Ahmad, & Abidin, 2010). Nelson Laird and Kuh (2005) found that students use information technology regularly in both their academic and personal lives. However, students use social media more than other course related technologies because they are already familiar with the features and settings (Appel, 2012; Hurt et al., 2012; Liu, 2010).  Social and Collaborative Learning Nowadays, most researchers agree that knowledge not only exists in individual minds but also in the discourse and interactions between individuals. Such interactions support active participation, which is an essential element in student learning (Hrastinski, 2009). Learners need to develop skills to share knowledge and to learn with others, both in face-to-face situations and through technology including social media. Kabilan et al. (2010) found that students build learning communities by working collaboratively to construct knowledge. Social media serves as a tool to facilitate the development of these learning communities by encouraging collaboration and communication. Moreover, these interactions reinforce the achievement of desirable learning outcomes (Yu et al., 2010).  As a result, social media supports collaborative learning, which in turn helps to strengthen the creative learning process (Shoshani & Rose Braun, 2007). Collaborative learning is characterized by student interactions and connections with course content. Social media provides an opportunity for students to expand their learning environment since only a portion of student learning occurs within the confines of a classroom (Chen & Bryer, 2012; Friesen & Lowe, 2012; Wodzicki, Schwämmlein, & Moskaliuk, 2012). Fewkes and McCabe (2012) further argued that it is the responsibility of educators to find ways to incorporate current social media into their classrooms. Educators can use social media to develop creativity in their students by encouraging them to explore the content material in new ways (Frye, Trathen, & Koppenhaver, 2010; Lamb & Johnson, 2010). For example, social media provides students with options for creating authentic, creative products through tools such as blogs, YouTube, and podcasts (Frye et al., 2010; Lamb & Johnson, 2010). Students can also use social media to research content material in order to develop new knowledge (Frye et al., 2010; Lamb & Johnson, 2010). By allowing the needs of creative learners to be met through a cooperative learning environment, students are better able to balance their individualism with the need for contact with others, allowing new ideas to flourish (Garrett, 2011; Shoshani & Rose Braun, 2007).  Technology, when used independently, does not necessarily contribute to learning. Aguilar-Roca, Williams, and O’Dowd (2012) found that students who take notes by hand achieve higher test scores when compared to students who use laptops to take notes. Additionally, prior computer knowledge plays a factor in a student’s perceived learning through online methods of instruction (Appel, 2012; Top, 2012). However, the Internet can provide a rich environment for hosting the educational and learning activities for students. Chen et al. (2010) found that students who primarily take online courses also spend more time using online tools and social media as supplementary learning tools when compared to students who primarily take face-to-face courses. By supplementing student course work with outside materials as well as creating and sharing knowledge among peers, social media creates an environment where increased critical thinking and collaboration are possible (Carini et al., 2006; Kuh, 1993; Mazman & Usluel, 2010; Shoshani & Rose Braun, 2007). Thus, the active engagement and establishment of virtual relationships through social media offers opportunities for increased learning by encouraging students to build on established connections with other sources beyond the classroom (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Yu et al., 2010).  Using Social Media to Connect to a Virtual Community of Learners Students who participate in social media as part of a class feel more connected to their peers that those students who do not participate in social media (Annetta et al., 2009; Jackson, 2011; Tomai, Rosa, Mebane, D’Acunti, Benedetti, & Francescato, 2010). Social media allows students to not only group themselves with peers who are similar, but also to enhance and link existing peer groups (Jackson, 2011; Mazman & Usluel, 2010; Wodzicki et al., 2012). In addition to enhancing established peer groups, social media can bridge the diversity that exists in classrooms by establishing a neutral zone in which students can interact with one another (Junco et al., 2011; Krause & Coates, 2008; Kuh, 1993, 2009; Mehdinezhad, 2011; Pike et al., 2011). Tomai et al. (2010) found that students who used social media felt more emotionally connected to their peers because they felt as though they had people to talk to if they had a problem or if they needed help. Further, these peer connections encouraged participation by students who initially felt intimidated by in-class discussions (Arnold & Paulus, 2010; Junco et al., 2011; Rambe, 2008).  The connections that students make with classmates through social media can impact the learning environment that is created. Participation in social media creates a more collaborative and communicative learning environment for students by providing opportunities for discussions and interactions with their peers (Heafner & Friedman, 2008; Jackson, 2011; Liu et al., 2011). By collaborating with peers on a given topic, social media offers opportunities to develop a stronger sense of community among students (Arnold & Paulus, 2010; Dawson, 2008; Heiberger & Harper, 2008; Hurt et al., 2012; Jones et al., 2009; Top, 2012). Although Dawson (2008) found that the degree to which a student feels a sense of community might be influenced by the presence and experiences of pre-existing social networks, students who interact with higher numbers of learners also exhibit a higher sense of community. The use of social media also contributes to a sense of community among students by allowing personalization of profiles, including the addition of pictures and other identifying information (Arnold & Paulus, 2010; Stevens, 2009). This personalization, coupled with the critical examination of course topics, supports an authentic relationship between students by encouraging openness and sharing of information, which also increases students’ perceived learning (Hurt et al., 2012; Top, 2012).  Social Media and Integrating Course Content Although collaborating with classmates through social media builds a system of relationships between students, it also provides instant pathways for disseminating and enhancing course-related knowledge outside the confines of the traditional classroom (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Hurt et al., 2012; Junco et al., 2011; Top, 2012). In using social media for academic purposes, namely group discussions, multiple students can discuss a class in general and interact with the same content at the same time (Patera et al., 2008; Rambe, 2008). The ability to communicate with each other in one location allows students to build on conversations, whether related to course content or not. This increases the likelihood of having greater learning because students are adding to the dialogue beyond that of the prescribed topic, including discussions that were originally posted by a moderator or professor (Hurt et al., 2012). Furthermore, sharing and co-creating information through social media merely requires a student to understand its appropriateness for a given topic (Lin, Hou, Wang, & Chang, 2013). By providing students with a common experience within a virtual community, they are able to dig deeper for content and make connections across multiple sources (Annetta et al., 2009; Frye et al., 2010). This ability produces a network of opportunities to increase student learning beyond the traditional classroom setting.  Social Media and Student Learning Achievements The use of social media in academic coursework can increase the learning achieved by an individual student. Students who participate in coursework that utilize social media demonstrate an increase in overall GPA when compared with students who do not participate in social media (Junco, 2012b; Junco et al., 2011). Social media usage within the academic setting not only increases students’ GPA, but also facilitates peer feedback on assignments and thoughtful student reflections on course content because of the ability for students to openly communicate with each other and develop strong relationships among peers (Arnold & Paulus, 2010; Ebner, Leinhardt, Rohs, & Meyer, 2010; Kuh, 1993). Furthermore, using social media fosters long-term retention of information and develops a deeper understanding of content that is discussed in a class (Chen & Bryer, 2012; Heafner & Friedman, 2008). This research indicates that students who use social media are better able to connect course content with out-of-class peer interactions, ultimately supporting their learning within the classroom.  Challenges for Social Media Use Though social media can increase student learning through student interactions, challenges arise when social media are incorporated into an academic course. The assumption that students are familiar with and agreeable to using certain types of social media can cause educators to inadvertently fail to provide the resources or encouragement necessary to support student usage and learning (Cole, 2009; Väljataga & Fiedler, 2009). Arnold and Paulus (2010) found that even when social media is used for an educational purpose, students incorporate the technology into their lives in a way that may differ from the intentions of the course instructor. For example, off-topic or non-academic discussions occur on social media because of its primary design as a social networking tool (Lin et al., 2013). Further, as a student’s age increases, the frequency of off-topic discussions also increases (Lin et al., 2013). This indicates that while social media may encourage broader discussions of course content, older students may spend more time than younger students engaging in unrelated discussions. Social media can also negatively impact student GPA as well as the amount of time students spend preparing for class (Annetta et al., 2009; Junco, 2012b). One explanation for this impact is that social media provides too much stimulation and therefore can distract students from completing their coursework (Hurt et al., 2012; Patera et al., 2008). Another reason for this may be that students who spend more time on social media may have difficulty balancing their online activities and their academic preparation.  Social media can also be a challenging instructional strategy to incorporate because it attempts to balance the authority of the educator with the active participation of the students. Collaboration through social media supports more of a constructivist approach to learning, where students and educators can work together to co-create understanding of a particular topic, rather than an approach that emphasizes individual contributions (Stevens, 2009). As a result, students and educators become equal participants in the knowledge sharing process. Though this seems beneficial for creating and disseminating knowledge, social media can also become a privacy concern (i.e. cyber-plagiarism) as well as an outlet for abuse and cyber-bullying (Chen & Bryer, 2012; Frye et al., 2010; Jackson, 2011; Smailes & Gannon-Leary, 2011). This suggests that establishing standards for social media use should include behavior and attitude guidelines similar to those enforced in the classroom.  Providing Instructional Support for Social Media Use When using social media, educators must be able to play an active role in the collaborative process. Educators must not only promote creativity and assess student activities but also inform and clarify misunderstandings that occur involving the content area and subsequent knowledge creation in order to maintain the integrity of the learning environment (Frye et al., 2010; Garrett, 2011; Liu, 2010). In order to support these roles, educators must be provided with professional development that demonstrates how to incorporate social media into their classrooms in order for it to be used to effectively promote student learning (An & Reigeluth, 2012; Stevens, 2009). Even though educators are supportive of using social media and may receive professional development, educators report that they do not know how to effectively incorporate it into their classroom (An & Reigeluth, 2012; Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Heafner & Friedman, 2008). These educators are unfamiliar with the time constraints involved in creating lessons that utilize social media while at the same time creating lessons that do not use social media (Hur & Oh, 2012). However, educators are more likely to incorporate social media activities into their classroom that they have created because they are able to creatively control the content that is included; for example, content that may be assessed on state mandated tests (Annetta et al., 2009; Hur & Oh, 2012).  While some educators have found ways to include social media into their lessons, other educators are not utilizing social media for instructional purposes (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012). The use of social media must be purposeful and as a result should be applied in situations that are the most appropriate for learning and student understanding to occur (Liu, 2010, Väljataga & Fiedler, 2009). For example, social media is best used as an introductory tool for review and collaboration, not merely as a method of advertising class reminders (Annetta et al., 2009; Fewkes & McCabe, 2012). Therefore, educators who are considering incorporating social media into their academic courses should ensure that the specific type of social media used matches the learning outcomes for the students.  Conclusions Using social media for educational purposes can be beneficial for student learning in multiple ways. First, social media enhances peer interactions, which can bridge diversity in the classroom and establish open lines of communication between students and educators (Annetta et al., 2009; Heafner & Friedman, 2008; Hrastinski, 2009; Jackson, 2011; Liu et al., 2011; Tomai et al., 2010). Social media also facilitates discussion and knowledge transfer between students, creating a deeper sense of understanding of the course material (Carini et al., 2006; Chen & Bryer, 2012; Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Garrett, 2011; Heafner & Friedman, 2008; Kuh, 1993; Mazman & Usluel, 2010; Shoshani & Rose Braun, 2007; Yu et al., 2010). Thus, students who use social media are able to move beyond the memorization of material and create products that represent their own voices (Frye et al., 2010; Lamb & Johnson, 2010). Finally, social media can aid in the achievement of both general and content specific student learning outcomes (Carini et al., 2006; Junco, 2012b; Junco et al., 2011). Therefore, overall student learning can increase when educators incorporate social media into academic course content.  Implications Educators who want to use social media in their academic courses to promote student learning should be prepared to support students and be active participants in the collaborative learning community. Assuming that students already know how to use social media may disadvantage those students who may need closer supervision and guidance (Cole, 2009; Jackson, 2011; Väljataga & Fiedler, 2009). Furthermore, educators need to recognize the potential for distractions and overstimulation that is associated with certain types of social media (Chen & Bryer, 2012; Hurt et al., 2012; Patera et al., 2008). Other complications that should be planned for include student access to technology, privacy issues, cyber-plagiarism, and cyber-bullying (An & Reigeluth, 2011; Chen & Bryer, 2012; Frye et al., 2010; Jackson, 2011; Smailes & Gannon-Leary, 2011).  Educational institutions must also consider the financial and policy commitments involved with adopting social media. First, administrators may need to consider realigning assessment and evaluation strategies to effectively gauge student learning in classrooms that use social media (Annetta et al., 2009; Heafner & Friedman, 2008; Hur & Oh, 2012). Strategies that do not adequately reflect student learning should be discarded or revised. Administrators should also consider the policy implications associated with academic integrity as well as out-of-class interactions between students and educators (Chen & Bryer, 2012; Frye et al., 2010; Jackson, 2011; Smailes & Gannon-Leary, 2011). Finally, the financial responsibilities of incorporating social media must be addressed. Not only do institutions need to ensure that the appropriate equipment and Internet access are available, they also need to ensure that educators have been adequately trained or have opportunities for training before implementing social media as a curriculum strategy (An & Reigeluth, 2012; Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Heafner & Friedman, 2008; Hur & Oh, 2012; Patera et al., 2008; Stevens, 2009).  While there is evidence that social media enhances student learning (Carini et al., 2006; Heafner & Friedman, 2008; Junco, 2012b; Junco et al., 2011), future research needs to build on this finding, specifically addressing assessments of social media use in particular classrooms (i.e. science, math, and language arts). Currently, there is little research to show whether social media use varies based on course content type. Researchers should also investigate best practices for educators in how to effectively incorporate social media into the classroom. This research could provide insights on how students assume the role as co-creators of knowledge as well as how social media increases creativity. Finally, researchers should also consider the role that gender plays in social media use. Since females are more likely to use social media (Madden & Zickuhr, 2011), gender may affect the degree to which students are engaged in course collaborations, thus affecting their overall student learning. Since students vary in their level of engagement, it is imperative that further assessments of social media supported student learning consider multiple explanations for increased student learning.