Benefits of Using Social Media in Education

Today the Internet is an integral part of people’s lives. Today, 3.2 billion people are users of this global information network, which is 44% of the total population of the globe. At the same time, Internet penetration reached the highest level in Europe – 75%, in North and South America – 66%.

One of the most popular services that can hold the attention of a large part of the Internet audience is social media. According to the SEO dictionary, it is a community of Internet users, united by a certain feature based on a certain website or application. The emergence of virtual interaction within the social network is, in fact, historical response to the emergence of communication redundancy.

According to the research resource Ebizmba, the most popular among users are Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, and some other platforms. The great popularity of social networks provides a basis for their use for entertainment, information, communication, and the educational purposes of students.

The research aimed at identifying how many college students use social networks’ possibilities shows that over 70 % of students are registered on any online platform today. So, social media has a great future!

Benefits That Social Media Provide to Students

Most researchers emphasize the beneficial aspects of using social networks in the educational process. According to one of the coursework writing service, among the main arguments in favor of the application of social networks, scientists identify the following:

Colleges use social media to attract students since such platforms promote the development of online learning and education in general, offering new technical and methodological tools. Students from various countries of the world can sign up for online lessons free and take the course at their own pace. Moreover, students can contact the teacher at any moment and participate in discussions;
Social learning theory suggests that people learn most effectively when they interact with other students within a particular topic or subject. Students who study in groups at least once a week are better prepared than students who study independently;
Students are more involved in social media than in any other web resource. The interface, means of communication, organization, and forms of content presentation are understandable to them;
Social networks allow to quickly share important information with students and make reminders;
Young people acquire skills in applying modern information technology, particularly mastering the basic means and techniques of electronic communication, search, analysis, data filtering, structuring information flows, and monitoring content updates, etc., which is very important for today’s information society. By acquiring these skills, students learn how to be social in college;
A class missed by a student does not mean a gap in knowledge for him because he can observe the learning process and participate in it online;
The variety of forms of communication makes it possible to use different methods of joint work of the teacher with students. Forums, polls, voting, comments, discussions, subscriptions, sending personal messages, etc. provide the opportunity for both group and personal or selective interaction;
Social networks provide an opportunity for constant interactive interaction of teachers with students;
Teachers become more accessible to students in the communication aspect;
Extensive demonstration opportunities of social media for students make it possible to overcome the difficulties of equipping classrooms with the equipment and visual aids necessary for training. The teacher quickly and easily shares the necessary content with the students;
Parents are also actively involved in the educational process and receive up-to-date information about their children on time;
Shy students feel free and comfortable in social media and become more active participants in the educational process;
The communicative space provides an opportunity for collective assessment of processes and results of work, observation of each participant’s development, and assessment of his contribution to collective creativity.

How is the Effectiveness of Social Media in Education Achieved?

The effectiveness of the application of the possibilities of social media in the learning process is achieved through:

Informal communication of students with the teacher, which provides a personally competent approach to learning and ensures timely assignment help;
Application of various forms of activity, in particular, the discussion provoked by the teacher, connected with the educational material or with the future professional activity;
Involvement in group work on the educational project;
Providing individual and group training consultations, in particular, during practice;
Support of students’ work in the course of completion scientific, research, and diploma works, etc. It is usually carried out by a teacher or a coursework writing service that guarantees high-quality execution of papers to order.

What Social Media are Used by Students in 2021?

Today there are a great number of social networks regularly visited by students. However, only those whose growth greatly contributes to the development of modern students will be listed below.

Facebook

The value for learning and development is increasingly seen in the American social network Facebook, which allows teachers to create training courses for students. According to a survey conducted by English e-learning expert Jane Hart in 2007, the social network Facebook entered the top twenty rankings of the most popular tools for learning and development.

Edutopia

Another social network where the circulation of necessary information and data takes place is Edutopia. Its basic aim is to help educational institutions create and implement effective social networks in the educational process. According to George Lucas (founder of the network), in the development of Edutopia, the main motivation is “… the isolation of traditional education from real life and the abstractness of curricula; and the urgent need for teachers and students to seek resources and seek advice from experts outside the classroom”. Edutopia aims to bring together teachers who use innovative teaching aids in their practice and are willing to share their experiences with others.

Twitter

Twitter is another type of social media that contains a microblogging tool based on Web 2.0 technology. It’s been a long time since people used this platform to socialize and keep looking for ways to buy real Twitter followers. The platform has evolved a lot with more potential solutions. From 2007-2008, US faculties began conducting experiments related to the possibility of using Twitter microblogging in classrooms as a tool for interactive learning of foreign languages, project management, and information systems.

For simple communication on Twitter to be aimed at learning, the teacher must take a continuously active part, in particular:

before the message-question issue, the teacher must formulate a task for the student;
a teacher should form a set of messages-responses, the teacher can participate;
should involve classmates in the discussion of the issue and help to find groups of relevant users, such as practitioners;
at the stage of analysis of the received answers and elimination of contradictions, the teacher should direct the student on acceptance of the correct decision.

Such social media as MySpace and Digg, which allow the creation of interest groups, in particular for scientific or educational purposes, are not left out of consideration. Such groups are the virtual communication between teacher and student, where the latter can ask questions and get answers online. The teacher can also give individual assignments and, if necessary, assist.

If a student has difficulty in assignment writing, he can request assignment help from professional writers. Custom writing quickly solves problems with the completion of an essay, term work, research paper, etc.

Therefore, social networks can be rated as an integral part of the information and educational environment. They have significant educational potential, create fundamentally new information and communication channels.