1. +
Social Media Uses in
Higher Education
Melissa Arakawa
ETEC 642

2. +
Summary
There is a love-hate relationship
between social media and higher
education. The effectiveness of
communication relies heavily on the
engagement of content. This short
project looks at how higher education
professionals view social media in terms
of effectiveness in engaging students.

3. +
Methodology
 Online survey sent
to 13 higher
education
professionals who
currently work in a
University or
Community College
setting.
 Of the 13; 10
responded.

4. +
Demographics
 Professions ranged from
academic advisors to secretary
 All worked within the University
of Hawai„i system

5. +
Survey Results – Professional Use

6. +
Analysis – Professional Uses
 Almost all (9) respondents report using Facebook for professional
use. Upon further investigation when asked what they used
Facebook for, they reported: groups, collaboration, communication,
marketing, and news
 Twitter was used by six of the respondents for the above mentioned
tasks
 60% reported spending between 1-2 hours using social media for
professional use.

7. +
Survey Results – Personal Use

8. +
Survey Results – Personal Use
 All 10 respondents reported using Facebook for personal use with
Twitter coming in second with 9 users using it for personal use.
 50% of users reported spending 3+ hours on social media for
personal use.
 Interestingly 60% of users reported using Linkedin for personal use,
followed by 50% using Instagram for personal use.

9. +
Survey Results – Professional
Importance

10. +
Analysis
 While 60% of educators “Agree” that social media is an important
professional too they spend more time for personal use rather than
professional use.
 All 10 respondents reported Facebook as the most useful social
media tools to reach students. Upon further analysis they said
because most students seem to be already familiar with Facebook it
seemed the easiest way to reach students.