The document explores the role of social media in academic communication, highlighting its definitions, characteristics, and principles. A study was conducted via an online questionnaire with 79 respondents, focusing on their usage of social media in academic settings, the benefits and challenges faced, and the potential need for training. Key findings emphasize the advantages of accessibility and collaboration, while also addressing disadvantages such as data security and the trivialization of content.

1. USING SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS FOR ACADEMIC COMMUNICATION

2. Communicating … in 10 min
…
• Social Media landscape in HE
• The study:
– Methodology
– Summary of findings
– Discussions
• Conclusions

4. There are many definitions of Social Media, and they are evolving in time
Brian Solis (2010), “Defining Social Media: 2006 – 2010”
Kaplan&Haenlein (2010): „social media is a group of Internet-based applications that build on
the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and
exchange of User Generated Content (UGC)”.
Jane Hart(2011): „Social technologies, aka social media, are a new breed of technologies that
have emerged over the last few years and have changes the face of the Web.”
image: http://matetrack.webs.com/SOCIAL/SOCIAL.html

5. Amy Campbell (2010)
3 characteristics of social
media: the majority of
content is user generated, a
high degree of
participation/interaction
between users, and easily
integrates with other sites.
Anthony J. Bradley (2010)
6 core principles:
participation, collective,
transparency, independence,
persistence and emergence.
JESS3 Labs The Geosocial Universe 2.0
Comparison between the total amount of registered users with the
percentage of people accessing the sites via mobile
http://jess3.com/geosocial-universe-2

6. ??? … Social Media in universities
• How faculty members
use Social Media?
• Which are the potential
benefits, challenges
and disadvantages?
• How the usage can be
extended?
• Is there a need
for training the educational actors?

7. Method
- an online questionnaire
- via academic SNS
- time: February-March 2012
- 79 respondents

8. Respondents profile:
WHO ARE THEY?
AGE
36-45 years (37%)
less than 35 years (43%)
GENDER
41M (52%)
38F (48%)

9. Respondents profile:
WHAT IS THEIR ROLE IN HE?
ACADEMIC CAREERS
•professor 5%
• reader 15%
• senior lecturer 19%
• junior lecturer 14%
• researcher 5%
• professor doctorate coordinator 1%
• academic administrator 4%
• Master/PhD students 36%

10. Respondents profile:
WHAT IS THEIR ACADEMIC PROFILE?
• Exact Sciences 43%
• Social Sciences 24%
• Medicine 13%
• Humanity 12 %
• Economics 8%

11. SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE Documentation Post notes/ Not a user
% content % %
(for)
Blog (66%) 22 44 34
Miniblog (20%) 14 6 80
Microblog (46%) 19 29 52
General Social Networks (78%) 10 22
68
Professional Social Networks (76%) 28 48 24
Social Bookmarking (33%) 10 23 67
Video sharing (89%) 46 43 11
Image sharing (78%) 29 49 22
Audio/Podcasting sharing (20%) 10 10 80
Presentation sharing (61%) 22 39 39
Docs/Books sharing (88%) 32 56 12
Mindmaps (24%) 6 18 76
Screencasting (17%) 4 13 84
Livestreaming (15%) 6 9 85
Feeds Monitoring (48%) 24 24 52
Wiki (78%) 44 34 22

12. Platforms for
Communication & Collaboration & Localization
Groups (Groups.Google.com, Groups.Yahoo.com, Ning.com, Meetup.com) 71 90
Forums/Spaces for discussions (phpBB.net, Quora.com, Disqus.com) 26 33
Localization (Foursquare.com, Yelp.com, Zvents.com) 8 10
Augmented reality (Layar.com, Wikitude.com, Zooburst.com) 6 8
Virtual worlds/Social Games (Secondlife.com, Playdom.com, OpenSimulator.org) 7 9
IM (YM, GTalk, Jabber, Skype) 53 67

13. Statements related to Social Media
Not
Yes No
yet
(%) (%)
(%)
I access social media via mobile 46 27 28
I access social media via tablet / ipad 15 48 37
I evaluate the activity of my students on social media platforms 30 27 43
My institution assesses my activity on social media platforms 15 24 61
My institution encourages/supports the usage of social media by
34 30 35
teachers / students / pupils
My institution has specific policies related to social media usage 15 37 48
I became familiar with SM during a course / workshop / project 30 4 66

14. DO YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES?
Activities Yes – I have used Not yet, but I’m aware of it No
didactical activities
61% 18% 22%
research activities 58% 20% 22%
professional development
78% 11% 10%
personal development
78% 8% 14%

15. Levels of communication / collaboration:
Number Percent
I work with …
Peers from different institutions from Romania 52 66%
Collaborators in different institutions from other countries 47 59%
Colleagues / peers across my university / institution 49 62%
Peers and Doctoral and Master students of my own
department / faculty
61 77%

16. CONTEXTUAL CONDITIONS IN WHICH SCHOLARS
USE SOCIAL MEDIA
Activities Number Percent
Searching news, academic content 70 89
Dissemination of own results, articles, projects, presentations 49 62
Inquiring/research (reviewing literature, collecting/analyzing
research data)
52 66
Personal / Professional Communication / Collaboration 65 82
Networking for professional development 36 46
Building a community of practice 24 30
Building a learning community with students enrolled in formal
30 38
courses
Participating / following different scientific events (as a real time
news source)
52 66

17. ADVANTAGES
• accessibility and ease of use
• cost reduction
• flexibility, transparency and autonomy of applications
• educational „recruit ability”
• changing teachers’ attitudes
• engaging / enriching / empowering students’
interactions and participation
• collaborative characteristics
• establishing relationships and conversations
• facilitating learning
• social interactions

18. ADVANTAGES
• teaching / learning digital skills
• easily-accessible creativity
• „use of authentic study materials”
• „easy socialization”
• a modern approach of educational subjects
• feedback
• easy monitoring online presence and reputation
• collaborative participation
• using open education / open educational
resources

19. DISADVANTAGES
• content trivialisation
• security of data and persons
• online information / cognitive overload
• equality or e-quality
• difficult management of digital identity
• anonymity
• ethical concerns
• institutional norms
• time spent on social media sites
• emotional barriers
• a certain life style and/or an organisational culture
• artificial communication
• the noise
• the activity with / within social media isn’t recognised as academic

20. a social media education ??
OR social media in education ??

21. Tune your
communication!
to flicko all owners of photographs
Gabriela GROSSECK Carmen HOLOTESCU
Department of Psychology Timsoft / Politehnica
Thank West University of Timisoara University of Timisoara
Romania Romania
you !
to flicko all owners blog: grosseck.blogspot.com blog: timsoft.ro/blog
of photographs twitter: ggrosseck twitter: cami13
cirip: Gabriela cirip: cami13