distilling social media: leveraging the good in twitter to promote faculty and student interactions

DISTILLING SOCIAL MEDIA: LEVERAGING THE GOOD IN TWITTER

TO PROMOTE FACULTY AND STUDENT INTERACTIONS

!Dr. Rebecca Hong

Director of University Assessment/Assistant Professor rebecca.hong@biola.edu

Biola Digital Conference 2014

ROADMAP

• Impact of social media

• Social media power users

• Leveraging Social Media for Faculty

• Study Findings

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT KIDS AND SOCIAL

MEDIA TODAY?

it’s complicated

WHY DO TEENS SEEM SO STRANGE ONLINE?

• Intended audience matters

• Context collapse

• Unaccounted invisible audience

• Self-presentation and impression management

WHY DO YOUTH SHARE SO PUBLICLY?

• Public by default, private through effort

• Filtering is up to the audience

• Controlling access to meaning rather than privacy

WHAT MAKES TEENS OBSESSED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?

http://thetechieguy.com/2013/08/29/adults-vs-teens-on-social-networks-adults-are-from-pinterest-and-kids-are-from-facebook/

USED INTERNET FOR RESEARCH OR HOMEWORK

0

22.5

45

67.5

90

Frequently Occasionally Not at all

82.1%

17.1% .8%

USAGE OF ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL WEBSITE

31%

39%

30%FrequentlyNot at all

Occasionally

TIME SPENT ON ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS (FACEBOOK, TWITTER, ETC) VERSUS

STUDYING & HOMEWORK

None

< 1 hr

1-2 hrs

3-5 hrs

6-10 hrs

11-15 hrs

16-20 hrs

> 20 hrs

0 10 20 30 404.6

6.410.6

22.330.4

177.8

0.8

23

616

3026

1117

SN HW

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

JOSE BOWENDon’t be an alien

WHY FRESHMEN?

• 94% of first year college students use social network websites (Higher Education Research Institute)

• Pew Internet reports U.S. Twitter users as younger, with greater popularity among minorities and urban dwellers (Smith & Rainie, 2010; Smith, 2011)

www.thecampuscompanion.com

WHY FRESHMEN?

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY (BANDURA, 1977)

OBSERVATION

RETENTION

REPRODUCTION

MOTIVATION

1. SEPARATION !2. TRANSITION !3. INCORPORATION !

ASTIN’S INVOLVEMENT THEORY

http://www.geekosystem.com/author/erin-podolak/page/3/

METHODOLOGY

METHODSHeard of TwitterNever Heard of Twitter • Sample

• First Year Seminar : Elementary Education

• 27 Freshmen Students

• Two Sections

• 12 Weeks

!

Twitter Account Holders and Usage

Non-User User0-1 2-45-7 8+

Out of those who had a Twitter account

!• Only 36% of the students

tweeted more than 5x a week

!•27% of student tweeted less

than 1x a week

Twitter Users

TWEETING PARAMETERS• Set up individual Twitter account

• Following and Followers

• At least 5 tweets per week

• Tweeting categories

• #Hashtags #biolafys

• Instagram

• Weekly Top 10 tweets

TOP TWEETS OF THE WEEK!

TOP TWEETS OF THE WEEK!

TOP TWEETS OF THE WEEK!

TOP TWEETS OF THE WEEK!

TOP TWEETS OF THE WEEK!

TOP TWEETS OF THE WEEK!

ALL MY TWEETS

STUDY FINDINGS

!

Let’s Do the 2521

numbersTotal Tweets

0

100

200

300

400

Tweets

Class/StudyingCampus EventsDorm-LifeHome & FamilyFriends

what are we tweeting?

breakdown of tweets by

typehashtags #1105

biolafys

one hundred fourteenper class section

a week

#TOPHASHTAGS

#college #tired

#disneyland #biola

#ohwell #procrastination

#blessed #studying

!

TWEETING HABITS

0 12.5 25 37.5 50

411

4119

26

Several Times/Day 1x/Day 1x/Every Other Day 1-2x/Day 1x/Week

TWEETING TOOL

Fall 2013

11%

89%

Smart Phone Computer

Fall 2012

40%

60%

Smart Phone Computer

SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

0

15

30

45

60

Facebook Pinterest Instagram Blogging

4

56

7

33

TWITTER TO COMMUNICATE

0

12.5

25

37.5

50

4144

114

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither AgreeStrongly Agree

PROFESSOR - STUDENT CONNECTION

0

15

30

45

60

30

52

1170

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither AgreeStrongly Agree

LEARNING THROUGH TWEETS

0

17.5

35

52.5

70

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree Strongly Agree

Learning About Classmates’ Freshman ExperienceEnjoyed Learning About Peers

85%

78%

THE “I” IN TWITTER

Loved sharing about their freshman year experience through Tweeting

71%

0

7.5

15

22.5

30

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither AgreeStrongly Agree

Openly ShareActivities

& Events

0

7.5

15

22.5

30

Strongly Disagree Neither Strongly Agree

SENSE OF COMMUNITY

33%

33%

22%

11%

Classmates College Community

30%

30%

30%

7%3%

StronglyDisagree DisagreeNeither AgreeStrongly Agree

Had Fun Tweeting

0

12.5

25

37.5

50

44

30

1511

0

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither AgreeStrongly Agree

0

10

20

30

40

37

2226

114

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither AgreeStrongly Agree

!

I’m Here and I Matter benefits of learning about my freshman experience

TWITTER VS. FACEBOOK• Quick

• Minimal

• Isn’t an extensive profile

• Tailored to what you want

• Great for smaller classes (less than 30)

• Great alternative to emailing your professor

• Better option for reminders

• Groups work well for large classes

• Awkward for student-professor relationships

• Too extensive to share with others

• Easily a time waster

• Profile could change your view of the person

• Good option for reminders

twitter experience

awesome

it was interesting to see that they [professors] were normal people

helpful when i had questions

new but fun

great way to learn about others in my class and community

cool to get to know others and find common

interests

i already do enough social networking

inconvenient assignment

enjoying seeing other people’s tweets and to see similarities and differences during our

freshman year

I felt like I was getting to the know the people outside of class, and almost talking to

everyone indirectly

it allowed me to have the knowledge of when I should reach out and encourage one of my classmates

great way to know what was going on in the Biola community and branch out to different events

what to tweet

my moodwhat was interesting and exciting in my life

what i found important or memorable during the week

what i was currently doing

whenever i thought, “i need to tweet this!”

what i thought others would want to hear about

something that could benefit other students

food at the cafe

being sick

something that was meaningful to me

something on my mind that i can’t share on facebook

influence your experience as a new freshman on campus

It helped to see how other freshmen were doing at a new environment and so I didn't

feel like an alien.

made me not doubt myself as much

helped me see that i wasn't the only one sinking under all the stuff we had to do

I knew more about my professor in this class than I did

in othersconstant communication

throughout the week with this class helped me see more of the

activities on campus along with what everyone else was doing

good reminder to myself that I am not the only one going through these things as a

freshmen and that others are stressing and having fun along with me

enjoyed the sense of community this experience brought

learned that we all do stupid things because we are freshman!

helped me make new friends this first freshman semester

Twitter Lessons !

1. Clarify purpose 2. Explain parameters 3. Ensure followers 4. Regularly interact 5. Hashtag 6. Let them know you’re “listening” (Favorite, RT, Reply)

thank you