Social Media in Education

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Social Media in Education by Meredith Barker


    The use of social media continues to grow yearly. Children and adults of all ages frequently scroll on their phones to check the latest posts on their preferred social media site(s). After surveying teens ages thirteen to seventeen, Pew Research Center concluded that 95% of teens had used social media (Pew Research Center, 2023, para. 1). With social media's popularity, should educators use it with their students in the classroom? How do educators set up students for success when using social media? 

    We need to understand the effects social media has on children. A recent study found that "although social media use demonstrated to be of utility, an excessive or non-correct use may be a risk factor for mental health, including depression, anxiety, and addiction" (Bozzola et al., 2022, para. 1). The study continues to conclude that the incorrect use of social media can also cause unhealthy eating and behavior problems (Bozzola et al., 2022, para. Conclusion 2 and 3). With the consequences of misusing social media so severe, educators need to teach students how to use it in safe and effective ways. How do we teach students correct and secure ways to use social media? I believe the first step is for teachers to model safe and useful engagement with social media to their students. 


Modeling the Use of Social Media


     As an educator, I use social media to exchange ideas, get inspired, and share the unique projects my students are doing. One example of the benefits of using social media can be seen in the image below. This image is a screenshot from a Facebook group created for educators using a teaching model called "Modern Classroom Project". This group consists of new teachers starting to try Modern Classroom Project and teachers who have been using it for years. As you will see below, new teachers are getting support from veterans on ways to improve their teaching. The author of the post and the commenter providing suggestions live hours away from each other, but with social media, they can chat within seconds to get helpful tips.


    
     Showing students examples like this will teach them that social media can be beneficial. It should also be noted that the commenter has given suggestions while also providing her credentials (degrees held), reasoning, and philosophies. Explaining to students the importance of knowing an author's reasoning and credentials will emphasize the importance of vetting the authors of posts they consume and take advice from.


The Art of Persuasion


    Another key idea in using social media safely and helpfully is to recognize what it is designed to do. Social media uses visual rhetoric (the art of using visuals) to persuade (Lawrence, 2022, p. 105). One example of persuasion is when Facebook changed its design to allow users to continuously scroll because they noticed users stopped using the app if they had to wait or click to load more posts- this persuaded their audience to extend their time spent on Facebook (Lawrence, 2022, p. 100). In order to use social media safely, students must be taught to identify tactics companies use to persuade their audience to take specific actions, buy an item, or change their thinking. Check out the infographic below on ways to teach your students to identify persuasion techniques companies use in media posts to persuade their audience.

 
Recognizing Persuasion by Meredith Barker  

















References


Beshay. (2024, April 14). Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center surveys. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/teens-and-social-media-key-findings-from-pew-research-center-surveys/#:~:text=Majorities%20of%20teens%20report%20ever,asked%20about%2010%20online%20platforms.

Bozzola E, Spina G, Agostiniani R, Barni S, Russo R, Scarpato E, Di Mauro A, Di Stefano AV, Caruso C, Corsello G, Staiano A. The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 12;19(16):9960. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19169960. PMID: 36011593; PMCID: PMC9407706.

Kumar, Y., Jha, R., Gupta, A., Aggarwal, M., Garg, A., Malyan, T., Bhardwaj, A., Ratn Shah, R., Krishnamurthy, B., & Chen, C. (2023). Persuasion Strategies in Advertisements. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 37(1), 57-66. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v37i1.25076

Lawrence, Dan. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

Comments

  1. Laken RoperJuly 26, 2024 at 1:32 PM

    Interesting thoughts on social media in the classroom! I really like your point about teachers modeling good social media habits. It's so important for us to show students how to use these platforms responsibly.
    That Facebook group example you gave is spot-on. It's neat to see teachers helping each other out like that. Something similar was mentioned by Lawrence that being able to communicate effectively on social media is becoming crucial in pretty much every field (Lawrence, 2022). I think teaching kids these skills early on is going to be super helpful for them down the road.

    Reference
    Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peggy HuckabaaJuly 26, 2024 at 6:16 PM

    Meredith, I very much agree that we need to teach students to listen to people with the credentials in the field, but still with some reservation. Just because someone has credentials doesn't mean their opinion or research is the correct or only. According to Lawrence (2022), "Much of social media writing is formulated as a "command" or a request". (p. 59) This is a definite example of the rhetoric of social media. Thank you for your continued insight. I have enjoyed reading your posts.

    Reference:
    Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital Writing: a guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Digital EducatorJuly 26, 2024 at 7:43 PM

    Meredith,

    I really like your infographic about persuasion and how it links to posts on social media. Unfortunately, there are underlying reasons why educators may be posting–they could be looking for marketing deals or click-throughs in order to earn money, as Saldaña, et al. mention in their 2021 research. Lawrence (2022) brings this up in terms of marketing to persuade (p. 106) and I always think about how my children at home are drawn into commercials, both on television or when we are looking at photos on Instagram. It’s instant!

    -M. E. Sammis

    References

    Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview Press.

    Saldaña, C. M., Welner, K. G., Malcolm, S., & Tisch, E. (2021). Teachers as market influencers: Towards a policy framework for teacher brand ambassador programs in K-12 schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 29(109). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.5654

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kim BlackenburgJuly 26, 2024 at 9:42 PM

    I agree that social media as it is traditionally thought of is a potential negative for elementary aged students. Anyone with a social media account can confirm that its use of persuasion and even monitoring of one's search activity is concerning. "We can use rhetorical analysis to think about the fundamental questions of social media: How will I persuade others to listen to me, to trust my voice or that of my organization, to pay attention, to take some sort of action" (Lawrence, 2022, p. 38). Any consumer of social media must be cognizant of its intended purpose. This is more difficult to convey to children. However, teaching children to recognize the intended persuasion is valuable. "Scholars are increasingly raising concerns about whether mediums developed for markets are appropriate for educational environments" (Krutka & Damico, 2020, p. 143). If we are to use social media with younger children, we owe it to them to also teach about the inherit issues and dangers associated with its use.

    Reference

    Lawrence, D., (2022). Digital writing: a guide to writing for social media and the web. Broadview

    Press.

    Krutka, D. G., & Damico, N. (2020). Should we ask students to tweet? Perceptions,

    patterns, and problems of assigned social media participation. Contemporary Issues in

    Technology and Teacher Education, 20(1), 142-175.

    ReplyDelete

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