Importance of Social Media in Higher Education

INTRODUCTION

Few people will have failed to notice the recent emergence of social media—especially much-publicized applications like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia. Even the foremost casual of web users can now remember of the notion of social network sites and blogs, perhaps even wikis and virtual worlds. Since being declared Time Magazine‗s ‗Person of the Year‘ at the tip of 2006, social media have return to dominate the ways in which within which digital technology is currently used round the world. Of course, there area unit distinct geographical and cultural variations among this international adoption-whereas individuals within the USA might go browsing to Facebook and Twitter, Chinese users area unit additional probably to access Renren and Net Ease. nonetheless altogether these guises, the final principles of social media stay constant. These area unit web applications that admit brazenly shared digital content that's authored, critiqued and re- configured by a mass of users. Social media applications thus permit users to converse and act with every other; to make, edit and share new styles of matter, visual and audio content; and to reason, label and advocate existing styles of content. May be the key characteristic of these social media practices is that of ‗mass socialization‘- i.e. harnessing the facility of the collective actions of on-line user communities instead of individual users. Amidst these technological developments, several pedagogy establishments (and educators) currently realize themselves expected to catch up with this world of social media applications and social media users. Of course, accusations of a technological lag between pedagogy and therefore the remainder of society may be copied back to the introduction of film and radio throughout the primary decades of the twentieth century. Indeed, like most of those previous waves of recent technology, social media stay a part of goodly expectation, exaggeration and exaggeration.

Social media is all concerning obtaining connected to at least one another. Users of social media area unit connecting to every different in spite of national boundaries, culture or faith at intervals fields and across industries. ―Social Media strongly supports the logic to stay each students and also the establishments updated with the evolving desires and offerings, by permitting them to possess a additional direct and social level of relation‖. Technology in today‘s society permits varied ways that for college kids to remain informed and alert to offerings at their universities. per a annual survey of Social Media Use by educational activity school done by Perason Learning resolution (2013) the utilization of Social Media in teaching has big twenty one,3 like 2012 (34 %) to 2013 (41%). an equivalent supply indicates that the interactive nature of on-line and mobile technologies produce higher learning environments which data communication has accrued communication with students. Student‘s area unit active on the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter and have the power to get pertinent data concerning their field centers. Another study analyzed by Davis supported a 456 U.S. academic establishments shows that the utilization of social media is increasing, 100% showing that they use a minimum

By using social media, students are able to communicate or share information quickly. They are also learning how to work well in groups. Social media also teaches them how to remain in this competitive world, how to make connections. By using it, students are able to learn new technologies, develop familiarity with computers, which is helpful for their lives too. The speed and ease of using social media websites helps students to have artistic capabilities.

The energy of web-based social networking has essentially scratched the surface. Most trust its utilization in advanced education is questioned, however consider the possibility that we tend to began realizing totally new possibilities. People utilize destinations like Digg.com to rate elective sites, and stock surveys on Amazon.com. What if we have a tendency to displayed courses for student reviews on our site? New students would be able to read reviews on categories once attempting to make their picks, particularly for general education courses. Courses with great reviews can seemingly receive higher enrollments, with none extra price to market these categories. directors would seemingly worry concerning the categories that would receive poor reviews – however whether or not you modify this feature or not, these conversations square measure happening elsewhere, seemingly on sites you have got no management over. Social media offers advancement professionals an excellent chance for keeping in touch with alumni once they graduate. Facebook is one of the fashionable tools measure a lot of apt to be future donors to the school. However, in keeping with the E-Expectations category of 2007 Report, eightieth of the high school students surveyed aforementioned they need no explore for a school they were considering attending on My Space or Facebook. And, only 27% report having scan a web log written by a current student and twenty first by a school member at a university they were considering, before delving too way into social media while not this base.

1. Campus Quad. The Evolution of Social Media Use Among College Students. Access date, 2014. 12.04.2014. Available at: http://www.campusquad.co/evolution-social-media-use-amongcollege-students-2/ 2. Choudaha R. Social Media in International Student Recruitment. Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) Issue Brief, 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.aieaworld.org/assets/docs/Issue_Briefs/so cial_media_recruitment_issue_brief2013march.pdf, Fortin, R.D. & Dholakia, R. R. 3. Gonxhe Beqiri, PhD Cand. The Impact of Social Media on Higher Education in Kosovo: The Student‘s Perspective, Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy, 2014; 3:2. 4. http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/all_social_ne tworking_statistics/, accessed at 20 September 2011. 5. Martinez A, Wartman A, Lynk K. (2009). Online social networking on campus: understanding what matters in student culture. New York: Routledge, 2009. 6. Conole G, Alevizou P. (2010). A literature review of the use of web 2.0 tools in higher education. Higher Education Academy, 2010. 7. Crook C. (2011). Theories of formal and informal learning in the world of web 2.0, in Livingstone, S. (ed.). Theorising the benefits of new technology for youth. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 8. Lewthwaite S. (2011). Student experiences of social networking and disability in higher

Assistant Professor, Post Graduate Department of Computer Science and Applications, R.S.D. College, Ferozepur City