Social Media Usage by Academics: Some Comparisons from a Developing Country and Developed Countries’ Perspectives

Pieter Nel and Denisa Hebblethwaite

Across the globe academics and students are increasingly using social media and social connections for educational purposes. This article focuses on a comparison of particular countries regarding their use of social media in teaching by academics and whether they can utilize this platform for effective communication for engaging students in learning activities as well. The objective is to clarify the usage of social media tools by academics by comparing a multi developed country study (comprising the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Continental Europe and Canada) and a separate developing country study i.e. South Africa. The data was obtained by using SurveyMonkey and executed during 2014 at tertiary educational institutions. The developing country supplied 204 usable responses and the developed countries 711 responses. Suggestions are made regarding the educational environment when using social media tools. It is concluded that academics are communicating with students in a positive way via the use of social media tools for educational purposes, but that much scope exists for improvement in the use of social media for educational purposes by academics. There are also some differences in the use of social media by academics when comparing the developing country and developed countries.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.21102/wjm.2017.03.81.14