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I pledge that this work is my own. I have followed CSU’s academic honesty policy

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What: Editorial / overview article
When: June 2023 (published)
Publication: International Journal of Research in Marketing / Columbia Business School PDF
Title of article: The creator economy: an introduction and a call for scholarly research

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What: Editorial / overview article
When: June 2023 (published)
Publication: International Journal of Research in Marketing / Columbia Business School PDF
Title of article: The creator economy: an introduction and a call for scholarly research

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1. Quote/fact: “The creator economy is an ecosystem where creators monetize digital content.”
Why I picked it: It frames the whole problem. I want to make money from content so this is my background map.

2. Quote/fact: “Platforms, tools, and support facilitate generation and diffusion.”
Why I picked it: Shows I must learn tools not only make good videos.

3. Quote/fact: “Opportunities for scholars to explore this space.”
Why I picked it: Means my project fits academic work and real industry.

4. Quote/fact: “Creators are the engine of the creator economy.”
Why I picked it: I liked that line because it makes this personal. I am the engine.

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What: Peer reviewed article / empirical study
When: 2023
Publication: First Monday / PMC hosted article
Title: Content creators between platform control and user agency

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What: Peer reviewed article / empirical study
When: 2023
Publication: First Monday / PMC hosted article
Title: Content creators between platform control and user agency

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1. Quote/fact: “Algorithms influence creators’ behaviour.”
Why I picked it: This proves algorithms change what I post and how I act.

2. Quote/fact: “Content decisions are shaped by platform incentives.”
Why I picked it: Shows I need to think about incentives not just taste.

3. Quote/fact: “Creators adapt strategies to platform signals.”
Why I picked it: I see this in my drafts. I change thumbnails and hooks.

4. Quote/fact: “Tension exists between creativity and optimization.”
Why I picked it: That tension is my struggle. I want to keep creative voice while growing.

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Content Creators Between Platform Control and User Autonomy: The Role of Algorithms and Revenue Sharing

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Content creators generate and upload content on social media platforms. If these platforms have a revenue-sharing policy, content creators earn income from advertising revenue. This income is heavily dependent on the distribution of the content and…

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What: MA thesis / mixed methods case study
When: 2024
Publication: Concordia University thesis (PDF)
Title: A Study of the Relationship Between the TikTok Algorithm and Creator Success

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What: MA thesis / mixed methods case study
When: 2024
Publication: Concordia University thesis (PDF)
Title: A Study of the Relationship Between the TikTok Algorithm and Creator Success

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1. Quote/fact: “TikTok algorithm goals: user value, long term user value, creator value, platform value.”
Why I picked it: Good checklist. I can design content to serve at least one of those.

2. Quote/fact: “Mixed methods using interviews and data logs.”
Why I picked it: Shows how to study algorithm impact. I liked the method for my own mini study.

3. Quote/fact: “Understanding why algorithm does what it does is essential.”
Why I picked it: Makes me want to test my content changes and track results.

4. Quote/fact: “Company docs like ‘Algo 101’ give hints.”
Why I picked it: Means there are company leaks and docs to learn from when available.

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What: Review article / argument about platforms role
When: 2024
Publication: Journal of Business Research or similar (publisher ScienceDirect)
Title: On the role of social media platforms in the creator economy

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What: Review article / argument about platforms role
When: 2024
Publication: Journal of Business Research or similar (publisher ScienceDirect)
Title: On the role of social media platforms in the creator economy

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1. Quote/fact: “Platforms shape economic opportunities for creators.”
Why I picked it: This argues platforms don’t just host content. They shape careers.

2. Quote/fact: “Platform design alters visibility and monetization paths.”
Why I picked it: I need visibility. This explains why some posts flop and others explode.

3. Quote/fact: “Creators must navigate platform governance.”
Why I picked it: Governance means rules I must learn and follow.

4. Quote/fact: “Platform tools and policies affect creator strategy.”
Why I picked it: I will change my plan to match policies and tools.

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What: Popular magazine article / feature piece
When: March 11, 2021 (example story still relevant)
Publication: Wired
Title: Meet the Climate Change Activists of TikTok (example of algorithm shaping creator choices)

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What: Popular magazine article / feature piece
When: March 11, 2021 (example story still relevant)
Publication: Wired
Title: Meet the Climate Change Activists of TikTok (example of algorithm shaping creator choices)

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1. Quote/fact: “TikTok promotes ‘doom and gloom’ content, creators chase views.”
Why I picked it: Shows how algorithm incentives can push creators toward certain tones. I want to avoid that trap.

2. Quote/fact: “A climate video got 314,000 views while a more technical one got 1,000.”
Why I picked it: Real example that format and emotion matter more than depth.

3. Quote/fact: “Creators change topics to match what the algorithm rewards.”
Why I picked it: I see creators I follow do the same. It affects authenticity.

4. Quote/fact: “Educational creators adapt style to survive.”
Why I picked it: That is a tactic I can copy without losing my voice.

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Meet the Climate Change Activists of TikTok

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A crop of eco-creators is bent on educating their followers about the looming global disaster. Can their message translate into action?

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What: News article / industry report summary
When: April 29, 2025
Publication: Axios
Title: Digital creator jobs jump 7.5x since pandemic

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What: News article / industry report summary
When: April 29, 2025
Publication: Axios
Title: Digital creator jobs jump 7.5x since pandemic

# data[].attributes.body
1. Quote/fact: “Full time equivalent jobs as digital creators rose from 200,000 in 2020 to 1.5 million in 2024.”
Why I picked it: Big growth. Shows this is a real career path I can join.

2. Quote/fact: “Technology and services make monetization more accessible.”
Why I picked it: Useful. I can pick platforms and tools that pay.

3. Quote/fact: “Report done with IAB and Harvard collaboration.”
Why I picked it: Institutional backing makes the number believable.

4. Quote/fact: “Lawmakers are being informed.”
Why I picked it: Means policy may affect my options in the future

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Exclusive: Digital creator jobs jump from 200k to 1.5 million since pandemic

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New tools have lowered the bar to entry to make and monetize content.

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Close Reading:

This article surveys a wide range of research on how creators work within algorithm driven platforms focusing on themes like “market rationality underpinning visibility,” “neo-normative control of creators through algorithms,” and how power is distributed between algorithms and creators.

For my project (“The Algorithm, the Audience, and the Creator’s Journey”), it gives strong backing for the idea that creators often adapt their content and strategies because of algorithmic demands not purely audience desires or their own creative impulses.

It also supports my point about tension: creators want to be authentic, but algorithmic pressures push them toward optimization, visibility, and relevance.

This source is particularly helpful for my first research question: How do content creators perceive the influence of platform algorithms on their creative decisions? I can cite this review to show the broad structural forces at play beyond individual creator anecdotes.

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Close Reading:

This article investigates how producers of science content interpret or imagine the workings of recommendation algorithms (“algorithmic imaginaries”) and then structure their content strategies accordingly.

It directly ties into my example with Maya where she says “I plan my content around what the algorithm will like, not just what I want to make.” This source shows how that planning often emerges from creators’ beliefs or perceptions of the algorithm, not necessarily full transparency of how the algorithm functions.

It also connects to my second research question about strategies: creators adopt specific tactics (e.g., simpler language, longer watch time, dramatic hook) to satisfy what they believe the algorithm prefers.

Additionally, it touches on creative authenticity vs algorithmic adaptation, feeding into my broader discussion of tension between voices and visibility.

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Behind the screens: how algorithmic imaginaries shape science content on social media

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Based on an ethnography of the development and production of science YouTube videos – a collaboration between a German public broadcaster and social science scholars – we identify three intermediary steps through which recommendation algorithms shape science content on social media. We argue that algorithms induce

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The effect of social media on the development of students’ affective states (Frontiers in Psychology)

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The effect of social media on the development of students’ affective states (Frontiers in Psychology)

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This empirical study found that in a sample of university students, social media resources were stress inducing for about half of participants anxiety and depression were linked to repetitive checking and high investment in social media.

Key for my essay: This shows how identity and emotional wellbeing (not just academic performance) are shaped by social media relevant for your topic of student identity and mental health in your A2 essay.

Reflection: I’ll use this to support the stakeholder part (students’ wellbeing, identity) and highlight challenges in using social media for learning

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Science and Technology Department, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, China

School of Marxism, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Government Enterprise Customer Center, China Mobile Group Jiangsu Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China

The use of social media is incomparably on the rise among students, influenced by the globalized forms of communication and the post-pandemic rush to use multiple social media platforms for education in different fields of study. Though social media has created tremendous chances for sharing ideas and emotions, the kind of social support it provides might fail to meet students' emotional needs, or the alleged positive effects might be short-lasting. In recent years, several studies have been conducted to explore the potential effects of social media on students' affective traits, such as stress, anxiety, depression, and so on. The present paper reviews the findings of the exemplary published works of research to shed light on the positive and negative potential effects of the massive use of social media on students' emotional well-being. This review can be insightful for teachers who tend to take the potential psychological effects of social media for granted. They may want to know more about the actual effects of the over-reliance on and the excessive (and actually obsessive) use of social media on students' developing certain images of self and certain emotions which are not necessarily positive. There will be implications for pre- and in-service teacher training and professional development programs and all those involved in student affairs.

Introduction

Social media has turned into an essential element of individuals' lives including students in today's world of communication. Its use is growing significantly more than ever before especially in the post-pandemic era, marked by a great revolution happening to the educational systems. Recent investigations of using social media show that approximately 3 billion individuals worldwide are now communicating via social media ( Iwamoto and Chun, 2020). This growing population of social media users is spending more and more time on social network groupings, as facts and figures show that individuals spend 2 h a day, on average, on a variety of social media applications, exchanging pictures and messages, updating status, tweeting, favoring, and commenting on many updated socially shared information ( Abbott, 2017).

Researchers have begun to investigate the psychological effects of using social media on students' lives. Chukwuere and Chukwuere (2017) maintained that social media platforms can be considered the most important source of changing individuals' mood, because when someone is passively using a social media platform seemingly with no special purpose, s/he can finally feel that his/her mood has changed as a function of the nature of content overviewed. Therefore, positive and negative moods can easily be transferred among the population using social media networks ( Chukwuere and Chukwuere, 2017). This may become increasingly important as students are seen to be using social media platforms more than before and social networking is becoming an integral aspect of their lives. As described by Iwamoto and Chun (2020), when students are affected by social media posts, especially due to the increasing reliance on social media use in life, they may be encouraged to begin comparing themselves to others or develop great unrealistic expectations of themselves or others, which can have several affective consequences.

Considering the increasing influence of social media on education, the present paper aims to focus on the affective variables such as depression, stress, and anxiety, and how social media can possibly increase or decrease these emotions in student life. The exemplary works of research on this topic in recent years will be reviewed here, hoping to shed light on the positive and negative effects of these ever-growing influential platforms on the psychology of students.

Significance of the study

Though social media, as the name suggests, is expected to keep people connected, probably this social connection is only superficial, and not adequately deep and meaningful to help individuals feel emotionally attached to others. The psychological effects of social media on student life need to be studied in more depth to see whether social media really acts as a social support for students and whether students can use social media to cope with negative emotions and develop positive feelings or not. In other words, knowledge of the potential effects of the growing use of social media on students' emotional well-being can bridge the gap between the alleged promises of social media and what it actually has to offer to students in terms of self-concept, self-respect, social role, and coping strategies (for stress, anxiety, etc.).

Exemplary general literature on psychological effects of social media

Before getting down to the effects of social media on students' emotional well-being, some exemplary works of research in recent years on the topic among general populations are reviewed. For one, Aalbers et al. (2018) reported that individuals who spent more time passively working with social media suffered from more intense levels of hopelessness, loneliness, depression, and perceived inferiority. For another, Tang et al. (2013) observed that the procedures of sharing information, commenting, showing likes and dislikes, posting messages, and doing other common activities on social media are correlated with higher stress. Similarly, Ley et al. (2014) described that people who spend 2 h, on average, on social media applications will face many tragic news, posts, and stories which can raise the total intensity of their stress. This stress-provoking effect of social media has been also pinpointed by Weng and Menczer (2015), who contended that social media becomes a main source of stress because people often share all kinds of posts, comments, and stories ranging from politics and economics, to personal and social affairs. According to Iwamoto and Chun (2020), anxiety and depression are the negative emotions that an individual may develop when some source of stress is present. In other words, when social media sources become stress-inducing, there are high chances that anxiety and depression also develop.

Charoensukmongkol (2018) reckoned that the mental health and well-being of the global population can be at a great risk through the uncontrolled massive use of social media. These researchers also showed that social media sources can exert negative affective impacts on teenagers, as they can induce more envy and social comparison. According to Fleck and Johnson-Migalski (2015), though social media, at first, plays the role of a stress-coping strategy, when individuals continue to see stressful conditions (probably experienced and shared by others in media), they begin to develop stress through the passage of time. Chukwuere and Chukwuere (2017) maintained that social media platforms continue to be the major source of changing mood among general populations. For example, someone might be passively using a social media sphere, and s/he may finally find him/herself with a changed mood depending on the nature of the content faced. Then, this good or bad mood is easily shared with others in a flash through the social media. Finally, as Alahmar (2016) described, social media exposes people especially the young generation to new exciting activities and events that may attract them and keep them engaged in different media contexts for hours just passing their time. It usually leads to reduced productivity, reduced academic achievement, and addiction to constant media use ( Alahmar, 2016).

The number of studies on the potential psychological effects of social media on people in general is higher than those selectively addressed here. For further insights into this issue, some other suggested works of research include Chang (2012), Sriwilai and Charoensukmongkol (2016), and Zareen et al. (2016). Now, we move to the studies that more specifically explored the effects of social media on students' affective states.

Review of the affective influences of social media on students

Vygotsky's mediational theory (see Fernyhough, 2008) can be regarded as a main theoretical background for the support of social media on learners' affective states. Based on this theory, social media can play the role of a mediational means between learners and the real environment. Learners' understanding of this environment can be mediated by the image shaped via social media. This image can be either close to or different from the reality. In the case of the former, learners can develop their self-image and self-esteem. In the case of the latter, learners might develop unrealistic expectations of themselves by comparing themselves to others. As it will be reviewed below among the affective variables increased or decreased in students under the influence of the massive use of social media are anxiety, stress, depression, distress, rumination, and self-esteem. These effects have been explored more among school students in the age range of 13-18 than university students (above 18), but some studies were investigated among college students as well. Exemplary works of research on these affective variables are reviewed here.

In a cross-sectional study, O'Dea and Campbell (2011) explored the impact of online interactions of social networks on the psychological distress of adolescent students. These researchers found a negative correlation between the time spent on social networking and mental distress. Dumitrache et al. (2012) explored the relations between depression and the identity associated with the use of the popular social media, the Facebook. This study showed significant associations between depression and the number of identity-related information pieces shared on this social network. Neira and Barber (2014) explored the relationship between students' social media use and depressed mood at teenage. No significant correlation was found between these two variables. In the same year, Tsitsika et al. (2014) explored the associations between excessive use of social media and internalizing emotions. These researchers found a positive correlation between more than 2-h a day use of social media and anxiety and depression.

Hanprathet et al. (2015) reported a statistically significant positive correlation between addiction to Facebook and depression among about a thousand high school students in wealthy populations of Thailand and warned against this psychological threat. Sampasa-Kanyinga and Lewis (2015) examined the relationship between social media use and psychological distress. These researchers found that the use of social media for more than 2 h a day was correlated with a higher intensity of psychological distress. Banjanin et al. (2015) tested the relationship between too much use of social networking and depression, yet found no statistically significant correlation between these two variables. Frison and Eggermont (2016) examined the relationships between different forms of Facebook use, perceived social support of social media, and male and female students' depressed mood. These researchers found a positive association between the passive use of the Facebook and depression and also between the active use of the social media and depression. Furthermore, the perceived social support of the social media was found to mediate this association. Besides, gender was found as the other factor to mediate this relationship.

Vernon et al. (2017) explored change in negative investment in social networking in relation to change in depression and externalizing behavior. These researchers found that increased investment in social media predicted higher depression in adolescent students, which was a function of the effect of higher levels of disrupted sleep. Barry et al. (2017) explored the associations between the use of social media by adolescents and their psychosocial adjustment. Social media activity showed to be positively and moderately associated with depression and anxiety. Another investigation was focused on secondary school students in China conducted by Li et al. (2017). The findings showed a mediating role of insomnia on the significant correlation between depression and addiction to social media. In the same year, Yan et al. (2017) aimed to explore the time spent on social networks and its correlation with anxiety among middle school students. They found a significant positive correlation between more than 2-h use of social networks and the intensity of anxiety.

Also in China, Wang et al. (2018) showed that addiction to social networking sites was correlated positively with depression, and this correlation was mediated by rumination. These researchers also found that this mediating effect was moderated by self-esteem. It means that the effect of addiction on depression was compounded by low self-esteem through rumination. In another work of research, Drouin et al. (2018) showed that though social media is expected to act as a form of social support for the majority of university students, it can adversely affect students' mental well-being, especially for those who already have high levels of anxiety and depression. In their research, the social media resources were found to be stress-inducing for half of the participants, all university students. The higher education population was also studied by Iwamoto and Chun (2020). These researchers investigated the emotional effects of social media in higher education and found that the socially supportive role of social media was overshadowed in the long run in university students' lives and, instead, fed into their perceived depression, anxiety, and stress.

Keles et al. (2020) provided a systematic review of the effect of social media on young and teenage students' depression, psychological distress, and anxiety. They found that depression acted as the most frequent affective variable measured. The most salient risk factors of psychological distress, anxiety, and depression based on the systematic review were activities such as repeated checking for messages, personal investment, the time spent on social media, and problematic or addictive use. Similarly, Mathewson (2020) investigated the effect of using social media on college students' mental health. The participants stated the experience of anxiety, depression, and suicidality (thoughts of suicide or attempts to suicide). The findings showed that the types and frequency of using social media and the students' perceived mental health were significantly correlated with each other.

Discussion

The body of research on the effect of social media on students' affective and emotional states has led to mixed results. The existing literature shows that there are some positive and some negative affective impacts. Yet, it seems that the latter is pre-dominant. Mathewson (2020) attributed these divergent positive and negative effects to the different theoretical frameworks adopted in different studies and also the different contexts (different countries with whole different educational systems). According to Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions ( Fredrickson, 2001), the mental repertoires of learners can be built and broadened by how they feel. For instance, some external stimuli might provoke negative emotions such as anxiety and depression in learners. Having experienced these negative emotions, students might repeatedly check their messages on social media or get addicted to them. As a result, their cognitive repertoire and mental capacity might become limited and they might lose their concentration during their learning process. On the other hand, it should be noted that by feeling positive, learners might take full advantage of the affordances of the social media and; thus, be able to follow their learning goals strategically. This point should be highlighted that the link between the use of social media and affective states is bi-directional. Therefore, strategic use of social media or its addictive use by students can direct them toward either positive experiences like enjoyment or negative ones such as anxiety and depression. Also, these mixed positive and negative effects are similar to the findings of several other relevant studies on general populations' psychological and emotional health. A number of studies (with general research populations not necessarily students) showed that social networks have facilitated the way of staying in touch with family and friends living far away as well as an increased social support ( Zhang, 2017). Given the positive and negative emotional effects of social media, social media can either scaffold the emotional repertoire of students, which can develop positive emotions in learners, or induce negative provokers in them, based on which learners might feel negative emotions such as anxiety and depression. However, admittedly, social media has also generated a domain that encourages the act of comparing lives, and striving for approval; therefore, it establishes and internalizes unrealistic perceptions ( Virden et al., 2014; Radovic et al., 2017).

It should be mentioned that the susceptibility of affective variables to social media should be interpreted from a dynamic lens. This means that the ecology of the social media can make changes in the emotional experiences of learners. More specifically, students' affective variables might self-organize into different states under the influence of social media. As for the positive correlation found in many studies between the use of social media and such negative effects as anxiety, depression, and stress, it can be hypothesized that this correlation is induced by the continuous comparison the individual makes and the perception that others are doing better than him/her influenced by the posts that appear on social media. Using social media can play a major role in university students' psychological well-being than expected. Though most of these studies were correlational, and correlation is not the same as causation, as the studies show that the number of participants experiencing these negative emotions under the influence of social media is significantly high, more extensive research is highly suggested to explore causal effects ( Mathewson, 2020).

As the review of exemplary studies showed, some believed that social media increased comparisons that students made between themselves and others. This finding ratifies the relevance of the Interpretation Comparison Model ( Stapel and Koomen, 2000; Stapel, 2007) and Festinger's (1954) Social Comparison Theory. Concerning the negative effects of social media on students' psychology, it can be argued that individuals may fail to understand that the content presented in social media is usually changed to only represent the attractive aspects of people's lives, showing an unrealistic image of things. We can add that this argument also supports the relevance of the Social Comparison Theory and the Interpretation Comparison Model ( Stapel and Koomen, 2000; Stapel, 2007), because social media sets standards that students think they should compare themselves with. A constant observation of how other students or peers are showing their instances of achievement leads to higher self-evaluation ( Stapel and Koomen, 2000). It is conjectured that the ubiquitous role of social media in student life establishes unrealistic expectations and promotes continuous comparison as also pinpointed in the Interpretation Comparison Model ( Stapel and Koomen, 2000; Stapel, 2007).

Implications of the study

The use of social media is ever increasing among students, both at school and university, which is partly because of the promises of technological advances in communication services and partly because of the increased use of social networks for educational purposes in recent years after the pandemic. This consistent use of social media is not expected to leave students' psychological, affective and emotional states untouched. Thus, it is necessary to know how the growing usage of social networks is associated with students' affective health on different aspects. Therefore, we found it useful to summarize the research findings in recent years in this respect. If those somehow in charge of student affairs in educational settings are aware of the potential positive or negative effects of social media usage on students, they can better understand the complexities of students' needs and are better capable of meeting them.

Psychological counseling programs can be initiated at schools or universities to check upon the latest state of students' mental and emotional health influenced by the pervasive use of social media. The counselors can be made aware of the potential adverse effects of social networking and can adapt the content of their inquiries accordingly. Knowledge of the potential reasons for student anxiety, depression, and stress can help school or university counselors to find individualized coping strategies when they diagnose any symptom of distress in students influenced by an excessive use of social networking.

Admittedly, it is neither possible to discard the use of social media in today's academic life, nor to keep students' use of social networks fully controlled. Certainly, the educational space in today's world cannot do without the social media, which has turned into an integral part of everybody's life. Yet, probably students need to be instructed on how to take advantage of the media and to be the least affected negatively by its occasional superficial and unrepresentative content. Compensatory programs might be needed at schools or universities to encourage students to avoid making unrealistic and impartial comparisons of themselves and the flamboyant images of others displayed on social media. Students can be taught to develop self-appreciation and self-care while continuing to use the media to their benefit.

The teachers' role as well as the curriculum developers' role are becoming more important than ever, as they can significantly help to moderate the adverse effects of the pervasive social media use on students' mental and emotional health. The kind of groupings formed for instructional purposes, for example, in social media can be done with greater care by teachers to make sure that the members of the groups are homogeneous and the tasks and activities shared in the groups are quite relevant and realistic. The teachers cannot always be in a full control of students' use of social media, and the other fact is that students do not always and only use social media for educational purposes. They spend more time on social media for communicating with friends or strangers or possibly they just passively receive the content produced out of any educational scope just for entertainment. This uncontrolled and unrealistic content may give them a false image of life events and can threaten their mental and emotional health. Thus, teachers can try to make students aware of the potential hazards of investing too much of their time on following pages or people that publish false and misleading information about their personal or social identities. As students, logically expected, spend more time with their teachers than counselors, they may be better and more receptive to the advice given by the former than the latter.

Teachers may not be in full control of their students' use of social media, but they have always played an active role in motivating or demotivating students to take particular measures in their academic lives. If teachers are informed of the recent research findings about the potential effects of massively using social media on students, they may find ways to reduce students' distraction or confusion in class due to the excessive or over-reliant use of these networks. Educators may more often be mesmerized by the promises of technology-, computer- and mobile-assisted learning. They may tend to encourage the use of social media hoping to benefit students' social and interpersonal skills, self-confidence, stress-managing and the like. Yet, they may be unaware of the potential adverse effects on students' emotional well-being and, thus, may find the review of the recent relevant research findings insightful. Also, teachers can mediate between learners and social media to manipulate the time learners spend on social media. Research has mainly indicated that students' emotional experiences are mainly dependent on teachers' pedagogical approach. They should refrain learners from excessive use of, or overreliance on, social media. Raising learners' awareness of this fact that individuals should develop their own path of development for learning, and not build their development based on unrealistic comparison of their competences with those of others, can help them consider positive values for their activities on social media and, thus, experience positive emotions.

At higher education, students' needs are more life-like. For example, their employment-seeking spirits might lead them to create accounts in many social networks, hoping for a better future. However, membership in many of these networks may end in the mere waste of the time that could otherwise be spent on actual on-campus cooperative projects. Universities can provide more on-campus resources both for research and work experience purposes from which the students can benefit more than the cyberspace that can be tricky on many occasions. Two main theories underlying some negative emotions like boredom and anxiety are over-stimulation and under-stimulation. Thus, what learners feel out of their involvement in social media might be directed toward negative emotions due to the stimulating environment of social media. This stimulating environment makes learners rely too much, and spend too much time, on social media or use them obsessively. As a result, they might feel anxious or depressed. Given the ubiquity of social media, these negative emotions can be replaced with positive emotions if learners become aware of the psychological effects of social media. Regarding the affordances of social media for learners, they can take advantage of the potential affordances of these media such as improving their literacy, broadening their communication skills, or enhancing their distance learning opportunities.

Conclusion

A review of the research findings on the relationship between social media and students' affective traits revealed both positive and negative findings. Yet, the instances of the latter were more salient and the negative psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and stress have been far from negligible. These findings were discussed in relation to some more relevant theories such as the social comparison theory, which predicted that most of the potential issues with the young generation's excessive use of social media were induced by the unfair comparisons they made between their own lives and the unrealistic portrayal of others' on social media. Teachers, education policymakers, curriculum developers, and all those in charge of the student affairs at schools and universities should be made aware of the psychological effects of the pervasive use of social media on students, and the potential threats.

It should be reminded that the alleged socially supportive and communicative promises of the prevalent use of social networking in student life might not be fully realized in practice. Students may lose self-appreciation and gratitude when they compare their current state of life with the snapshots of others' or peers'. A depressed or stressed-out mood can follow. Students at schools or universities need to learn self-worth to resist the adverse effects of the superficial support they receive from social media. Along this way, they should be assisted by the family and those in charge at schools or universities, most importantly the teachers. As already suggested, counseling programs might help with raising students' awareness of the potential psychological threats of social media to their health. Considering the ubiquity of social media in everybody' life including student life worldwide, it seems that more coping and compensatory strategies should be contrived to moderate the adverse psychological effects of the pervasive use of social media on students. Also, the affective influences of social media should not be generalized but they need to be interpreted from an ecological or contextual perspective. This means that learners might have different emotions at different times or different contexts while being involved in social media. More specifically, given the stative approach to learners' emotions, what learners emotionally experience in their application of social media can be bound to their intra-personal and interpersonal experiences. This means that the same learner at different time points might go through different emotions Also, learners' emotional states as a result of their engagement in social media cannot be necessarily generalized to all learners in a class.

As the majority of studies on the psychological effects of social media on student life have been conducted on school students than in higher education, it seems it is too soon to make any conclusive remark on this population exclusively. Probably, in future, further studies of the psychological complexities of students at higher education and a better knowledge of their needs can pave the way for making more insightful conclusions about the effects of social media on their affective states.

Suggestions for further research

The majority of studies on the potential effects of social media usage on students' psychological well-being are either quantitative or qualitative in type, each with many limitations. Presumably, mixed approaches in near future can better provide a comprehensive assessment of these potential associations. Moreover, most studies on this topic have been cross-sectional in type. There is a significant dearth of longitudinal investigation on the effect of social media on developing positive or negative emotions in students. This seems to be essential as different affective factors such as anxiety, stress, self-esteem, and the like have a developmental nature. Traditional research methods with single-shot designs for data collection fail to capture the nuances of changes in these affective variables. It can be expected that more longitudinal studies in future can show how the continuous use of social media can affect the fluctuations of any of these affective variables during the different academic courses students pass at school or university.

As already raised in some works of research reviewed, the different patterns of impacts of social media on student life depend largely on the educational context. Thus, the same research designs with the same academic grade students and even the same age groups can lead to different findings concerning the effects of social media on student psychology in different countries. In other words, the potential positive and negative effects of popular social media like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, etc., on students' affective conditions can differ across different educational settings in different host countries. Thus, significantly more research is needed in different contexts and cultures to compare the results.

There is also a need for further research on the higher education students and how their affective conditions are positively and negatively affected by the prevalent use of social media. University students' psychological needs might be different from other academic grades and, thus, the patterns of changes that the overall use of social networking can create in their emotions can be also different. Their main reasons for using social media might be different from school students as well, which need to be investigated more thoroughly. The sorts of interventions needed to moderate the potential negative effects of social networking on them can be different too, all requiring a new line of research in education domain.

Finally, there are hopes that considering the ever-increasing popularity of social networking in education, the potential psychological effects of social media on teachers be explored as well. Though teacher psychology has only recently been considered for research, the literature has provided profound insights into teachers developing stress, motivation, self-esteem, and many other emotions. In today's world driven by global communications in the cyberspace, teachers like everyone else are affecting and being affected by social networking. The comparison theory can hold true for teachers too. Thus, similar threats (of social media) to self-esteem and self-worth can be there for teachers too besides students, which are worth investigating qualitatively and quantitatively.

Probably a new line of research can be initiated to explore the co-development of teacher and learner psychological traits under the influence of social media use in longitudinal studies. These will certainly entail sophisticated research methods to be capable of unraveling the nuances of variation in these traits and their mutual effects, for example, stress, motivation, and self-esteem. If these are incorporated within mixed-approach works of research, more comprehensive and better insightful findings can be expected to emerge. Correlational studies need to be followed by causal studies in educational settings. As many conditions of the educational settings do not allow for having control groups or randomization, probably, experimental studies do not help with this. Innovative research methods, case studies or else, can be used to further explore the causal relations among the different features of social media use and the development of different affective variables in teachers or learners. Examples of such innovative research methods can be process tracing, qualitative comparative analysis, and longitudinal latent factor modeling (for a more comprehensive view, see Hiver and Al-Hoorie, 2019).

Author contributions

Both authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.

Funding

This study was sponsored by Wuxi Philosophy and Social Sciences bidding project-"Special Project for Safeguarding the Rights and Interests of Workers in the New Form of Employment" (Grant No. WXSK22-GH-13). This study was sponsored by the Key Project of Party Building and Ideological and Political Education Research of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications-"Research on the Guidance and Countermeasures of Network Public Opinion in Colleges and Universities in the Modern Times" (Grant No. XC 2021002).

Conflict of interest

Author XX was employed by China Mobile Group Jiangsu Co., Ltd.

The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

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Frontiers | The effect of social media on the development of students' affective variables

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The use of social media is incomparably on the rise among students, influenced by the globalized forms of communication and the post-pandemic rush to use mul...

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A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education

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A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education

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This study reviews literature (2009-2021) of social media in teaching and learning, finds that although many studies show positive uses (communication, collaboration) the theoretical grounding is weak and research on pedagogy is still underdeveloped.

Implication: i can argue that educational systems must move beyond just “use social media” toward intentional pedagogical design.

Reflection: I’ll link this to your solution part (#3) by saying: we should start doing professional development for educators in social media based pedagogy; stop treating platforms as an add on keep integrating student led social‐media learning projects.

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A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education: A theoretical grounding perspective

Abstract

The use of social media in higher education has been demonstrated in a number of studies to be an attractive and contemporary method of teaching and learning. However, further research and investigation are required in order to align social media's pedagogical benefits with the theoretical perspectives that inform educational practices. It is the objective of this study to provide a systematic literature review using bibliometric analysis techniques and content analysis to provide a map of research produced between 2009 and 2021. This study aims to identify theoretical frameworks, current research trends, and patterns in this field. A total of 772 publications were analysed using bibliometric methodology, while a subset of 55 publications were analysed using content analysis. As indicated by the results, there is still a growing interest in this area of research, with recent studies still focusing on attitudes towards the use of social media in teaching and learning. According to the content analysis, technology acceptance theories and learning theories are the most commonly used reference theories. This field has yet to elaborate on pedagogical theory, and there is a tendency to rely primarily on technology acceptance models rather than pedagogical models. A discussion of future practice and research implications is also provided.

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Article

1 Introduction

The popularity of social media, among students, has increased dramatically in recent years because of technological advances in Web 2.0 tools (Eid & Al-Jabri, 2016; Tess, 2013). Indeed, social media has attracted over three billion active users across the globe (Statista, 2022). Such technologies have demonstrated their potential for learning and teaching due to its functions for document exchange, virtual communication and knowledge information (Hosen et al., 2021; Manca & Ranieri, 2017). Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), and online games have been widely used for information gathering and dissemination, collaborative learning, and online social and professional connections (Cao et al., 2013). Most recently, Manca's ( 2020) review of Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and WhatsApp revealed that the two most common activities used for learning by students were content development and discussion for peer learning/assessment. The potential use of social media for teaching and learning activities has received an increased amount of interest and attention from the scholarly community (Barrot, 2021a). A number of studies have presented evidence regarding the use of social media by academics for personal, professional, and teaching purposes (Johnson & Veletsianos, 2021; Manca & Ranieri, 2016a, 2016b). In terms of specific social media platforms, some researchers have found that Facebook groups are an effective tool to support learning, affording benefits not offered by traditional online Learning Management Systems (LMS) (Barrot, 2018; Chugh & Ruhi, 2018; Hew, 2011; Niu, 2019). Similarly, Tang and Hew ( 2017) noted the potential of promoting positive learning using Twitter to access and create digital content and collaboration between learners. Recently, studies have extended towards the utility of social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat. Manca ( 2020) notes that whilst these platforms have been gaining considerable attention among young people, they have been largely overlooked in the scholarly literature.

Social media, however, has also been shown to challenge traditional beliefs about education and pedagogy in schools and universities. According to some scholars (Manca & Ranieri, 2017), educators should pay particular attention to the following themes, primarily communication between students and teachers and professional conduct, as well as the integration of social networking practices into academic and teaching practices from a technological and educational perspective. Besides, other challenges included cultural and social factors that resulted in the erosion of teachers' traditional roles, the management of relationships with students, and privacy threats. Other factors included psychological resistance, traditional visions of instruction, a lack of technical support, perceived risks, institutional issues, pedagogical views, pragmatic reasons, and values.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the use of social media for teaching and learning purposes in higher education (2009-2021) utilizing bibliometric methods and content analysis. A primary objective of the study is to assess the degree of theoretical soundness of the studies published to date and to map the current state of the art in regard to the use of social media in teaching and learning.

This study focuses on two aspects of value: on the one hand, it examines the theoretical robustness of studies regarding teaching and learning processes based on the use of social media in higher education that have been published to date; on the other hand, it employs a mixed-method approach combining bibliometric analysis with qualitative analysis to examine the teaching and learning processes. It is our understanding that this is the first study that attempts to accomplish these objectives.

2 Theoretical background

2.1 Learning benefits of social media in higher education

Various studies have demonstrated the use of social media as a supportive and interactive tool for learning in higher education (Everson et al., 2013; Greenhow & Galvin, 2020; Manca, 2020; Manca & Ranieri, 2013). Some studies have focused on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (Everson et al., 2013) or Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and WhatsApp (Manca, 2020). The benefits of using social media in higher education has been shown to promote student-centred pedagogies (Camas Garrido et al, 2021). For example, the most commonly reported positive effect of Facebook is its capacity as a learning tool for enhanced communication, collaboration, and sharing of information (Niu, 2019). Indeed, Facebook groups are the most reliable feature to conduct learning activities (Manca & Ranieri, 2016c), whereas Twitter has most commonly been used for communication and assessment purposes (Tang & Hew, 2017). In general, the use of social media has a positive impact on student learning. However, this is not necessarily attributed to the technologies per se, but to how the technologies are used, and how certain pedagogy and/or instructional strategy is developed (Hew & Cheung, 2013). As argued by Greenhow et al. ( 2019), educators should show clarity in studying evidence-based pedagogical approaches to teaching.

Some researchers (e.g., Churcher et al., 2014) have reported upon how the application of learning theories can facilitate social media integration in order to create virtual communities of practice and generate positive learning outcomes. The main focus of social constructivist learning theories is on learning as a process of active discovery and the construction of knowledge in a social and cultural context (Aubrey & Riley, 2016). In this line, social media support social constructivism theory (Dron & Anderson, 2014) as it is perceived by educators to provide direction for social constructivist teaching styles (Rambe & Nel, 2015). In addition, the connectivist approach views learning as a network phenomenon influenced by technology and socialization (Siemens, 2006), as learners are encouraged to engage in peer-to-peer dialogue, sharing resources and promote communication skills (Siemens & Weller, 2011). From this perspective, social media can provide a platform for mixing learning and social activities (Manca, 2020).

In general, while students at all levels seem to harbour positive views on academic uses and applications of social media, educators appear to be somewhat more cautious than students (Piotrowski, 2015). Academics are most likely to use social media for research and career development than to support learning and teaching activities (Chugh et al., 2021; Manca & Ranieri, 2016b). This is likely due to the fact that it can be difficult for educators to maintain best practice of pedagogy while continuously learning how to incorporate emerging technologies (Churcher et al., 2014). Existing research on the use of social media in higher education has been mostly about the effectiveness of social media as a teaching and learning tool (Manca & Ranieri, 2013, 2016b; Tess, 2013), but there has been a lack of empirical data (Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017) and support from theory (Al-Qaysi et al., 2020).

Ngai et al. ( 2015) argue that the development of a theoretical framework for work in this area can be supported by a combination of both technology and educational theories. Al-Qaysi et al. ( 2020) found that whereas the Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT: Katz, 1959) and the social constructivism theory (Wertsch, 1985) are the most widely used educational theories in social media, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM: Davis, 1989) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT: Venkatesh & Davis, 2000) are the most extensively used technology theories in studying social media adoption in education.

Indeed, there is a lack of theoretically based research that could lead to a coherent set of practices regarding the use of social media use in higher education. This shortcoming of theoretical development in pedagogical approaches to the use of social media in higher education has important implications also for social media literacies. Manca et al. ( 2021) remind us that educators who do not integrate learning theory into their teaching practices run the risk of having a superficial understanding of the construction and development of meaning in favour of centring technology.

This review of the literature purposely focuses upon research that is theoretically grounded and examines the most recurrent models and theories adopted to support pedagogical use of social media in higher education.

2.2 Systematic reviews on social media in education

The increasing number of systematic reviews related to the use of social media in education highlights the importance of these reviews in shaping educational research, identifying future research directions, and bridging the research-practice divide (Chong et al., 2022). Scholars have adopted several approaches to systematic reviews of scientific literature: (1) qualitative synthesis (e.g., Manca, 2020; Niu, 2019); (ii) meta-analysis (also known as quantitative synthesis) (e.g., Al-Qaysi et al., 2020; Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017); (iii) qualitative and quantitative synthesis (e.g., Greenhow & Askari, 2017; Manca & Ranieri, 2013, 2016b; Manca et al., 2021; Tang & Hew, 2017); (iv) bibliometric analysis (e.g., Barrot, 2021a; Lopes et al., 2017; Rehm et al., 2019); and most recently (v) mixed methods approach using bibliometric analysis and qualitative analysis (e.g., Barrot, 2021b).

In their bibliometric analyses, Lopes et al. ( 2017) explored the use of Facebook in educational research, used Web of Science as the database to generate 260 articles from multiples levels of screening. The study found that most articles focused on social media, student's learning, and case study research designs. It validated the versatility of Facebook as a platform for teaching and learning across different countries and disciples, however it did not study theories or models that can best examine Facebook acceptance.

In their bibliometric analysis, Rehm and colleagues ( 2019) focused on multiple social media platforms. Their findings showed that five out of the top 20 cited papers across all journals on instructional design and technology scholarship between 2007 and 2017 were on social media, indicating the growing interest in this topic within educational research.

Barrot ( 2021a) examined the scientific literature related to the use of social media for education. They found that, out of the 15 examined social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube attracted the greatest attention. The data also revealed that studies on Facebook (9 out of 10) stand out in terms of citation. These findings suggest a growing interest in the use of Facebook for educational purposes. The authors suggested two possible reasons for this. Firstly, as the number of social media platforms and active users increases, so too does the number of research projects that explore their pedagogical use. Secondly, the more sophisticated the platform, the more likely it is to be used for teaching and learning.

From this review, it can be seen that only a few studies so far have mapped the scientific literature of social media in higher education using a mixed method approach - more precisely, content and bibliometric analyses. To complement and extend these earlier reviews, the current systematic review mapped the scientific literature of social media as a teaching and learning tool, giving a wider coverage to determine which theoretical frameworks can best examine the acceptance and pedagogical use of social media in higher education. Thus, the current study was undertaken to understand the landscape of scholarly work in social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education, particularly its growth, geographical and publication distribution, speech patterns, referring to most commonly used terms or dominant terms, regarding the evolution of the term "social media", and the analysis of theories / models that are used to examine social media acceptance and adoption in higher education.

3 Rationale and research question

1. (1)
What are the main characteristics of the scientific literature in terms of (a) year of publication, (b) publication outlets, (c) leading countries, and (d) affiliations and core authors?

2. (2)
What are the most frequent speech patterns and research trends within the studies?

3. (3)
What theoretical frameworks / models were employed in the studies to guide social media integration in education? And, which study aims are most commonly aligned with such frameworks / models?

4 Methods

A mixed methods approach combining quantitative (bibliometric analysis) and qualitative (content analysis) methods was used to develop a complementary picture of the research area in terms of context for trends (Plano Clark, 2010) and to triangulate findings in order that they may be mutually corroborated (Bryman, 2006). Qualitative content analysis is useful for "... the subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns" (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; p 1278). Bibliometric analysis is a rigorous, systematic, and innovative method for analysing publication productions and research trends (de Oliveira et al., 2019; Erfanmanesh & Abrizah, 2018). It enables the identification of relationships among different aspects of the scientific literature through the analysis of publications and documents according to specific characteristics, such as authors, journals, institutions and countries (Esen et al., 2020).

To increase the accuracy of the current analysis, books, book chapters, and book reviews were excluded, with a focus on peer-reviewed articles, proceedings papers, and literature reviews (Leong et al., 2021).

The two databases were searched using the following search string:

(TS=(("social media" OR "social networking site*" OR facebook OR twitter OR Instagram)) AND TS=(("higher education" OR "third level" OR universit* OR college OR academic*)) AND TS=((teaching OR learning OR "educational tool*"))) AND ((LA==("ENGLISH")) NOT (DT==("BOOK" OR "BOOK REVIEW" OR "BOOK CHAPTER"))

This study methodology is based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines (Moher et al., 2009). PRISMA supports a transparent approach for systematic reviews and ensures a replicable procedure (e.g., review protocol, search strategy, article selection criteria). When considering the criteria for inclusion and exclusion of literature the emphasis was upon studies assessing the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool and not, for instance, as a marketing / communication too. In addition, studies focused on English as a second language were excluded as these are often seen as courses that provide support to leaners, rather than leading to a defined exit award per se. Table 1 presents the screening criteria.

The first screening of sourced articles ( N  = 4,277) involved analyses of titles and abstracts. This process resulted in 812 records. Some reasons for exclusion included: studies related to studying English language; use of social media for communication purposes; studies focused on cyberbullying; social media addiction; social media marketing.

The second level of screening involved checking the full paper, classifying the study in terms of sources and to identify theoretical frameworks or models-hence selecting them for the content analysis. This resulted in 772 records, which were all eligible for bibliometric analysis. The following four characteristics were most predominant: (i) studies presenting a theoretical framework / model ( n = 55), (ii) empirical studies about teaching and learning without theory ( n = 221), (iii) studies about perceptions and attitudes without theory ( n = 424), and (iv) conceptual studies ( n = 72). For the content analysis, only the 55 studies that utilised a theoretical framework / model were included (Fig. 1).

4.1 Procedure

Analyses commenced with bibliometric analysis of the 772 articles obtained through the second screening, identifying the main characteristics of the selected publications (year of publication, publication venues, authors, institutions, countries, and most frequent used terms).

To display the dominant terms, full counting method has been considered (Leydesdorff & Park, 2016). Thus, each publication has the overall weight equal to Ni (Ni being the total number of terms in the "i"-publication) and each term has a weight of 1. The size of the circle and the label in the map is associated with the weight of a term. In general, the stronger the relationship between two terms, the closer they are located on the map. We have considered the "total link strength attribute", which indicates the total strength of a term's links with other terms (Gutiérrez-Salcedo et al., 2018). Whilst curved lines on the maps represent the links between terms, colours are used to indicate the cluster to which each term belongs.

Finally, the evolution of "social media" and other main terms used in abstracts were analysed and presented with the overlay visualization in Vosviewer (terms are coloured based on their year of publication). We used the viridis colour scheme obtained from Matplotlib, where by default, colours range from blue-green to yellow scheme.

For the second analytic component of the study, qualitative content analysis methods were applied to the 55 studies resulting from the second screening. The objectives were to gain an in-depth understanding of the theories/models employed in the studies and to identify the main research aims linked to the employed theories/models. Content analysis was based on a number of categories which were adapted from Manca and Ranieri ( 2013) and derived from analysis by author 1 and author 2. This process resulted in the following categories: (i) attitudes of social media as learning tool (studies which main aim was to investigate students' or instructors' attitudes towards the use of social media); (ii) social media as a supportive learning tool (studies that supported active collaborative learning, student engagement, effective communication, enhancing group task performance); (iii) efficacy of social media as learning tool (studies that focused on the impact of social media on different aspects of teaching and learning, such as: community building and informal learning). For the purpose of ensuring a level of reliability, an iterative process of analysis was carried by author 1 and author 2, and the individually derived codes were double-checked by comparing results. Once the set of codes had been recognised, dataset coding reliability was calculated (Cohen's k = 0.85). The disagreement was resolved with discussion and subsequent consensus.

5 Results

5.1 Study characteristics

Figure 2 provides the time evolution of the annual scientific production for the period analysed. The number of publications shows an upward trend until 2018, with two relatively higher values in 2015 and 2018. A slight decline is observed from 2019 onwards. The sharp drop during 2021 is due to the fact that the study covered the period between January and June of that year. We have applied a segmented linear regression (Liu et al., 1997), with two break points, in 2015 and 2018 (Liu & Qian, 2009). The segmented least squares forecast for the year 2021, provides an estimated annual value of 74 publications with a high reliability (R ²  = 0.94).

Table 2 shows the number of publications by journal (conferences proceedings were not included). This represents the distribution of the journals with a production of seven or more records involving 91 publications (11.7% of the corpus). It was found that Computers & Education and Education and Information Technologies have published the most articles on social media as a teaching and learning tool, with a total of 18 articles each. The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Computers in Human Behaviour, and Internet and Higher Education had 13, 12, and 9 related articles, respectively.

The scholars who published the most articles are presented in Table 3. Overall, the data set containing the 772 articles comprises a total of 2,754 authors. For the purpose of this particular set of analyses, details about professional profile and number of publications are focused on journals only. The average number of co-authors was 3.56. Therefore, authors with more than four relevant published articles were considered core authors in the aforementioned field. The list is a combination of nine leading and emerging scholars from wide geographical areas. As shown, three scholars are from universities in Malaysia, three from Romania, one from Hong Kong, one from Italy, and one from South Africa. The disciplinary areas of the core authors represent a variety of disciplines, with many of these related to the education and technological fields.

5.2 Dominant terms and research trends

The word student was the most commonly used word in the abstracts ( n = 2,156), followed by social media ( n = 1,077), use ( n = 1,043), Facebook ( n = 858), and learning ( n = 667) (see Table 6 in Appendix A for terms with more than 120 occurrences). These results indicate that the articles mostly focused on Facebook use as a social media for learning. Furthermore, the platforms that attracted the greatest attention were Facebook ( n = 858) and Twitter ( n = 274). Figure 3 shows the most used word in abstract. As can be seen, the high impact term "student" presents strong connections with use, social media, learning, technology, tool, social network, group, Facebook, and Twitter. Five clusters of terms were discovered as part of the visualization. Each cluster was constituted from a set of terms that are clearly delimited by their location in the map. These clusters reveal the presence of five thematic strands in the literature that focus on: (i) "student-education-platform-process-communication" (colour red); (ii) "Facebook-Twitter-participation-interaction" (green); (iii) "Learning-Use-Technology" (blue); (iv) "social media-university-social media use-social media platform-educational use" (yellow); and (v) "academic attitude-performance-intention-usefulness-satisfaction" (purple).

When the distribution of these words is shown on a year-by-year basis (Fig. 4), it is revealed that studies focused on the study of Facebook page, Facebook use, informal learning, and peripheral terms such as blog, community, video, or web, is located in the initial years under study. High impact terms such as Facebook, student, learning, use, education, or social network are published on average in studies between 2014 and 2016. The term "social media" is introduced from 2016, in papers between 2017-2018, linking it to terms such as "data", "educational use", and "educational tool". From 2018 onwards, the focus of the studies is towards "attitudes", "influence", "intention", "performance", or "satisfaction".

Four research trends are identifiable throughout the period of study (Table 4). From 2010-2014, studies were mainly focused on Facebook as a community of practice, blog, and for informal learning. From 2014-2016, Facebook was still relevant, but studies had more emphasis on the educational learning process of the use of Facebook by students. During the period of 2016-2018, the term "social media" peaked and studies were focused on social media for education and as an educational tool. From 2018 onwards, the focus of the studies was towards "attitudes", "influence", "intention", "performance", or "satisfaction".

5.3 Theoretical frameworks/models

The findings show that only 55 studies out of 772 cited a theoretical framework or model, this is only 7% of total number of studies. Content analysis was used to analyse more in-depth information about the 55 selected papers. A total of 16 frameworks/models were identified. They were grouped into six categories of similarity. These are shown in Table 5 in relation to the number of citing studies per category. The number of citing studies is higher than the sample size ( n  = 55) because there are some studies that uses more than one framework/model. The most cited theoretical framework/model was technology acceptance models which were cited in 41 studies. This is followed by learning theories cited in 11 studies. Social capital theory/innovation diffusion theory is cited in 5 studies; uses and gratification theory/social gratification theory cited in 3 studies; lastly, Information systems success model/communication theory and theory of reasoned action/theory of planned behaviour are only cited in 2 studies, respectively.

Figure 5 shows the use of the main framework(s)/model(s) categories from 2013 to 2021. Figure 5 highlights that studies began citing theory in 2013, with further significant increases identifiable in 2017 and 2020. It also indicates that technology acceptance theories are predominantly the most employed theories in all years, 2020 having the highest publications.

The 55 studies were further analysed by study aims which were categorised using the following classification: (1) attitudes of social media as learning tool ( n = 32); (2) social media as a supportive learning tool ( n = 16); (3) efficacy of social media as learning tool ( n = 7). The study aims over time are revealed in Fig. 6. The results indicate that publications with the aim of investigating attitudes of social media as a learning tool are the most common with 2017 being the most popular year of publication.

Finally, to represent the empirical relationships among the aims and the theoretical frameworks/models, a word co-occurrence analysis providing a similarity matrix was carried out (Hu et al., 2013). A measure of similarity is obtained by counting the co-occurrences (Yang et al., 2012), which makes it possible to represent the relationships (conceptual clustering) that exist among the aims and frameworks/models (Chen et al., 2019). Direct lines represent connections between the theoretical frameworks/models. Figure 7 indicates that the strongest relationship is presented by studies with the aim to explore attitudes of social media as learning tool by integrating a technology acceptance model. This is followed by information and communication theories being used to explain the efficacy of social media as learning tool. Learning theories are mostly related to studies that are aimed at exploring social media as a supportive learning tool.

6 Discussion

The current study has mapped the scientific literature regarding the use of social media in higher education teaching and learning (2009 to 2021). The central aim was to document research trends, dominant terms, and the main characteristics of studies, with a focus on providing a new perspective on the theoretical groundings that may explain the pedagogical integration of social media within higher education teaching and learning.

The following sections discuss the three research questions of this study in relation to results concerning both the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool and its pedagogical integration.

6.1 Characteristics of the scientific literature

In terms of publication venues, Computers & Education, which is an international peer reviewed journal and one of the most prominent journals on the use of technology in education (Arici et al., 2019), has published the highest number of papers. The majority of the publications are also international, implying that educational research in social media is pedagogically used in local, regional, or international learning contexts (Barrot, 2021a).

Geographically, results showed widespread interest across different countries, with more than half of the studies conducted outside of Europe. Whilst Barrot ( 2021a) has reported that the US was by far the leading country in this field, Manca ( 2020) found that most of the research was from the Middle East.

6.2 Dominant terms and research trends

Based on the clusters of terms identified from the analysis of the most used words in abstracts, the platforms that attracted the greatest attention were Facebook and Twitter. In her review, Barrot ( 2021a) also found that these platforms were the most popular, and suggested that Facebook and Twitter are more likely to be used for teaching and learning as they offer multiple affordances when compared to other less developed/newer platforms.

In our corpus of literature, the term "social media" starts to flourish from 2016. Many studies with a focus on the use of social media as an educational tool started to be published in that timeframe (e.g., Balakrishnan, 2017; Manca & Ranieri, 2016a, 2016b; Sobaih et al., 2016). From 2018 to 2021, research trends were more focused on studies about attitudes and satisfaction, confirming trends from earlier studies on attitudes regarding Facebook (e.g., Manca & Ranieri, 2013, 2016a, 2016b). Manca and Ranieri ( 2016c) argued that whilst there was a favourable attitude towards social media use for education, many academics would express a preference for using social media for personal and professional use, rather than for teaching and learning purposes.

6.3 Theoretical frameworks/models and study aims

The third research question examined the studies which had included a theoretical framework/model to explain the integration of social media in learning and teaching. The findings show that only 55 studies out of 772 cited a theoretical framework or model. This result demonstrates a general lack of theoretically based research. This concurs with the findings of Manca et al. ( 2021) who concluded that studies that do not integrate learning theory run the risk of superficial understanding of the pedagogical advantages of social media for learning and teaching.

Our findings show that 16 theoretical frameworks/models guided the 55 studies, with the technology acceptance models being the most frequently used. These theoretical frameworks/models were present in 41 studies. Thus, with the overwhelming presence of technology acceptance models, future research should endeavour to adopt other theoretical frameworks/models to verify the results obtained from TAM and its variants. For example, Al-Qaysi et al. ( 2020) argued that the development of a theoretical framework that can best examine the integration of social media for learning and teaching can be justified by the use of the uses and gratification theory (Katz, 1959) and the social constructivism theory (Wertsch, 1985). Furthermore, the use of social media for teaching and learning should be a pedagogical decision and not a technology one (Everson et al., 2013). Considering that educational technology research to date has aimed to understand the integration of, and factors affecting, technology use, mainly by employing theories from psychology and information systems, it was found in a recent study by Valtonen et al. ( 2022) that the largest amount of educational research targeted how technology can support learning processes based on different learning theories. This is in contrast with our findings which have shown that technology acceptance theories are the most studied frameworks/models in social media for teaching and learning. The reason for this contradiction is that Valtonen et al.'s ( 2022) review identified studies with an educational technology focus and not on social media specifically. Indeed, technology research's history is long, rich and broad (Weller, 2020). However, this indicates that the use of socially oriented theories of learning and constructionist tradition within various technology-enhanced contexts and environments is the most common fit to understand technology integration.

Aligned with our findings is the work of Ngai et al. ( 2015) and of Chintalapati and Daruri ( 2017) who declared that the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is widely used in social media research to explain the acceptance of social media and to measure the factors that influence its adoption.

As social media is an emerging technology, it is important to continually understand attitudes towards it. Hence, it is not surprising that most of the studies in our analysis were designed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of students and academics towards the use of social media as a learning and teaching tool. In theory, this is best explained by using an information systems theory such as the TAM (Ngai et al., 2015). However, this does not explain best practice when introducing social media as a learning and teaching tool. Many studies in the analysis which cited learning theories used TAM with social constructivism theory to examine collaborative learning and engagement through social media use (Alalwan et al., 2019; Alamri et al., 2020b; Al-Rahmi, et al., 2018).

Since Technology acceptance theories are designed to examine teachers' and students' readiness to incorporate social media into teaching and learning practices, it is not surprising that they are aligned with attitudes towards social media as a teaching and learning tool. However, it appears that academic research has not much progressed in terms of providing better theoretical strength to pedagogical models and teaching practices.

Lastly, only 7 studies focused on the efficacy of social media as a learning tool which are supported by information and communication theories. For example, Chaka and Govender ( 2020) tested the implementation of mobile learning using Facebook as a medium of communication using a combination of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, Information Systems (IS) success model and the educational use of Facebook theory. Al-Rahmi et al. ( 2018) investigated the use of social media to encourage sharing knowledge, information, and discussion based on constructivism theory, technology acceptance model, and communication theory.

7 Conclusion and implications

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, we aimed to reveal research trends and most commonly used terms of social media for teaching and learning in higher education. The journals that published the most related papers, core scholars working on this field, and the countries in which the related research was based by employing a bibliometric analysis of the research. This analysis suggested that this research field is growing rapidly and evolving. This may be explained by the fact that social media have revolutionized the life of many people and thus attracting much attention.

Second, we employed content analysis to provide a new perspective on the theoretical groundings of the articles in the field. The results showed a lack of theoretical based research in this field, with some evidence of technology acceptance models and learning models as key theories that best explains the integration of social media as a teaching and learning tool.

Although the current study has provided useful insights regarding social media use in teaching and learning, some limitations need to be acknowledged. First, this study was not intended to report, discuss and analyse the findings of each study included in this review. Instead, it aimed to provide some numerical evidence that show the evolving research trends of social media for teaching and learning, as well as the frameworks/models studied and purpose of those focal studies. Second, this study analyses only the articles indexed in the WoS and ERIC database. Therefore, future studies could include articles from Scopus database, book chapters, book reviews, or other publications outside the chosen database. Thirdly, social media research is in its early stages, therefore new studies will continue to surface and continued proliferation of new social media technologies (Ngai et al., 2015). More recent social media in education research should be considered in future studies. Finally, future research could explore other research perspectives like research methods and contexts/disciplines.

This paper provides a new perspective on the theoretical groundings in the field of social media as a teaching and learning tool. Several implications can be drawn from this. Firstly, most studies are focused on investigating students and/or instructors' attitudes towards the use of social media by integrating technology acceptance models. Future studies should focus on "best practice" for integrating social media into pedagogy, tied to student learning outcomes by integrating learning theories. Such studies may also help shape future research on social media integration in formal education, resulting potentially in solutions to educational problems rather than technological ones. Secondly, it was noted that studies employing technology acceptance models may be overwhelming the greater body of literate at present, and therefore any future research should look at post-acceptance studies, such as the impact of usage on learning and/or issues relating to it (such as privacy, security, and trust) (Manca & Ranieri, 2016b). Finally, this study provided a review of the research landscape on the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool which can be used as a baseline in further advancing the field towards its full maturity.

As interest among scholars increases in using social media for teaching and learning, questions to consider for further research include the following: Can social media that are designed commercial purposes support learners in an educational environment? What does the adoption of social media mean from a theoretical perspective? In this regard, future work should address the pedagogical practices which are suitable for use with social media based on sound theoretical groundings.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

Eva Perez & Conor Mc Guckin

2. Institute of Educational Technology, National Research Council of Italy, Via de Marini 6, 16149, Genova, Italy

Stefania Manca

3. Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences, University of Granada, Campus Universitario Cartuja S/N, 18071, Granada, Spain

Rosaura Fernández-Pascual

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Correspondence to Eva Perez.

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Appendix A

Appendix A

Table

Table 6 Terms with the highest frequency in abstracts

6

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Perez, E., Manca, S., Fernández-Pascual, R. et al. A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education: A theoretical grounding perspective. Educ Inf Technol 28, 11921-11950 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11647-2
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Keywords

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education: A theoretical grounding perspective - Education and Information Technologies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The use of social media in higher education has been demonstrated in a number of studies to be an attractive and contemporary method of teaching and learning. However, further research and investigation are required in order to align social media's pedagogical benefits with the theoretical perspectives that inform educational practices.

# data[].attributes.headline
Understanding the Science of Social Media – Edutopia” (2023)

# data[].attributes.subject
Understanding the Science of Social Media – Edutopia” (2023)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Administration & Leadership

Schools can play a big role in educating students and their families about the potential pitfalls of social media.

Author and futurist Brian Solis has said that "social media is more about sociology and psychology than technology." To take that a step further, social media really comes down to neurology-to how it influences our brains. Researchers have found a link between the amount of time adolescents spend on social media and their levels of depression, particularly among girls, and Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology, asserts that social media is the reason for a drastic uptick in mental health issues among children.

As educators know, schools are facing unprecedented amounts of student mental health and misconduct issues with strong connections to social media. School leaders are at a loss trying to keep up with these issues. Doing so will take a multifaceted approach to address the social media crisis among students. The first step is awareness of social media's influence on the brain, followed by educating students and parents on ways to navigate these troubled waters.

Why is it so easy to fall into a TikTok rabbit hole? You know these situations when you spend hours mindlessly scrolling Facebook, Instagram, etc., with no sense of time. One reason could be the influence that social media has on a chemical neurotransmitter in your brain.

Dopamine is a powerful and important neurotransmitter. It's known as the "get up and go" or "pursuit" neurotransmitter. It motivates us to get things done. We feel our best when our dopamine level is associated with extended periods of effort. Our dopamine level goes out of whack when we receive repeated "dopamine hits" with little to no effort at all. When this occurs, the dopamine is in control of us, leading to compulsive behaviors.

Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, asserts that there are peripersonal and extrapersonal spaces. Your peripersonal space includes items on your person or within your reach. Items in your extrapersonal space are literally out of reach. A hunter going out in the woods to hunt requires extended periods of effort to do so. Dopamine will be released over that period of time in anticipation of the hunt. The deer is out of the hunter's reach; therefore, it exists in extrapersonal space. Once the hunter has the deer, it's in peripersonal space, and dopamine shuts off.

So how is all this related to social media? Social media content falls under extrapersonal space. There is something always there, and dopamine is constantly pursuing it. As more and more dopamine gets released, your threshold increases, making it more and more difficult to feel accomplished. You end up compulsively scrolling and scrolling.

Social media is designed to keep our interest through the use of powerful artificial intelligence algorithms. These algorithms will quickly probe you to determine your interests. Ultimately, they are seeking to get your dopamine levels up, so you go into pursuit mode. The ease of access and endless quantity is what especially complicates the addictive behaviors associated with social media.

How can we expect our students (and their parents) to understand how to navigate those social media waters without this understanding?

Social Media Education

Schools are ideally set up to help educate youth and the community to bring about an awareness of the driving force behind social media and provide practical safeguards. Offering health classes or having the school counselor teach lessons is a good place to start, as early as elementary school. It's important to note that when these topics are discussed in class, information should also be sent home.

Common Sense Media has lots of free information and resources to help teachers and school administrators educate students and parents on digital citizenship, including social media. In particular, they have self-paced trainings and videos.

Lesson topics should include the following elements.

Usage limits: The U.S. surgeon general recommends that children under the age of 14 should not be on social media; most social media apps set the age requirement at 13+.

If a parent is comfortable with age 14, then a daily usage limit is the next step. Increased social media use has been associated with higher levels of mental health issues, decreased academic performance, lack of exercise, and general decreased well-being. Therefore, children should be limited to 30-60 minutes a day to help avoid those issues. Both Google and Apple have screen time trackers to help parents or guardians monitor usage.

1. Do not respond.

2. Save the evidence.

3. Report it directly to the app company.

4. Contact the local police department if it involves a threat or ongoing harassment.

5. Notify the school's principal if it's associated with the school.

Appropriate conduct and safety: Digital etiquette and conduct while online is an integral piece of the education program. Students should be encouraged to sign a safety contract with their parents or guardians, and they should learn how to be a good digital citizen, how to identify and respond to grooming and predatory behaviors, and the dangers of sexting.

How to report cyberbullying or harassment: Inevitably, students will encounter some form of cyberbullying or harassment while online, as either a victim or a bystander. Steps should include:

Yearly Parent Informational Meeting

A yearly informational meeting should be held with your building's parent group, covering the following topics:

All educators and school leaders are urged to recognize their roles and responsibilities in better educating their students and in turn the community. Together, we can best help our youth and counter some of these troubling trends.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Understanding the Science of Social Media

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As social media issues continue to rise in schools, administrators can help students avoid the potential pitfalls of these networks.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Systematic Review of Social Media Use and Adolescent Identity Development

# data[].attributes.subject
A Systematic Review of Social Media Use and Adolescent Identity Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Systematic Review of Social Media Use and Adolescent Identity Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Social media have become a new context for adolescent identity development. However, it is challenging to build a thorough understanding of how social media and identity development are related because studies refer to different facets of social…

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How the Digital Age Is Affecting Students – Edutopia” (2024)

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How the Digital Age Is Affecting Students – Edutopia” (2024)

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How the Digital Age Is Affecting Students

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Five books that give insight into how social media and technology are shaping today’s students and their learning.

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Identity development in the digital context – Soh S. (2024)”

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Identity development in the digital context – Soh S. (2024)”

# data[].attributes.headline
Social Media Can Be Your Ally – Edutopia” (2023)

# data[].attributes.subject
Social Media Can Be Your Ally – Edutopia” (2023)

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Remind

Remind is a great tool that allows teachers to connect to students through their mobile device. Teachers create a group on Remind that students join with their phone number. The teacher can send text messages to groups of students without anyone having access to anyone else's numbers. It's one-way communication, not a potentially annoying group text message.

I use Remind to connect with my students after school, sending them messages about work that's due the next day or something to lift their spirits. Sometimes a silly message is the perfect thing after a long day of testing. Remind allows users to attach pictures and PDFs, so I can send documents via text in case students lost the paper copy that went home with them. Remind gives me the opportunity to keep them informed of what's going on at school. These messages are short and to the point, and the kids have said that they love getting those reminders.

Twitter

Twitter has been another great tool for sharing and connecting. When it comes to my classroom, I use Twitter to announce the day's homework and share random thoughts and ideas with students. It's also an easy way for students to ask me questions. It's important to become familiar with your district's policies about "following" students on Twitter or interacting with them through any social media site. My district doesn't allow it, so the only Twitter communication is through public mentions. If there is no district policy regarding this, you could lead the initiative to write it.

Over the years, Twitter has become a medium for students to expand their learning in the classroom. They've used Twitter to share something they saw outside of school that related to our class conversation. A student visiting Baltimore once tweeted a picture of Edgar Allan Poe's grave because we'd just completed a unit on his stories. I've also had students reach out on Twitter to set up a time to meet before or after school to discuss their classwork. As a communication tool, many students prefer it to email because of how quickly they can get a response. Twitter allows students to contact teachers and share more of their learning that happens outside of the classroom. I've also had students live tweet class discussions and our mock trial. These interactions allow students to feel more connected to the learning, and that's what teachers really want to see from their students.

Instagram

Instagram is a fun site for taking and sharing photos, and the kids love it. Some students are much more active on Instagram than they are on Twitter. I'm a pretty avid Instagram user, and students love to check out my photos. Instagram has different filters for altering the photos that you post. It's a simple and quick tool that any teacher can use in the classroom.

One great way to extend learning beyond the classroom with Instagram is to assign a learning scavenger hunt and have students post pictures of their finds with a specific hashtag. The scavenger hunt can revolve around a specific unit or theme, and students can post photos over the course of the unit or marking period. The final piece is a discussion to see how the photos connected. This is a very cool plan that lets students use a tool they're already familiar with and connect it to their learning. This isn't a graded assignment, just something fun to add another level to the classroom. The more opportunities we give students to think about the content we're teaching, the better their understanding of the material.

Blogging

Blogging is a huge part of social media. It's not just about the writing -- it's about the commenting. If students aren't connecting with others who are writing and sharing their thoughts, it's just an online journal. There's a place for journaling, but blogging offers the chance to make connections with people from all over the world. Using Twitter with blogs has been key in connecting students to conversations outside of the classroom that enhance the learning in the classroom.

One great hashtag that every teacher should explore is #Comments4Kids. This Twitter hashtag is designed to connect people to students who are blogging, and it really works. Every time I use this hashtag with my student blogs, students and other educators have left comments. When students see the notification that they have a comment, it blows their mind. They get to read the comment, respond to it, and think more deeply about what it is they're communicating. Reading and writing for their blog is no longer limited to just the classroom. They can now use their time at home to continue thinking and interacting about the day's topics that interest them. Blogging allows for powerful connections that can enhance student learning outside of the classroom.

Another way to use these tools is reaching out to students if there's a sudden cancellation in school or change in events. Michigan is one of those states where we've had to cancel school due to severe weather. Social media has connected us with our students during these times. Teachers can change assignment due dates, reschedule tests, and let kids know what will be expected of them when they return. Keeping students connected is good for everyone.

Social media allows teachers to pass along information in ways that weren't possible before. It knocks down the classroom walls and lets learning happen anywhere and at any time. It's important for teachers to start considering how they can use social media for connecting their students to support learning in a connected world.

The tools I've discussed here are only a few of many out there. Do you have a cool way to use one of these or any other social media tools? If you do, leave them in the comments sections below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Remind is a great tool that allows teachers to connect to students through their mobile device. Teachers create a group on Remind that students join with their phone number. The teacher can send text messages to groups of students without anyone having access to anyone else's numbers.

# data[].attributes.headline
Leveraging Social Media to Build a Digital PLN – Edutopia” (2023)

# data[].attributes.subject
Leveraging Social Media to Build a Digital PLN – Edutopia” (2023)

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Leveraging Social Media to Build a Digital PLN

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Tips for building a professional learning community online, whether you seek personal relationships or just want to follow other teachers.