Why use social media?

In Australia, Facebook is the largest online community of people with half the population active on the platform each month.  YouTube has just as many visitors each month, and is the second largest search engine in the world.  Over 4 million Aussies have a LinkedIn presence, and more than 2.5 million are active on Twitter. 

Many of our students and their families and friends are already using social media so it makes sense to engage with them using the technologies they are already familiar with. The use of social media in teaching and learning can also provide learners with:

• a more connected and constructivist learning experience,
• an opportunity to develop digital and social literacy skills,  and
• an opportunity to engage using mobile devices whenever and wherever they have an internet connection and on sites where they are already engaged.