Twitter, Tweeting, and Togetherness:

The Impact of Social Media on Freshman And

Their Connection to Campus Community Life

Dr. Rebecca Hong rebecca.hong@biola.edu

Biola University, School of Education SITE 2013

Study Overview

• Research Impetus • Theoretical Framework • Methodology • Pilot Study Findings

Research Impetus

Why Twitter?

• 140 Characters

• Educational tool to engage students and mobilize faculty into a more active and participatory role

• Twitter more amenable to an ongoing, public dialogue than FB because it is a microblogging platform (Ebner, et al. 2010)

• Top 3 types of tweets: personal life, work life and sharing news (Smith & Rainie, 2010)

Why Freshmen?

• 94% of first year college students use social network websites (Higher Education Research Institute)

• Pew Internet reports U.S. Twitter users as younger, with greater popularity among minorities and urban dwellers (Smith & Rainie, 2010; Smith, 2011)

Research Impetus: Why Freshmen?

Theoretical Framework

Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977)

Observation

Retention

Reproduction

Motivation

1.Separation !

2. Transition !

3. Incorporation !

Astin’s Involvement Theory

http://www.geekosystem.com/author/erin-podolak/page/3/

Methodology

MethodsHeard of TwitterNever Heard of Twitter

• Sample

• First Year Seminar: Elementary Education

• 37 Freshmen Students

• Two Sections

• 12 Weeks

• Survey

• 36 Questions

• 30 Likert Scale

• 6 Open-ended

Twitter Account Holders and Usage

Non-User User 0-1 2-45-7 8+

Out of those who had a Twitter account !•Only 30% of the students tweeted more than 5x a week !•50% of student tweeted less than 1x a week

Twitter Users

Tweeting Parameters• Set up individual

Twitter account

• Following and Followers

• At least 5 tweets per week

• Tweeting categories

• Hashtags

• Instagram

• Weekly Top 10 tweets

Pilot Study Preliminary Findings

!

Let’s Do the 2257

numbersTotal Tweets

0

75

150

225

300

Tweets

Campus EventsDorm-LifeClassFriendsQuestionsHome & FamilyOtherConcerns

what are we tweeting? breakdown of tweets by type

hashtags

#667general

#7class

seventy-one tweetsper class section

Tweeting Habits

0 10 20 30 40

Several Times/Day 1x/Day1x/Every Other Day 1-2x/Day1x/Week

38%

14%

30%

14%

6%

Tweeting Tool

41%

59%

Professor - Student Connection

0

10

20

30

40

Strongly Disagree Disagree NeitherAgree Strongly Agree

24%35%

19%16%

5%

Twitter To Communicate

0

12.5

25

37.5

50

Strongly Disagree Disagree NeitherAgree Strongly Agree

5% 3%

27%24%

41%

Learning Through Tweets

0

10

20

30

40

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree Strongly Agree

Learning About Classmates’ Freshman ExperienceAware of Activities Through Classmates’ Tweets

76%

54%

The “I” In Twitter

Loved sharing about their freshman year experience through

Tweeting

59%

0

7.5

15

22.5

30

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither AgreeStrongly Agree

Openly Share

OutletActivities

&

Events

54%

Sense of Community

22%

35%

27%

14%3%

Classmates College Community

16%

27%

27%

24%

5%

StronglyDisagree DisagreeNeither AgreeStrongly Agree

Had Fun Tweeting

0

12.5

25

37.5

50

Strongly Disagree Disagree NeitherAgree Strongly Agree

41%

22%24%

8%5%

0

10

20

30

40

Strongly Disagree Disagree NeitherAgree Strongly Agree

30%

11%

24%

35%

!

I’m Here and I Matter benefits of learning about my freshman experience

twitter experience

awesome

rushed but fun

helpful when i had questions

new but fun

great way to learn about others in my class and

community

cool to get to know others and find common interests

i already do enough social networking

inconvenient assignment

enjoying seeing other people’s tweets and to see similarities and differences during our

freshman year

I felt like I was getting to the know the people outside of class, and almost talking to everyone indirectly

it allowed me to have the knowledge of when I should reach out and encourage one of my classmates

great way to know what was going on in the Biola

community and branch out to different events

what to tweet

my moodwhat was interesting and exciting in my life

what i found important or memorable during the

week

what i was currently doing

whenever i thought, “i need to tweet this!”

what i thought others would want to hear about

something that could benefit other students

food at the cafe

being sick

something that was meaningful to me

something on my mind that i can’t share on facebook

influence your experience as a new freshman on campus

It helped to see how other freshmen were doing at a new environment and so I didn't feel like an alien.

made me not doubt myself as much

helped me see that i wasn't the only one sinking under all the stuff we had to do

I knew more about my professor in this class than I did in others

constant communication throughout the week with this class

helped me see more of the activities on campus along with what everyone else was doing

good reminder to myself that I am not the only one going through these things as a freshmen and that others are stressing and having fun along with me

enjoyed the sense of community this experience brought

learned that we all do stupid things because we are freshman!

helped me make new friends this first freshman semester

thank you