The use of different forms of social media by students and staff of Michigan State University has a huge impact on campus life.
Whether a student is tweeting a funny photo to @MSUPartyStories on Twitter or drafting a final project paper with a group via Facebook, social media on this college campus is used by many.
According to the Pearson Annual Survey of Social Media Use by Higher Education Faculty of 2013, the use of social media in teaching has grown 21.3 percent from 2012 to 2013 and now stands at 41 percent.
“Social media, especially in the classroom, offers opportunities to communicate discussion to engage with one or multiple people,” said Karl Gude, professor on the Creative Process and Social Media Marketing in the Communication Arts and Sciences College.
Gude himself said he uses one of the most popular social media networks in the world, Twitter, to communicate with his students during his lectures.
“Twitter gives a voice to the shy, especially in a large lecture hall,” Gude said. “When I ask a question in one of my large classes I get the same four kids in the front row who raise their hand. If I ask them to tweet at our class Twitter account, I get hundreds of responses to show up on the big screen for everyone to see and learn from.”
Sophomore dietetics major Nicole Erickson has had several courses at the university thus far in her college career in which the professors have instigated the use of social media in their teaching like Gude has.
“Last year my cohort class had both Twitter and Facebook accounts for teacher-to-student communication,” Erickson said. “It allowed me and my fellow students to get our questions answered quickly and learn more efficiently in a lot of instances throughout the semester.”
Erickson said there are obviously many benefits to social media on MSU’s campus and that it affects students like herself in a very positive manner for the most part, but there is also a drawback when it comes to being a distraction.
“Since its’ creation, social media has always been a big distraction in the classroom for students,” said Gude. “Trying to make students stay off social media sites during a lecture is like trying to hold back flood waters. On the other hand though it (social media) has definitely raised the bar for professors and has them making their courses more exciting and engaging so their students want to pay attention.”
Gude said while being the professor for 400-student lectures he has always noticed an extreme amount of social media usage by his students during his class time. Although he does not appreciate the fact they do not pay attention, he said it is ultimately their own loss if they are making the decision not to listen.
“I think it’s important to recognize that even though there’s a lot of acceptance with social media, you can actually offend people when you prefer social media over them when you’re with them,” Gude said. “And that includes professors in a classroom.”
According to a study conducted by Common Sense Media, more than 90 percent of teenagers have used a form of social media.
Aside from social media in a classroom setting with instructor involvement, there is also a whole other side of social media on campus with a ‘just for fun’ nature and mainly just for students.
“I use social media for a lot of school things, but for me it’s mainly for keeping in touch with the people I don’t get to see every day,” said junior general management major John Yu. “It’s a great tool for things such as buying and selling sports tickets, finding events and parties, and much more.”
“I think the three top social media sites college kids are clinging to right now are definitely Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook,” said Erickson. “These three are what keep us connected to one another the best.”
One of the most popular Twitter accounts followed by MSU students, @MSUCrushes, was created Spring semester 2013, according to the account creators who wish to remain anonymous.
The three girls who started the page said they created it hoping it would be popular with their fellow students, but did not expect it to get as big as it did in such a short time.
The Twitter account currently holds 10,393 followers, according to its page.
“We chose Twitter for our account as we believe it is the number one most popular and influential social media website being used right now,” said one of the MSU Crushes creators.
On social media on MSU’s campus as a whole, the girls said they consider it a useful tool for keeping up with news and spreading ideas quickly.
They also said it’s great for easy communication with friends and followers, as well as sharing opinions on different topics.
“We really just wanted to spread the love at MSU,” said one of the MSU Crushes girls. “It really makes peoples’ day to get mentioned on the page and to get a shout out when they least expect it.”