Social Media to Students

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, plus a social media overreaction.” ~ True Said

With so much information sharing, exchanging & collecting on Social Media platforms; it becomes very important especially for Students to decide, what should be included & excluded in Social Media, and how much involved one should be, with this platform, which in a way is quite helpful and on the other hand very harmful too, if it’s not used in a constructive manner by the young generations.

Before jumping into the advantages of social media, let us have a brief on different types of social media that exist today :

• Micro-blogging: Tumblr, Twitter
• Photo-sharing: Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat
• Video-sharing: Facebook Live, Periscope, YouTube & YouTube-Live, Instagram Live
• Social networking: LinkedIn & Facebook

Now let’s dive into the list of advantages of Social Media for students. They are;

• Learning & networking
• Create a community to collaborate & share study notes
• Support from Professors on doubts & clarifications through social media groups
• Increased Student participation & collaboration: designate a study group hashtag, for discussions
• Encourage creative expression
• Team projects are easier to discuss, review & compile through a social group discussion
• Experiencing global exposure through Twitter, LinkedIn & others
• Rich eLearning Media available
• LinkedIn helps in employment opportunities when shared your resume or involved in discussions
• Video conferencing abilities to discuss on a class session, if missed due to illness or other constrains
• Start a contact list or group for the class to collaborate and share study tips
• For missed classes or lectures, have someone stream or record the lecture through YouTube, FB, Periscope or Instagram
• Use Google Hangouts to facilitate group study sessions
• Follow Authors & their notes & e-learning by following their social media profiles or groups
• Ask questions to experts and influencers on LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, twitter profiles etc.,
• Save, curate, and share infographics using collection-building tools such as Pinterest
• Use Google Drive or Dropbox to save study materials online
• Follow subject specialization, course topics, expert names hashtags for more information
• Send video notes, questions, or reminders to your schoolmates
• Helping students develop their extra-curricular activities by referring music & videos

While we follow the above points to best benefits from Social Media, it’s very important to follow these safe tips for Social Media use;

1. Be careful while accepting friends’ request
2. Be careful what you post on social media
3. Avoid popularity & ideology until you’re willing to do so
4. Manage your profile settings to share the required details
5. Consider your security settings thoughtfully
6. Avoid sharing personal images and be more professional
7. Think before tagging others for your posts
8. Don’t trust opening every link you see or receive

Additional info; few Online Tools that can be helpful to students in their online studies;

• Zoom – A free video conferencing app
• Evernote or Google Keep – Take your notes online
• Quizlet or Study Stack – Create your own practice quizzes
• Grammarly – Online writing assistant; helps in proofreading
• GoConqr – Online study resources
• HowToStudy.org – Excellent overall resource to learn different skills
• Calendar, Task List or Email program-related tools online