THE EDUCATIONAL USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES: FROM PROMISE TO REALITY
THE EDUCATIONAL USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES: FROM PROMISE TO REALITY

Summary/Abstract: The platforms supporting social networking activities on the Internet are applications for the creation, sharing and exchange of user-generated content that manifests in various forms. Users can freely express their ideas and opinions, and have opportunities to launch and participate in collaborative projects and virtual communities. Facebook (FB) is a social networking website featuring an explosive growth in the last years and an increased popularity among university students. For example, the number of Facebook users in Romania was 8.5 million in June 2016 (Facebrands.Ro, 2015) out of which 33% are young people of 15-24 years old. Recent research on the Facebook use shows that Romanian university students have large Facebook networks and spend a lot of minutes per day (Pribeanu & Lamanauskas, 2016). The social networking websites are challenging the university students to broaden their horizon and enlarge their social networks. The shift of paradigm towards social learning brings in front various activities such as: meetings, active participation, critical thinking, information and content sharing, collaboration, and debate. Last but not least, Facebook is favoring the informal education: students learn to be, to act, and to participate in a learning community (Brown & Adler, 2008). Although the main usage of Facebook is related to socialization (Madge et al., 2009), the social networking acts as a vehicle for spreading out information and knowledge as well as a stimulus for the engagement with various curricular and extra-curricular activities.

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