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Research Trends in the Use of Social Media as a Teaching and Learning Tool in
Higher Education: Content and Bibliometric Analysis

Conference Paper · September 2022

DOI: 10.21125/iceri.2022.1245

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 RESEARCH TRENDS IN THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A
TEACHING AND LEARNING TOOL IN HIGHER EDUCATION:
CONTENT AND BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS
E. Perez; S. Manca; R. Fernández-Pascual; C. Mc Guckin
Trinity College Dublin (IRELAND)

Abstract
The aim of this study was to reveal research trends from 2009 to 2021 by bibliometric analysis and to
examine qualitative content of articles related to the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool
in higher education. For bibliometric mapping analysis, a total of 772 articles were accessed and for
content analysis, a total of 55 articles were included. Results indicate that research interest in this area
is still growing, with recent studies still focused on attitudes of social media use for teaching and learning.
From 2010 to 2016, studies were mainly focused on Facebook as a community of practice, blog, and
for informal learning. The results also revealed that there is still a lack of theoretically informed research
in this field and a tendency to use technology acceptance models to explain attitudes towards the use
of social media, with less focus on pedagogical models. Learning theories were the least used by
researchers to explain integration and were mostly related to studies that were aimed at exploring social
media as a supportive learning tool.
Keywords: social media, teaching and learning, higher education, bibliometric analysis, content analysis

1 INTRODUCTION
The popularity of social media, among students, has increased dramatically in recent years because of
technological advances in Web 2.0 tools [1][2]. Indeed, social media has attracted over three billion
active users across the globe [3]. Such technologies have demonstrated their potential for learning and
teaching due to its functions for document exchange, virtual communication and knowledge information
[4]. Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), and online games have been widely
used for information gathering and dissemination, collaborative learning, and online social and
professional connections [5]. Most recently, Manca’s (2020) review of Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat
and WhatsApp revealed that the two most common activities used for learning by students were content
development and discussion for peer learning/assessment.
The potential use of social media for teaching and learning activities has received an increased amount
of interest and attention from the scholarly community [6]. A number of studies have presented evidence
regarding the use of social media by academics for personal, professional, and teaching purposes [7].
However, despite the increasing level of interest, there has been a paucity of research investigating how
academics are using social media specifically within their teaching practices [8] [9] [10].
Thus far, only a few studies have empirically mapped the use of social media in education across the
various disciplinary fields [6] [11]. In terms of specific social media platforms, some researchers have
found that Facebook groups are an effective tool to support learning, affording benefits not offered by
traditional online Learning Management Systems (LMS) [12] [13] [14]. Similarly, Tang and Hew (2017)
noted the potential of promoting positive learning using Twitter to access and create digital content and
collaboration between learners. Recently, studies have extended towards the utility of social media
platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat. Manca (2020) notes that whilst these platforms
have been gaining considerable attention among young people, they have been largely overlooked in
the scholarly literature.
However, although social media use in higher education has become relatively common [6], there is still
much to be researched in order to develop a better understanding of its use as a teaching and learning
tool [15]. In fact, research has demonstrated that evidence-based pedagogical approaches informed by
relevant empirical research are weak [16]. Thus, there is a necessity for further empirical work, grounded
in teaching, learning, and educational technology theories, that can advance this growing field of
education [17]. The challenge for the development of a pedagogy for social media integration is to
encourage robust and theoretically driven research that can explore the application of established
learning theories and the facilitation of social media in teaching and learning [18].

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This study provides a review of the research trends of social media use for teaching and learning
purposes in higher education (2009-2021). Specifically, this study addresses the following research
questions:
(1) What are the main research trends and characteristics of the scientific literature?
(2) What theoretical frameworks / models were employed in the studies to guide social media
integration in education?

2 METHODOLOGY
A mixed methods approach combining quantitative (bibliometric analysis) and qualitative (content
analysis) methods was used to develop a complementary picture of the research area in terms of context
for trends [19] and to triangulate findings in order that they may be mutually corroborated [20]. The
analysed studies were sourced from ERIC and Web of Science and those published from 2009 to June
2021 were included. 2009 was the first recorded fit for the criteria of concern to this study, which is in
line with recent studies that have highlighted that social media started to gain attention in 2010 [17]. The
Web of Science (WoS) was used as a search database in this study since it is the most important
bibliometric database [21], whereas ERIC on EBSCO databases was used as a subject specific
database in education research. The two databases were searched using the following search string:
(TS=(("social media" OR "social networking site*" OR facebook OR twitter OR Instagram)) AND
TS=(("higher education" OR "third level" OR universit* OR college OR academic*)) AND
TS=((teaching OR learning OR "educational tool*"))) AND ((LA==("ENGLISH")) NOT (DT==("BOOK"
OR "BOOK REVIEW" OR "BOOK CHAPTER"))
This study methodology is based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-Analyses) guidelines [22]. PRISMA supports a transparent approach for systematic reviews and
ensures a replicable procedure (e.g., review protocol, search strategy, article selection criteria). Figure
1 presents the review protocol.

Figure 1: PRISMA

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3 RESULTS
3.1 Study characteristics
Figure 2 provides the time evolution of the annual scientific production for the period analysed. The
number of publications shows an upward trend until 2018, with two relatively higher values in 2015 and
2018. A slight decline is observed from 2019 onwards. The sharp drop during 2021 is due to the fact
that the study covered the period between January and June of that year.

Figure 2 Number of papers on social media as a teaching and learning tool (2009-2021)

Table 2 shows the number of publications by journal (conferences proceedings were not included). This
represents the distribution of the journals with a production of seven or more records involving 91
publications (11.7% of the corpus). It was found that Computers & Education and Education and
Information Technologies have published the most articles on social media as a teaching and learning
tool, with a total of 18 articles each. The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Computers in
Human Behavior, and Internet and Higher Education had 13, 12, and 9 related articles, respectively.

Table 1 Popular publication venues

Journal Quartile No of Publications

Computers & Education Q1 18

Education and Information Technologies Q2 18

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology Q1 13

Computers in Human Behaviour Q1 12

Internet and Higher Education Q1 9

British Journal of Educational Technology Q1 7

International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Q1 7

Sustainability Q3 7

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3.2 Research Trends
Four research trends are identifiable throughout the period of study (Table 3). From 2010-2014, studies
were mainly focused on Facebook as a community of practice, blog, and for informal learning. From
2014-2016, Facebook was still relevant, but studies had more emphasis on the educational learning
process of the use of Facebook by students. During the period of 2016-2018, the term “social media”
peaked and studies were focused on social media for education and as an educational tool. From 2018
onwards, the focus of the studies was towards “attitudes”, “influence”, “intention”, “performance”, or
“satisfaction”.

Table 3: Research Trends

2010-2014 2014-2016 2016-2018 2018-2021

Dominance of Facebook Educational learning Social media in education Attitudes & satisfaction
processes

Facebook page, Facebook use, Facebook, student, learning, Social media, data, Attitudes, influence, intention,
informal learning, blog, use, education, social network educational use and performance satisfaction
community, video, web educational tool

3.3 Theoretical frameworks/models

The findings show that only 55 studies out of 772 cited a theoretical framework or model, this is only 7%
of total number of studies. Content analysis was used to analyse more in-depth information about the
55 selected papers. A total of 16 frameworks/models were identified. They were grouped into six
categories of similarity. These are shown in Table 4 in relation to the number of citing studies per
category. The number of citing studies is higher than the sample size (n=55) because there are some
studies that uses more than one framework/model. The most cited theoretical framework/model was
technology acceptance models which were cited in 41 studies. This is followed by learning theories cited
in 11 studies. Social capital theory/innovation diffusion theory is cited in 5 studies; uses and gratification
theory/social gratification theory cited in 3 studies; lastly, Information systems success
model/communication theory and theory of reasoned action/theory of planned behaviour are only cited
in 2 studies, respectively.

Table 4 Table 5 Top cited theoretical frameworks/models

Theoretical frameworks/model categories # of citing studies

Technology acceptance theories (TAM, UAUT, E-learning acceptance, Social media acceptance) 41

Learning theories (Constructivism theory/Vygotsky's social development and learning/collaborative 11

learning/social learning theory/connectivism)

SCT/IDT (Social capital theory/innovation diffusion theory). 5

UGT (uses and gratification theory/social gratification theory) 3

Information/communication theories (information systems success model/communication theory) 2

TRA/TPB (Theory of reasoned action/theory of planned behaviour) 2

4 CONCLUSIONS
The current study has mapped the scientific literature regarding the use of social media in higher
education teaching and learning (2009 to 2021). The central aim was to document research trends,
speech patterns, and the main characteristics of studies, with a focus on theoretical frameworks/models

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that may explain the pedagogical integration of social media within higher education teaching and
learning.
The main finding indicates a shift from studies focused on Facebook, as the most researched social
media platform and its use by students for informal learning, to a more recent trend from 2018 onwards
showing studies still focused on attitudes, intentions, and satisfaction of social media as a teaching and
learning tool. This is aligned with results from the content analysis which showed that only a minority of
studies report the use of theory, and those that do report research aims based on the investigation of
attitudes towards social media as a learning tool by integrating a technology acceptance model.

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