Publication year: 2011
Source: The Internet and Higher Education, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 26 August 2011
Alona, Forkosh-Baruch , Arnon, Hershkovitz
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine cases in which social networking sites (SNS) are being utilized for scholarly purposes by higher-education institutes in Israel. The research addresses questions regarding content patterns, activity patterns, and interactivity within Facebook and Twitter accounts of these institutes. Research population comprises of 47 Facebook accounts and 26 Twitter accounts of Israeli universities or colleges and/or sub-divisions within these institutes. In addition to descriptive statistics, all tweets within Twitter accounts were analyzed and classified into categories, based on their content, for better understanding of how they can facilitate informal learning. Research findings suggest…