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Social media and students: Motivs of use and gratifications. Evidences for learning

Abstract:

Even though new generations use social media as a common media, their use in the educational area hasn't still been generalized among teachers as a didactic resource. Knowing the gratifications that new generations find when using social networks will allow teachers to use an stimulating use of this media in High School and University education. The purpose of this paper is to know which are the gratifications that High School and University students get from using intensely the social media: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Using the theory of Uses and Gratifications, data is collected through a survey of Spanish students from Secondary Education (N=260) and University (N=315). The results show that High School students look for a higher social presence and look after her own image, while University students look for entertaining. Finally, the results and the implications for an stimulating and educational use of the social media in the context of teaching-learning are discussed.