5 Understanding relationships online
Central to using any form of social media in your education is understanding the nature of relationships that form online. This is particularly important if the interactions you are having occur exclusively online where you never meet the people in person.
The types of interactions we may have online can vary significantly. They can vary from friendships, where we feel a specific connection to another person, to being a part of a community of followers of a page related to our studies with little to no individual interaction.
The type of connections made with people as part of your studies and the way you build friendships in these groups can have all sorts of outcomes in the way that you understand your student identity and the way that you approach your student experience.
To understand what this means and to understand how these impact upon your education you will be asked to look again at the experiences of Udita, Silvia and Paul and to consider the etiquette around relationship building in social networks relating to your education.
Activity 4 Netiquette in online educational spaces
Part 1
Udita uses a student run university Facebook page to connect with students at her institution who are studying the same module as her. She posted a question in the module group about one of the aspects of a recent tutorial.
Read Udita’s social media post to get an update on how her use of social media to connect as part of her studies is going. As you read, consider whether you think such exchanges are typical in the online space.
‘Is there anyone doing SM101 Introduction into Social Media Management and went to the recent tutorial? I am struggling with Assessment 2 and massively struggling with motivation. How are you all managing to keep up? I could barely understand what they were talking about.’
However, one of the other students has replied complaining about the tutor and the learning materials, a number of other students have liked this post. She finds it hard to stay motivated when she sees the negative responses. Her phone updates her whenever anyone else also comments.
How many of you have experienced a similar situation in your everyday use of social media?
Make a brief note of how you might respond to this post and how Udita could alter the post to get more of what she wants out of it?
Discussion
Everyone engages with social media in different ways, so the decisions we make about what to do will be affected by these attitudes. For example, some students might be so affected that they would choose to leave the group entirely. However, an alternative might be to stop notifications from Facebook so that you can choose when to engage with the material and when. You can also snooze a group for 30 days to take a break when you find there is a negative spin to the content.
However, as this engagement is affecting Udita’s motivation to study it would be wise for her to alter her use of Facebook. Although we can forget it, engagement in social media is, at some level, a choice and you can make choices that work for you.
Researchers now know that the relationships we have online can differ from those we have in the real world. Recent trends in social media are towards acceleration – with things getting quicker and more instant. We may therefore feel an instant connection with people who we have never met. This can be positive, particularly as connections are often associated with visual images which can create faster connections between people that were previously slower to develop.
However, this acceleration can mean we are exposed to instant judgement. This can be both in the form of negative comments on your posts, or likes of posts that you do not agree with. You might suddenly see a side of an online friend you thought you had a connection with that may change how you view them. This can mean we react emotionally and without really thinking through what the person meant by the post.
Navigating the virtual aspects of your student identity and your online interactions can particularly challenging. Responding emotionally and in haste may make the situation worse. Many groups have rules for how you should engage online. You will learn more about these in Session 3.
However, it is also important that you develop your own etiquette around how you engage online.
a.
Posts should mainly acknowledge and support other students.
b.
Generally acknowledge the other person’s POV (point of view) before differing.
c.
Don’t make negative personal comments.
d.
Make your perspective clear.
e.
Smileys or emojis can be used to add context to your posts.
f.
Pause before posting; try not to post in anger.
g.
Respect difference and diversity.
h.
Ask permission to use or reproduce others’ comments.
i.
Remember all online users are people too.
j.
Keep messages short.
k.
Avoid using all caps (this tends to be interpreted as shouting).
l.
Don’t give out private information.
m.
Observe the tone and conventions of the group you are in.
The correct answers are a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l and m.
Discussion
All the points listed were recently posted on the netiquette guide to behaviour online from the University College London (UCL). Thinking more carefully about the way you interact in a digital environment will allow you to make the most of social media in your personal and student life. Many of these suggestions are similar to those you would display if you were interacting in the real world. It is worth reflecting on this when you interact online. Would you behave or say this in the real world to fellow students in a classroom or coffee shop?
Negative encounters online has led to some concerns about the impact of social media on mental health. This can also impact your motivation to study. However, work by Pang (2020) found that using social media platforms was associated with better social support and an increased sense of belonging in HE. This is supported by Lu & Hampton (2017) who found the size of social media networks and the frequency of activity is associated with perceived social support. Almost 70% of university students say that they have received social support via social media (Droiun et al., 2019). This means that creating a network of fellow students or peers on your course via social media may give you a sense of support.
Another way that you may gain support is to join a university moderated group. You will learn more about these in the next section.