social media in the classroom presentation

Social Media in Education: 13 Ideas for the Classroom

Since gaining widespread popularity in the early 2010s, social media has been a controversial topic when it comes to using it for education. However, many educators are now embracing social media as a teaching tool with a wide array of benefits for learning.

From parent-teacher communications to organizing group projects to developing digital literacy, social media has the potential to enhance the curriculum at any grade level — provided it is used responsibly. Here, we’ll explore eight platforms and five possible uses for social media in the classroom, plus some best practices for keeping it a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone.

How Social Media is Reshaping Education

As around 60% of the world’s population knows, social media can be an effective way to share news, find communities, build social networks and disseminate information instantly to a broad audience. According to Pew Research, 95% of American teens use at least one social media platform — so it makes sense that educators would seek to engage their students using technology they already interact with daily.

Teachers can use social media to organize group projects, communicate with students outside of class, share resources, and much more. Social media also has the potential to connect schools to the wider community for purposes including:

• Sharing school news
• Promoting school events
• Holding virtual town hall meetings
• Advertising fundraising initiatives
• Sending out emergency alerts

Since 90% of U.S. adults are also on social media (and many likely access it on their phones ), it is an incredibly useful medium for sending real-time communications to parents and guardians of school-aged children.

Pros & Cons of Social Media for Students

Of course, a tool as powerful as social media requires its users to exercise great responsibility to maintain a respectful, safe online environment. Teachers and students should be clear on both the benefits and risks before using these tools for educational purposes.

Benefits of social media in the classroom:

• Real-time communications can increase student engagement, collaboration, communication and overall participation.
• Many students may find it easier to participate in online discussions than in the classroom.
• Students can easily ask each other or their teacher questions about assignments outside of class.
• Students and teachers can quickly share helpful resources at any time.
• Teachers can easily share announcements with the entire class.
• Social media can provide a contingency plan for last-minute remote learning scenarios .
• Students can organize school events with each other or with the help of a teacher.
• Teachers can augment an online-only class by establishing a social media page or account strictly for building community.
• Students can practice using social platforms responsibly, including maintaining a respectful online discourse.
• Parents can stay informed of school news via a convenient, easily accessible platform.
• Teachers can communicate directly with parents as needed, especially if parents cannot attend an in-person meeting.
• Educators can build and enhance their own tech literacy skills to add to their portfolios.
• Most, if not all, social media platforms are free.

Downsides of using social media in the classroom:

• Social media can be a major distraction in class, especially if students are accessing their personal accounts independently. Private side conversations, off-topic activities and mindless scrolling can all happen when students are granted in-class internet access.
• If students primarily use social platforms to participate in class discussions, they can miss out on practicing face-to-face conversations and respectful in-person discourse.
• Some students may see social media assignments as an opportunity to cyberbully their classmates , so it’s critical that teachers set firm ground rules about responsible social media use.
• There is always a risk of a group member posting inappropriate content or language, since it is difficult to manage how students use social media platforms independently. Teachers must be responsible and attentive administrators to prevent and address inappropriate behavior.

8 Ways Teachers Can Use Social Media in the Classroom

While fewer school-aged young people are using Facebook today (about 32%, Pew finds), it can still be a useful tool for maintaining an online community, posting updates, sharing links and asking questions. Facebook can be used to organize specific projects, communicate with classes, form student clubs, plan events and more. The instant group chat function can facilitate real-time discussions, and Facebook Live enables teachers to lead virtual lessons, stream lectures and hold Q&A sessions. As administrators, teachers can set Facebook groups to private or invite-only to maintain a safe space for students.

Twitter can serve as more of a bite-sized message board where teachers can post short project updates, announcements, links to helpful resources or answer students’ questions. The platform can also serve as the basis for lessons in using concise language , since each post is limited to 280 characters — a valuable skill for both essay writing and future professional communications. Teachers can create dedicated handles or hashtags for each of their classes and invite both students and their guardians to follow along.

Blog posts provide another way for students to practice their essay writing, an increasingly important skill for higher grade levels. Instead of maintaining physical reading journals, students can submit weekly blog posts with their reflections and responses to assigned readings. Teachers can also use blogs to communicate project instructions during remote learning days or vacations and even write up a semester report for parents and guardians to review.

This is an excellent tool for sharing visual resources like infographics, artistic inspiration, tutorials or examples of finished projects. Many teachers use Pinterest to collect and organize their own lesson ideas, so creating a board (or several) where students can pin their own resources encourages collaboration and learning ownership. While students of all ages respond well to visuals, Pinterest may be particularly popular with younger students who are still practicing their reading skills.

Another great visual platform, Instagram can be useful for teachers to share updates, for administrators to post announcements and for students to post project results or follow accounts that are relevant to course content. Teachers can create class-specific accounts where they post assignments, instructions, resources, updates, and more.

This online community provides a space for anyone to unite around any interest imaginable — from fitness to classic film trivia to poetry. Reddit has a bit of an “anything goes” reputation for its lax posting guidelines, but moderators are typically on hand to mitigate any inappropriate or improper use of the platform. There’s a subreddit for every academic subject, so students can peruse threads for project research (while still verifying any information therein) and even post their own questions for the Reddit community to discuss.

Similar to Reddit, YouTube hosts video resources on any topic under the sun. Teachers can easily share educational videos, tutorials and any other type of video content. YouTube is also a great hosting platform for video projects, where students can upload finished videos for their teachers, classmates and guardians to watch on a private class channel.

This professional networking platform is mostly used by people in the post-school workforce, so high school students may not even be aware of it yet. However, whether they decide to attend college or not, learning how to market their skills and build a professional network can help students navigate the job market after graduation. LinkedIn is also a great place to find articles and other resources to help young professionals build their industry knowledge and skills.

5 Social Media Lesson Ideas to Try

The ideas in this section are merely suggestions for unique ways to use social media in the classroom — but the internet is your and your students’ playground! Use these ideas as jumping-off points for your own social media-based lessons.

• Use blogs to chart learning progress. Blogs can be useful tools for language learning, whether that’s practicing how to craft a five-paragraph essay or improving one’s French writing skills. But this long-form writing platform can also be used to track students’ progress in any subject. For example, have chemistry students write biweekly posts summarizing everything they’ve learned in class, and ask them to revisit and write about certain topics once a semester to practice knowledge retrieval. These posts can also serve as test prep and reminders of any concepts students may need to review.
• Use Instagram or TikTok for visual responses. Most social media platforms popular with young people are visual-based, meaning they rely on images and videos to convey information. Writing skills are essential for school, but sometimes it’s easier (and more fun) for students to engage with their learning using formats they’re more comfortable with. Instead of a written response to a textbook chapter, have students react using an appropriate TikTok trend. If students are required to show their work, ask them to create an Instagram carousel or Reel of their process and post it to a class-specific account.
• Use Twitter to illustrate the dangers of misinformation. Learning to find and cite accurate sources is a key skill for students, especially at higher grade levels. Unfortunately, misinformation is easy to encounter on social media, where anyone can make a claim or spread false information without providing a source. Show students an inaccurate tweet or other social post and ask them to verify or debunk its claims. Have them document their research process and cite the sources they used to fact-check the post.
• Use LinkedIn to help older students craft their resumes. Marketing themselves in a professional sense isn’t always a skill young people learn in school, but it’s a skill that proves useful for nearly every adult. Have students use LinkedIn to craft a professional objective, organize and explain their work and educational experiences, ask for recommendations and start making connections with potential mentors and employers.

Best Practices for Social Media in Education

For many young people, social media is a part of their (and their parents’) everyday lives. Chances are, if a teacher chooses to incorporate social media into a lesson, many students will already be familiar with the platform and how to use it. Since students may be accustomed to using social media outside of an educational context, it’s crucial that teachers set ground rules and expectations for the appropriate use of these tools.

The following are some best practices that will keep social media a safe and productive place for students and their teachers:

Set professional boundaries: Many teachers also likely have personal social media accounts, so when using these platforms for lessons, it’s best to create an entirely new account dedicated solely to academics. Keep accounts private and invitation-only so that no one besides students and their parents can access the content. No one, teachers included, should be posting anything about their personal lives or content that is unrelated to the course. Invite students to create new user accounts as well to avoid mixing their personal and academic business.

Prioritize increasing digital literacy: Generations of digital natives (including today’s school-aged children and many of their parents) have likely already been practicing online etiquette, but it never hurts to review both practical and appropriate ways to use social media. Remind students that anything they post online has the potential to exist forever, which becomes especially important as they begin to apply to colleges and search for jobs. Students should conduct themselves online just as they are expected to in school.

Promote student achievements: You and your students put in a lot of work during the school year — share your accomplishments with the community! If your school has a public social media account, provide the account manager with information about your class’s latest project or an upcoming showcase so members of the community can see what students have been up to. Not only does this give students an opportunity to show off their work, but it also serves as promotional information for anyone considering enrolling their own children in the school.

Manage multiple accounts from the same place: If you manage multiple accounts for one or more classes, use a tool like Hootsuite or Facebook Publishing (which integrates Facebook and Instagram) to draft and schedule posts for multiple platforms at once. This is especially helpful when students and parents need the same information, but each group predominantly uses a different platform.

Part of a teacher’s job is to never stop learning, whether it’s about the subject matter they teach, new educational tools or innovative ways to engage students. The University of San Diego offers multiple courses for educators in the Professional and Continuing Education program, including classes covering educational technology , digital literacy , equity in the classroom and more. USD also offers certificate programs that focus on specific aspects of education, so that teachers can build a suite of skills in areas like STEAM education or supporting English language learners .

For a full range of USD courses available through the PCE program, explore all course offerings here .

How can I ensure students’ safety on social media?

To protect students’ privacy, keep all class-related social media accounts private or invitation-only and encourage them to set their own accounts to private or create new class-specific profiles. Review proper online etiquette and behavior with students and establish firm consequences for cyberbullying. As a teacher, it’s critical to maintain professional boundaries online, so avoid discussing or posting anything personal on school social media accounts. You may even want to grant access to students’ parents so they can monitor how their children are using these spaces.

How can I use TikTok in my lessons?

According to Pew Research, 67% of U.S. teens use TikTok , with 16% on the app almost constantly. Since so many students already gather in this digital space, teachers can engage them by creatively incorporating it into lessons. Ask students to film reactions to course content using TikTok trends, conduct research via subject matter experts’ posts, or create response videos in place of traditional project reports.

Which social media platform is best for communicating with parents?

It depends on what kinds of content you want to share and which platforms parents and guardians are comfortable using. At the beginning of each school year, send out a survey asking parents to indicate their preferred social media platform, then use the top two results for parent-facing communications. With so many people on multiple social media platforms, it’s best not to limit school news to just one; fortunately, managing multiple accounts at once is simple with social media management tools like Hootsuite and Facebook Publishing.

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12 ways to use social media in education.

• January 10, 2024

Social media is often seen as a distraction. But can you use social media for inspiration instead? There are creative and unexpected ways to incorporate social media into various aspects of teaching – specifically as inspiration for student learning experiences throughout the school year.

Today on the blog, we’ll look at how integrating aspects of social media into your teaching methods can transform traditional classrooms into engaging and interactive spaces. The strategies below are ready for you to customize to your particular group of students. I think you’ll find that they can boost student engagement, foster creativity, and provide real-world context to your next lesson!

Here are twelve ready-to-customize ideas so you can use social media as an inspiration for your next student learning activity!

Historical Figure Instagram Posts

Students create Instagram posts from the perspective of a historical figure, capturing key moments or thoughts. This activity encourages research and creativity in presenting history and asks students to combine text and images. You can introduce a tool like Adobe Express to have students create graphics.

Science Research Infographics

Kids can create infographics summarizing scientific research or experiments. There are lots of infographic tools, including Genially . This activity can help visualize complex data and provide a creative way to share what students have learned.

Tweet a Poem

Compose short poems or haikus that fit within character constraints (like 280 characters, the limit on Twitter). This activity can encourage students to write in a concise and impactful manner. Instead of having them post on Twitter, have them share in a collaborative space like Padlet .

Animated Videos

I’m a big fan of Adobe Express and have done some work with their team. If you haven’t tried out their animated video tool, you have to give it a spin! I share more about it in this blog post – even though it has a winter theme you could use it any time of year.

Geography Photo Collages

Are your students learning about different parts of the world? They can use a creative tool like Canva to create photo collages of different geographical locations. This engages students with the subject and encourages exploration of different spaces. 

Mathematical Concept Videos

Create short videos (similar to the length of what can be shared on TikTok) with students to explain a mathematical concept or problem-solving technique. Adobe Express has a vertical video option and music for students to choose from, or you can use iMovie or Clips with your students, too.

Character Blogs

Students can write blog posts as a character from a book, pulling quotes or textual evidence to support their decisions as writers. This activity requires them to think about what they have read and gain a deeper understanding of character development and narrative. 

Virtual Book Clubs

You may have heard of BookTok before or how social media sites like TikTok have helped connect readers with new book recommendations. You can encourage students to create short video recommendations to convince their classmates to check out a favorite book.

Make a Meme

Have you made memes with students? A tool like Antimatter sets up students for success with creating and sharing memes on any topic. You could also use this Google Slides template for your meme activity, too.

Foreign Language Translation

Share short pieces of text, like a social media update, with students for them to translate into a different language. This is a great way for them to practice translating text in a short form. You might even find messages from a real-life account to use or make your own.

Stop-Motion Science Experiments

Create stop-motion videos of science experiments, simplifying complex concepts. This can help students think deeply about each step of the process and have a short video to share with their classmates. Stop Motion Studio is a good choice for this type of video creation.

Visual Board of Notes

Pinterest is a popular tool for gathering ideas that act as a source of inspiration. You can simulate this type of visual space for students using a tool like Google Slides for students to make a slide for each idea they want to bookmark or using a tool like Bublup .

Using social media in the classroom is a way to energize the way you teach something new. These creative activities show how social media can make learning more engaging and interactive. Bringing social media into education doesn’t mean we’re getting rid of old teaching methods but rather adding something new to what we’ve done in the past. 

As you look for inspiration from how we interact with social media, you might think of more activity ideas that help motivate students, spark their creativity, and deepen their interest in learning. What will you try? Reach out to me on social media (find me @ClassTechTips on Instagram ), and let me know what you’ve tried out!

Find more posts featuring using social media in education:

• A Microblogging Lesson Idea and Template You Can Customize
• Why TikTok Might Be Worth a Teacher’s Time
• 3 Social Media Inspired Student Projects – Easy EdTech Podcast 192

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Monica Burns

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Author, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. Visit her site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

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