Social media use by instructional design departments

Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to gain an understanding of the use of institutional social media accounts by graduate departments. This study focused particularly on the social media accounts of instructional design (ID) graduate programs. Content and statistical analyses were conducted to examine 24,948 tweets posted by ID programs (n = 22) on Twitter. Results revealed that ID graduate programs primarily used Twitter to broadcast resources and materials related to the field. Additionally, results showed that ID programs most frequently used Twitter to boost the profile of their program. Yet, tweets highlighting student and faculty accomplishments had the highest percentage of community interactions (likes and retweets). These findings suggest that ID programs are functioning as filters of information relevant to the field rather than conversational hubs.