Social networking sites (SNSs) have increasingly become an important tool for young adults to interact and socialize with their peers. As most of these young adults are also learners, educators have been looking for ways to understand the phenomena in order to harness its potential for use in education. This is especially relevant in Malaysia where SNSs are popular among the youths, yet there is little data available to describe patterns of use for the wider segment of the target population. This study presents the results of a nationwide survey on tertiary level students in Malaysia. The results show that SNSs penetration is not at full 100% as initially assumed. The respondents spend the most time online for social networking and learning. The results also indicate that while the respondents are using SNS for the purpose of informal learning activities, only half (50.3%) use it to get in touch with their lecturers in informal learning contexts. The respondents also reported spending more time on SNS for socializing rather than learning and they do not believe the use of SNS is affecting their academic performance.

Social networking services (SNSs) are a much-touted technology for improved learning, yet very little research goes beyond the classroom-level controlled application of SNSs. This paper provides a look at reported usage and application of SNSs beyond the classroom, where data is scarce. The paper describes an investigation on whether Malaysian university students think SNSs are helpful for learning English, and the areas of language proficiency that these students perceived to benefit the most from their usage of SNSs. A total of 6,085 students participated in the online survey. Results indicate that an overwhelming majority (99.7%) make use of SNSs to learn English outside the classroom and 97.4% of these believe their use of SNSs helps improve their proficiency. The respondents indicated that the areas of proficiency that benefitted the most from their use of SNSs are writing, communication, vocabulary development and reading. In contrast, grammar as well as listening and speaking benefitted the least. The results presented a much needed, and currently lacking, view into the actual utility and use of SNSs for the purpose of informal learning of English among students in Malaysian universities.

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