Modeling Social Media Use: Bridging the Communication Gap in Higher Education

Abstract

and other such commercial references to social media applications are now commonplace in practitioner-oriented publications (e.g., Baker and Green, 2008a, 2008b; Bernoff and Li, 2008). Despite the ubiquity of social media, marketingbased scholarly research on the subject matter is sorely lacking. To this end, we define social media and explore the faculty-student social media communication gap. Bridging gaps in social media perceptions and use will only be possible following the identification of the specific gaps. We propose the use of gap analysis to compare educators' and students' perceptions of social media use. We derive the conceptual foundation for the mapping of potential gaps by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (hereafter, TAM) and by applying it to social media. This is enhanced by considering alternative drivers and outcomes applicable in higher education. Designed to help educators better understand the role social media plays in the classroom experience and to spark further interest in this topic, this research offers a first attempt at modeling social media use in higher education. To allow for the eventual testing of this conceptual model, the current study presents propositions with which to guide the initial empirical testing. Finally, to underscore the need for marketing scholars to pursue social-media based education and research, we offer a sampling of implications and avenues of future inquiry. Social Media Social media is a term that is widely discussed in the popular press and in various literature streams, but there is little agreement on how it is defined. The Oxford English Dictionary defines social as "living, or disposed to live, in companies or communities; desirous of enjoying the society or companionship of others; enjoyed, taken, spent, etc., in company with others, esp. with those of a similar class or kindred spirits" (1989, p. 905) and media as "newspapers, radio, television, etc., collectively, as vehicles of mass communication" (1989, p. 542). These definitions give us a starting point for understanding what social media is: a communication medium that is devoted to or characterized by interaction between participants or consumers of the medium. Under the guise of our definition, blogs, chat rooms, lifecasting, mashups, message boards, microblogs, multimedia messaging services (i.e., MMS), online gaming, photo sharing, podcasts, short messaging services (i.e., SMS), social bookmarking, social networking, vidcasts (vodcasts), video sharing, virtual worlds, vlogs, Webcasts, and wikis are all examples of social media. Even ratings-driven sites like Pick-A-Prof.com or RateMyProfessors. com, where students evaluate their professors, fall under the social media umbrella. All these modern-day examples reflect the social

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