The Utilization of Social Media by Collegiate Aviation Faculty

Abstract

Social media has taken the world by storm, and there seems to be no slowing down. Young or old, social media has infiltrated our lives in a way never before imagined. Although there are pros and cons to the many social media platforms currently available, it is beneficial for collegiate aviation faculty to learn more about these various tools to determine how, if at all, they can benefit our students. As such, this paper conducted a study of collegiate aviation faculty nationwide and determined that collegiate aviation faculty are very aware of the five most popular social media sites (Skype, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Twitter), regularly use YouTube and Wikipedia as part of academic courses, and feel that social photo and video sharing sites provide the most benefit to students. The paper also presents ideas in how to adopt three lesser used social media sites (Twitter, LinkedIn, and Ning) for the benefit of students.