THE SOCIAL AFFORDANCES OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INFORMAL LEARNERS

The increasing use of social media for learning purposes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has opened new horizons for self-learning. Although several affordances are associated with social media use, there remains limited understanding of the social affordance’s users enjoy from social media, specifically, users engaged in informal learning a free-choice learning option where learners participate in activities voluntarily. Being aware of these social affordances can improve our understanding on how social media users learn informally as they draw upon those affordances. This study identifies the social affordances of social media when presented as an informal learning tool to learners; and in so doing, seeks to respond to the question What are the social affordances of social media tools in an informal learning context? Following a descriptive systematic literature review synthesis as a methodological approach, the literature on social media and informal learning from an information system (IS) perspective were identified and analyzed to identify the social affordances. The findings show thirteen social affordances which online users enjoy in informal learning context when using social media. Given that social media was not designed for learning purposes, these findings contribute towards the discussion of social media as a learning tool by providing a descriptive contribution on the social affordances enabled by these platforms.