Exploring Social Media Usage among Medical Students and Its Potentials in Learning

The growth of social media as instant interactive platforms for students has significantly affected medical education practices. Despite its reported disadvantages for student learning, the rapid development of social media warrants an examination of its relevance and potential as a learning tool for medical students. This study thus explored the use of social media by medical students and its potential for supporting their learning. This cross-sectional study adopted a descriptive approach. Preclinical and clinical-year medical students from 43 medical schools in Indonesia completed a questionnaire inquiring into social media use by individuals and their reasons for such use. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse the data. The analysis of the data retrieved from 1,122 respondents revealed the most common social media platforms used by medical students and various usage purposes. Further, this study revealed that social media assists students in learning through three processes: (a) it increases communication, collaboration and resource sharing, which enables flexible and timely access to a broad range of information; (b) it enhances learning motivation by facilitating engagement with role models and motivating content; and (c) it supports personal and learning skills development. Medical students reported using a variety of social media platforms, but few did so with the aim of supporting their learning. However, social media can potentially assist student learning through its capacity to increase collaboration and flexibility, enhance motivation and support personal and professional development. Therefore, creating social-media-based learning strategies that are appropriate and meet students’ learning needs could help students improve both personally and professionally.