Social media for informal learning usage in Malaysia: barriers and benefits

Abstract

Social media (SM) tools have turned into a vital aspect of our day to day activities. As of late, this form of media has garnered a large set of users. There is perceived usefulness on the effect of SM on certain aspect of scholarly activities. However, it is still not clear why some researchers fail to adopt SM for informal learning (IL). The aim of this study is to investigate the barriers and benefits of using SM for IL among Malaysian academic researchers. A total of 170 responses were received through paper-based and online-based questionnaire. To demonstrate the results in this study, a descriptive interpretation of the responses is conducted. The general discovery of this study indicates that lack of encouragement from colleagues, lack of quality information, threat to research materials and data are the barriers affecting SM usage among academic researcher in Malaysia. Additionally, the core benefits of using SM among academic researchers in Malaysia is to communicate with colleagues, share knowledge with other researchers and to also collaborate in the research field.