The Effectiveness of Using Social Media in the Learning Process

Social media has become a tendency among young people nowadays, as well as a learning activity, especially during the pandemic. Social media has become the means of communication in online learning used by educators in the learning process. The research purpose of this study is to describe the kinds of social media and their application, as well as the effectiveness of using social media as a means of communication in online learning. The method used in this research is qualitative descriptive Collecting data; the method used were observation, interview, and closed questionnaire using Google form. The result shows that the social media used in online learning are WhatsApp and Google Forms, WhatsApp is used as written communication to share teaching materials, and Google Form is used to fill the current lists for midterm and final exams. This research concludes that those three social media, WhatsApp and Google Forms, can be used as a means of communication for online learning, yet very effective during the pandemic time nowadays, so the teaching-learning process can still be implemented.


Introduction
The coronavirus pandemic, better known as covid-19, has made people in the world feel the consequences. Many places had to be closed in activities, not to be spared in the education sector. The call to keep a distance means that the teaching and learning process, usually done face-to-face (offline), must now be carried out online. In every city in Nigeria, schools, be it kindergartens, elementary schools, junior and senior high schools, to tertiary institutions, carry out the learning process online (Hamilton-Ekeke, Egumu & Inengite, 2020).
Online learning has advantages, including the learning process being more accessible both in time and place. Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners, but it is a challenging task (Khoo & Cowie, 2011;Gikandi & Morrow, 2016). The success of implementing online learning also depends on the readiness of the organizing institution and its teaching staff. In online learning, students can interact quickly and directly with two-way text, images, sound, data, and video, with the guidance of a teacher.
The implementation of online learning is not without problems. In several countries, it was reported that the average actual benefit was much smaller than expected among those who adopted online learning. Network problems, lack of training, and lack of awareness were cited as the main challenges faced by educators. Lack of understanding is the most important reason for those who do not adopt online learning, followed by a lack of interest and doubts about the usefulness of online learning.
According to Stoian, Fărcașiu, Dragomir, & Gherheș (2022), distance restrictions and the application of study regulations at home have changed the way learning is communicated that should be face-to-face to virtual worlds; this forces almost all educational institutions to provide other alternatives in carrying out learning so that it remains effective and optimal. One of the steps implemented is utilizing social media to convey various subject matters. Social media is a site where anyone can create a private webpage and connect with friends to share information and communicate. The largest social network, among others, is Facebook, myspace, and Twitter. If traditional media uses print and broadcast media, social media uses the internet. Social media invites anyone interested to participate by contributing and feedback openly, commenting, and sharing information quickly and unlimitedly. The relationship between media and individuals is no longer linear (one way). Individual relations with social media also form new (cultural) behaviors among users, such as a culture of narcissism.
Social media that can be used to communicate in learning today is very diverse. However, not all of these social media follow the characteristics of teachers and students. Various factors can inhibit social media from being used as a means of communication; for example, the application and difficulty level in applying social media rarely used. This study focuses on how to describe the types of social media, the difficulty in accessing them, and the effectiveness of using social media as a means of communication in learning. So, the explicit aim of this study is to describe the types of social media, the level of difficulty, and the effectiveness of using social media as a means of communication in learning.
The use of social media as a means of communication in learning has also been studied before. Evans (2014), in his research entitled Twitter for Teaching: Can social media be used to Enhance the learning process? The selective impact of Twitter usage suggests ways in which the medium might best be exploited to increase connections between students themselves, students and their tutors, and students and educational resources. In particular, using Twitter is an effective way to engage students, and tutors need to be confident that it will result in a drop in attendance at lectures or seminars. Liu (2010) also conducted research with the title "Social Media Tools as a Learning Resource" with the conclusion that using social media tools in teaching sometimes can be very challenging for instructors. Students can be excellent consulting sources because they are the experts and have a better understanding of the tools. Future technology integration in education should focus on what students use instead of what the school wants them to use to guarantee maximum efficiency. When students become the stakeholders of their learning, education will be genuinely revolutionalized through effective collaboration between educators and students.
Al-Rahmi & Zeki (2017), with the research title "A Model of using social media for collaborative learning to enhance learners' Performance on Learning." The conclusions of this study also reveal high student satisfaction using social media, which enhances collaborative learning and leads to better performance. The current study recommends that future studies include other and extra elements to assess the influence of the different factors on learners' performance through collaborative learning. Of the three studies above, there is still no specific research on the type of social media users, the level of difficulty, and the effectiveness of using social media as a means of communication in learning, especially during a pandemic like today.
The study in this research is essential to be carried out as an effort to anticipate the world of education-especially junior high schools and teachers and at the same time as a basis for future (futuristic) policy-making. So that in the future, we will become more literate about the progress of the times, science and technology, and contextual learning.

Method
The research approach used in this research is a qualitative research approach with descriptive qualitative research methods. Sources of data in this study consisted of primary data and secondary data. This study's Primary data sources include interviews with principals, vice principals, and homeroom teachers and questionnaires distributed to students and parents. This study's Secondary data sources include books, research journals, research reports, and national seminar papers. This study uses data collection techniques: observation, interviews, questionnaires, and documentation. The interview used was semi-structured, and the questionnaire used was closed. The data analysis steps in this study used the Miles and Huberman model of qualitative data analysis techniques, namely: data reduction, data presentation, data verification/conclusion

Results and Discussion 1. The Role of Social Media
Social media is used as a means to find information, entertainment, and communication with friends on social networking sites. According to Ali (2013)

Types of Social Media Used as a Means of Communication in Learning
Social media is an application designed to facilitate interaction and communication in cyberspace through the internet, but due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic, the function of social media has changed. Now that there is a study-from-home program, educators in every school are trying to find alternatives to convey their learning material through social media, which is the easiest and most commonly used. The school also applies the same thing in the use of social media in learning; based on the value of the questionnaire assessing the level of use of social media in learning as an alternative to learning, the following data is obtained:

The Effectiveness of Using Social Media in Learning
According to Rasiah (2014), the use of social media, such as Facebook, has rapidly grown to become a popular and influential form of computer-mediated communication. The effectiveness of using social media as a means of communication in learning is a milestone in the success of online communication between teachers and students in the learning process. The effectiveness of using social media to communicate in learning is measured after the end-of-semester exams. The results will be compared later with those from the previous semester, which still used offline techniques. The following is the percentage of the effectiveness of using social media as a means of communication in online learning and its comparison with offline learning.

Figure 2. Levels of Ease and Difficulty of Using Social Media as a Means of Communication in Learning by Teachers
Usage WhatsApp 60% very easy, 30% easy, 7% difficult, and 3% very difficult. Meanwhile, the use of Google Forms is 25% very easy, 45% easy, 20% difficult, and 10% very difficult. The following shows the effectiveness of using social media as a means of communication by students.

Effective Ineffective
Students answered 45% WhatsApp effective and 55% not effective for use in learning, 65% Google Forms effective, and 35% were not effectively used to communicate in learning.

Figure 4. Comparison of Student Scores Online and Offline
There has been a decrease in the scores of perfect and good students during online learning, but the decrease is not much, just a little. Students with a perfect score of 10%, a good score of 75%, and an adequate score of 15%.
Based on the findings above, the role of social media, initially to seek information, entertainment and as a means of communication for millennials, has shifted its use. Social media can also be used to communicate in online learning for teachers and students. Use WhatsApp to get a percentage of 65%, and google forms to 35%. These two social media can be used to communicate in online learning. Whatsapp is used for written communication and distributing teaching materials; meanwhile, google Forms is used to fill out the attendance list, midterm exams, and final exams. In this case, teachers can also take and send video material related to students by sending the video link to WhatsApp (Anggraini & Mahmudi, 2021).
Terms the application of social media, which consists of WhatsApp, and Google Forms, also has difficulty and ease of application during online learning. For teachers using WhatsApp, 60% very easy and 30% easy, and 10% difficult. This is because social media, WhatsApp, has been used in everyday life for a long time. Social media use Google Forms also includes social media that is new to students, especially at school. 25% of teachers think social media is easy, 45 are easy, 20% are difficult, and 10% are difficult. Of course, this is because teachers are still not used to using social media, especially for making student attendance lists.
Students also experience difficulties in using social media as a means of communication in learning. In using, WhatsApp, 93% of students answered very quickly, and 7% answered easily. It is the same with social media. WhatsApp has also been known and used by students for a long time, so communication using social media is very easy compared to other social media.
The effectiveness of using social media in learning to use WhatsApp is 45% effective and 55% ineffective. The use of Google Forms is 65% effective and 35% ineffective. The effectiveness of using social media as a means of online learning can be seen from the results of comparative data on the scores obtained by students in semester 1 (offline) and semester 2 (online). The scores obtained by perfect, reasonable, and adequate students are not much different. There is a decrease in value, but not significant.

Comparison of Student Scores Online and Offline
Perfect Score Good Score Enough Score This is because there is still a need to adapt from offline to online learning. This change in learning methods does not make a significant difference, so it can be concluded that social media like WhatsApp and Google Forms can be used as a means of online learning communication.

Conclusion
A pandemic like conid-19 does not just happen at the moment. Since ancient times, there have been many kinds of pandemics that have hit. Various fields have felt the impact of the pandemic, and education is no exception. The government implements Online learning in Nigeria, so the need for communication media to support online learning activities. Social media can also be used to communicate in this online learning. Social media like WhatsApp and Google Forms can be used to learn communication from school. Whatsapp is used for written communication and distributing teaching materials. Meanwhile, google Forms is used to fill in the attendance list, assignments, midterm exams, and final exams. This change in learning methods does not make a significant difference, so social media like WhatsApp and Google Forms can be used as a means of online learning communication.