LAUSR

Abstract This research was a qualitative exploration of seven graduate students’ lived experiences with the use of social media (SM) as a learning space. An integrated thematic analysis based on data provided via interviews, observations, and artifacts yielded 13 main themes, offering a rich description of participants’ experiences with using SM for advanced formal learning. The participants had varying ideas about definitions of SM, indicating that establishing clarity with respect to SM as a concept is important to both research and the practical integration of SM applications in advanced learning contexts. Regardless of conceptual inconsistencies, these graduate students primarily reported positive experiences with using SM for graduate studies: major source of learning and motivating and engaging emerged as main themes. Themes related to cross-cultural aspects also emerged in that SM facilitates cross-cultural adaptation and increases global/cross-cultural communication and interaction skills. Themes for the primary advantages of SM were convenience, collaboration/connection, and transcends geographical boundaries. The primary disadvantages were that SM could be overwhelming/boring, distracting/time consuming, and involve interpersonal challenges. The credibility of resources can also be an issue. Main themes for suggestions included recommendations for educators’ integration of social media (for classwork) and students’ management of social media. The study provides novel insight into the use of SM for learning from graduate students representing different geographic and cultural perspectives. Importantly, the findings provide rich qualitative data that provide convergent support for the generalizability of the findings from quantitative survey studies as well as providing insight into how varying conceptualizations of SM can influence participants’ responses in research and their actual use of various applications.