The Use of Social Media in Education and Healthcare

Social media can be referred to as the websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share content such as pictures, opinions, events, messages, documents, and so forth quickly and efficiently. The content sharing features of social media has helped us to connect with people far and near.

The use of social media in education and healthcare made sharing of ideas with people all over the world, having access to research that applies to their area of specialization, getting information through the use of search engines, all possible.

It has the capability of reaching a large audience due to its easy accessibility. It has gained credibility in recent years as a trusted source for the dissemination of information and a platform of interaction with audiences.

Social network tools offer various institutions many opportunities to improve their learning methods. Students can benefit from online tutorials and online shared experts in particular fields and subjects. Students engage those experts to gain useful content, get answers to complex subjects, and have an insight into new subjects.

It helps with social credibility

Students can build brands and portfolios for their careers through social networks. Social media platforms can be used to share work while the student is learning. Platforms like research gate share research and educational information with students at all levels. It also connects professionals in a particular field with willing students. Learning is now a pleasant process that can be done at the comfort of our house and at a convenient time thanks to the introduction of online learning. Students can also launch their careers and gain credibility while still in school with the help of social media.

It is a networking system that delivers educational programs and other administrative activities. LMS’S functions include; forums to share important information, videos, and lesson content to help students. Almost all the LMS come with inbuilt social media integration which helps with immediate interactions between the system and the user. This system tackles student and learning issues to aid effective learning. This learning system helps institutions to reach out to their students and it also makes team projects easy. LMS is also effective in the sharing of group reviews, webinars, and live conferences.

It helps in the research process

Social media help students in the compilation and production of research contents. It gives the best result and information. Students need the help of social media to gain insight into their assignments and projects.

The use of Youtube and Facebook as a communicating tool by institutions cannot be overemphasized. Professional networking can be done on LinkedIn

In this century when phones and the internet are the new normal, student devote a large portion of their time to social media and there is a need for us to harness the platform for learning. Teachers can effectively communicate with their students by integrating themselves into the social media world.

Social media is no longer optional; it is part of our daily life. We will always have something to do with one social platform or the other. Social media allows healthcare professionals to connect with their patients.

Healthcare professionals can join online communities where they can read articles, engage with the public, interact with experts, share cases, and ideas, and they can also make referrals. They also engage in health advocacy, seek colleagues' advice, discuss management, and practice challenges. Physicians can make use of social media to interact directly with patients to augment healthcare.

Health workers can make use of social media tools such as media-sharing sites, blogs, wikis (knowledge/information aggregation) social networking sites, and virtual-reality environments to enhance public health programs, patients care, patient, and health worker education, and organizational promotion.

Communities with medical professionals are established. These communities are often private and non-members have no access to it. A social networking site like - The medical directors' forum (www.medicaldirectorsforum.skipta.com) is a site for medical directors that provide closed-loop surroundings to interact with people in their area of specialization.

It also provides them with secure and verified paperwork that will help them at work. Numerous sites connect health workers and most of these sites require physicians to submit their credentials.

Blogs have a wide reach to audiences if the people in charge write interesting content. The Posts that are of interest will garner large traffic and thereby go viral. Viral posts give the blog a reputation online. There is a chance to publish enormous content in different media (tests, audio, and video) in an open platform.

This platform also allows users to comment or share their opinion on published content. Healthcare workers use blogs to communicate with each other and also with the public.

Information on wikis can be quickly accessed, edited, and deleted. Wikipedia has a general usage in the medical world due to its popularity and prominence on Google search. Junior physician can get health tips and medical information on Wikipedia

Social media is a platform that can spread information quickly and raise awareness about old, new, annual, and emerging health concerns. As the Covid-19 situation emerges, the lockdown policy that follows does not allow people to go out.

The best way health workers can share safety information is through social media. Although the sharing of health information during a crisis is challenging, social media can fix some of the challenges. After all, almost everybody in this digital world has a phone, thus, has access to social media.

Social media goes a long way in the dissemination of both educational and health information. Any organization that wants to be in the public domain needs to use social media. The usage of online platforms can strengthen public relationships with one another and with the education and health sector. Since communication is vital, social media platforms aid communication and allow people to get in touch and build a lasting relationship.