The majority (90%) of college faculty use social media in the workplace, compared to 47 percent of employees in other industries, according to a new report from the Babson Survey Research Group and Pearson.

The survey of nearly 2,000 faculty found that 80 percent use social media in the classroom for some aspect of their course. Among those, nearly two-thirds use social media within their class session, and 30 percent post content for students to view outside of class.

“Faculty are big users of and believers in social media — nearly 80 percent use at least one online social media site to support their professional career activities.  More than three-quarters have visited a social media site within the past month for personal use, with half of them posting content,” said Jeff Seaman, Ph.D., co-director of the Babson Survey Research Group.

More than 40 percent of faculty say they require students to read or view social media as part of a course assignment, and 20 percent assign students to comment or post to social media sites.  Almost half of faculty use video and other sites in their teaching, with another one-third using video only.

YouTube, Facebook and blogs are the most used forms of social media among college faculty. Facebook daily use at 11 percent surpasses all other sites.  The majority of faculty report visiting more than one social media site for personal use, and nearly 30 percent visit three or more sites.  Facebook and YouTube are the sites most visited for personal use.

In addition, faculty say concerns about privacy, the integrity of students’ submissions and the time required of faculty are important or very important barriers to social media use. Still, the overwhelming majority believe there is value in social media for teaching, with YouTube, other online video and podcasts seen as the most valuable for class use, followed by blogs.

“The survey provides valuable insight into how faculty are embracing social media in all aspects of their lives, including the classroom, and underscores the importance of investing in these tools to enhance students’ learning,” said Don Kilburn, CEO of Pearson Learning Solutions.