Students’ Use of Social Media for Academic Purposes in Moroccan Higher Education

Fatima Anaam, Zahra Anaam

Recently, social networking platforms have been increasingly integrated into students’ academic lives, reshaping the ways they communicate, collaborate, and access learning resources. The current study explores students’ utilization of social networks for academic purposes, focusing on tools being used, their frequency of use, motives, benefits and challenges encountered, if any. To this end, a questionnaire, written in both English and French, was administered online to 163 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in Moroccan higher education institutions in the 2025-2026 academic year. After collection, data were coded and statically analysed using Excell software. The findings revealed that the vast majority of the participants used social networks, most often YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram and LinkedIn, in their studies. Their utilization mostly took the form of text messages, audio messages or calls and collaborative documents like Google Docs. The participants indicated that they used social networks for various academic purposes, most of which involved communication. In fact, they demonstrated that these networks were beneficial as they facilitated communication with classmates and teachers as well as group works. Nevertheless, using these platforms resulted in some hurdles such as reduced face-to-face interactions, superficial online conversations, and the risk of addiction. The present study concludes that using social networks was common among students in the Moroccan educational context. However, their misuse generated multiple adverse effects which necessitates making strategic interventions. These include integrating students more in peer and group discussions to foster face-to-face social interactions and in-depth discussions.