Use of Facebook as an Informal Photography Education Setting among Open and Distance Learners

Facebook: A Social Networking Site

Media platforms and online applications are internet-based tools and platforms that increase and facilitate information sharing (Palmer and Lewis, 2009). Also known as social media, these platforms are indispensable communication tools in information societies. When defined with a focus on interpersonal communication, they can refer to a structure where individuals communicate interactively and share their opinions with each other (Poore, 2013). According to another approach, social media are the websites with social content that enable users to express themselves, communicate with others, to join groups and contribute to these groups with their ideas, comments and similar content (Borges, 2009). In this study, social media refers to “social networking sites”.

Rapid increase in the number of social networking sites and high levels of interest by internet users have resulted in more widespread and frequent use of computers. Social networking sites are web-based services that bring different individuals together in a virtual environment. These websites provide their users with opportunities to express themselves, to publish their profiles, and to communicate with others (Binark et.al 2009). Social networking sites require their potential users to fill out a form collecting information about their sex, age, address, educational background, hobbies, areas of interests, skills and tastes in order to sign up for the website. This data is called “profile” and can be accessed by other individuals in most of these sites. Social networking sites also allow users to control the access to their profile content at different levels (Tufekci, 2008).