ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of English Language and Education Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022, IAIN Curup P-ISSN 2580-3670, E-ISSN 2580-3689 DOI: 10.29240/ef.v6i2.5438 A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools Hariswan Putera Jaya Universitas Sriwijaya hariswan@unsri.ac.id Tita Ratna Wulan Dari Universitas Sriwijaya titawulandari@fkip.unsri.ac.id Zuraida Universitas Sriwijaya zuraida@fkip.unsri.ac.id Alhenri Wijaya Universitas Sriwijaya alhenri@fkip.unsri.ac.id ABSTRACT Along with the rapid development of technology, various kinds of social media applications are emerging and offering their users a variety of benefits. Social media such as WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram, and Google Classroom, to name but a few, are the ones that are often used by students for online learning because they can be used easily, anywhere and anytime. This study aimed at finding out whether or not the students used social media for learning, the kinds of social media mostly preferred by the students, and the reasons for their preferences. The population of this study was 625 students from two state senior high schools in Palembang. For the sampling technique, this study applied the probability-sampling technique. Then, to meet the standard number of samples in a survey study, the writers took 14% of the population. It meant there were 88 research samples, specifically 44 students from each school. To collect the data, the questionnaire and mailto:hariswan@unsri.ac.id mailto:titawulandari@fkip.unsri.ac.id mailto:zuraida@fkip.unsri.ac.id mailto:alhenri@fkip.unsri.ac.id 244 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 interview were used in this research. As the results, all participants showed that they have greatly exposed themselves to social media during the "School from Home" session during the pandemic situation. In addition, the majority of the students mentioned YouTube as their favorite tool to use, yet they somehow managed using WhatsApp, Google Meet, Blog, Zoom, and Google Classroom too. Lastly, students often use those social media in everyday activities, including learning. Keywords: Students’ Preferences, Social Media, Online Learning INTRODUCTION No one would deny that technology has developed very rapidly that in a blink of an eye a new technology emerges. It kept developing to help people live more easily and cost less. The continuing development of technology has certainly made the entire world inseparable from it (Martha et al., 2018). Household chores, office works, banking, schools, the government at all levels, trading, small and big businesses, and even little simple traditional greengrocers nowadays use technology for marketing. In other words, there is nothing that education can do but respond to these changes positively and more adaptively (Anwar, 2018). According to Cholik (2017), educators can use IT as an instrument to share teaching materials, transmit learning tasks, and improve students' life skills. For example, when face-to-face learning cannot be implemented due to the Covid-19 issue, the world still has the option of an online learning scheme. At this point, information technology promotes better teaching and learning quality. The waves of the covid-19 pandemic have played very important roles in increasing the need for online teaching and learning technology. There are already applications and social media available that can be used by schools. Teachers can take advantage of today's technological advances by combining various media in online courses like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc. which teachers and students have been familiar with (Kobayashi, 2017). Those social networks have not only been worldwide known for online social use purposes but also teaching and learning use (Silius et al., 2010). Social media has certainly entered the classrooms and given students the facilities to develop knowledge and share it with a global audience. Social media allows students to support classmates and other students who do not understand a certain topic or have problems learning the material. This Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 245 ongoing teacher-student or student-student interaction not only helps facilitate the learning experience of students but also contributes to the improvement of teaching methods (Faizi & Fkihi, 2018). Furthermore, students can do collaborative learning by using social media. This collaboration held both inside and outside the classroom has the potential to improve the learning experiences of students (Ractham & Firpo, 2011). On its implementation, teachers and students use various media for virtual courses, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. These social media have attracted educators' attention due to their popularities worldwide (Silius et al., 2010). Moreover, Abe and Jordan (2013) claimed that social media and gadgets have become day- to-day practices for many higher education students, starting from high school until university. This condition undoubtedly invites students, teachers, and educators to use online social media in the teaching and learning process. As it was reported by APJII (Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa Internet Indonesia or Indonesian Internet Network Providers Association) (2016), there were 132.7 million internet users in Indonesia. Then, 24.4 million out of the total numbers mentioned are classified as children and adolescents users. They generally ranged from 10 to 24 years old. This data implies that most Indonesian students now are tech-savvy. They will not find any difficulties in communicating and searching for information on the internet, especially social media. Fauzi and Khusuma (2020), suggested the same opinion that Indonesian adolescents and children have actively utilized technology. Responding to this condition, many schools start using IT for educational purposes and utilizing social media for classroom activities (Devi et al., 2019). They believe that applying information technology in learning activities might result in positive outcomes for either teacher or student. The use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) in teaching and learning is further claimed as a new era in the education field. However, with little or no control over social media use, the students are sometimes too absorbed in their own business. In the online teaching and learning process, students can use social media in many ways. Schoolnet (2013), for instance, stated that Wikipedia, YouTube, Wattpad, Instagram, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs, Snapchat, and Google can be exploited to help users interact with a larger community. All of the platforms mentioned enabling both teachers and students to develop knowledge with global audiences. Moreover, some studies also promote collaborative learning 246 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 with social media sites, podcasts, and videos. If teachers need face-to- face learning, Zoom is an effective option to try since it supports recording, easy access, chat, virtual communication, and presentation screen (Palupi & Raharjo, 2020). Moreover, Indonesian schools had applied online learning since Covid-19 attacked this country. During that time, the internet became everyone's favorite place, especially social networking sites. Therefore, teachers began to use them in the learning process. Google Mail, Blogs, YouTube, Yahoo Mail, and Google Classroom are some popular sites used. Teachers have no difficulties to do information sharing, such as learning materials and assignments since Yahoo Mail and Google Mail help them. Besides, students can also share their work results using a blog. He further stated that people's lifestyles, specifically Indonesian students, apparently turn out differently due to the rapid growth of social media users. In terms of education, many schools use this media as a teaching and learning tool. It shows significant improvement in the learning process since it connects users, teachers, and students, to various resources on the internet (Pitler et al., 2007). Moreover, White (2012) also described that utilizing social media may result in more involvement of students if it is supported by face-to-face participation and teachers’ digital teaching methods. Unfortunately, despite the rapid use of social media in high school students' online learning process, there has not been much research done on the Indonesian learner's context. Most of the study was taking place overseas. We found a study from Michelle Mei Ling Yeo (2014) conducted in Singapore and a study from Laila Al-Sharqi & Hashim (2016) took place in Arab Saudi, to name but a few. Even though we can find a few studies in Indonesia, most of them did not completely address all the types of social media. Accordingly, to fill the gap, this study was designed to answer some research questions which can later describe the factual situation of Indonesian learners' preferences toward all types of social media in online learning procedures. They are: (1) do students have social media as learning tools? (2) what platform of social media do the students prefer to use? and (3) what motives encourage students to use social media in the learning process? THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Social Media Platforms According to Friedman and Friedman (2013), Social media technologies or Web 2.0 cover various types of web-based Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 247 communication tools, such as wikis, virtual worlds, blogs, online social networking, and many more. Further, Mismara (2019) described social blogs, internet forums, magazines, microblogs, blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos, images, social bookmarks, and ratings are other popular kinds of social media. They enable users to share, collaborate, and participate in real-time through the internet. Above all, distributing content, transferring documents, doing virtual conferences, giving comments, and tagging are common activities performed (Otieno and Matoke (2014); Hudson (2017); Baruah (2012); Alamri (2019)). Communication becomes more effective and efficient because speakers and listeners do not mandatorily meet each other face-to-face. To conclude, social media is an online tool or platform which helps users to share their perspectives, opinions, content profiles, insights, and experiences. In addition, social media is also a tool to collect, save, discuss, share, and facilitate online interactions among individuals. Positive and Negative Impacts of Social Media on Education a. Positive Impact Social media turns out to be so impactful in this recent years. People can collect as much information and knowledge easily. Besides, it also offers better opportunities to the users. Below are five positive impacts of social media on the education field. 1. Effective Collaboration Students can do group projects and learn by creating groups on social media classes. Further, they can use available video chat and available messaging tools for online classroom communication. By doing this, teachers and students can have flexible scheduling that reduces time travel. 2. New Skills Students are not only required to be capable academically but also non-academically so that they can be adaptive and innovative to survive in the corporate world. As Lad (2017) stated that being able to start relationships with a lot of people and maintain them is an important skill for career development. 3. Creativity Development With social media, it is easy for users to share images, stories, or videos that lead to creative development. Also, the immediate feedback given by friends, teachers, or other users even escalates their creativity to the maximum level. 4. Better Teamwork 248 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 Based on the advantages mentioned above, social media certainly facilitates users to have better teamwork. Students will have no difficulties in collaboration, creativity, information sharing, and communication. 5. Familiarity with New Technology The fifth and last positive impact of using social media, especially for young learners, is becoming tech-savvy generations. We know that information technology will always develop from time to time so students need to be familiar with it. By spending a lot of time with the newest application, computers, or other electronic devices, students would not be technology illiterate. According to Lad (2017), students will be able to develop their life skills by growing interest in technology, either in business or education. b. Negative Impact Addiction is the main negative impact of social media. People tend to check updates on their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other social media constantly and regularly. This addiction is, for sure, influencing other positive values, such as ignoring reality, actively participating in sports, concentrating on learning, and communicating in real life (Raut & Patil, 2016). Besides, people also need to be careful of fake accounts on social media. Concerning education, here are four negative impacts that social media can cause. 1. Distraction Social media is an easy-access platform. Users can use their various gadgets, such as phones, tablets, and laptops to check and post updates on their social media. This situation often makes students spend too much time on gadgets. As the result, students' academic performances might face troubles. It, a study by Lad (2017) showed that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube disruption can significantly reduce students' focus. 2. Lower learning performance Fun is the first and foremost element found in social media. Therefore, it is hard to control users from scrolling phones. Then, it makes them forget about their lesson and assignment. Once they do their classroom task, they always rely on internet search engines. In this case, there is absolutely no information-maintaining process. 3. Less human contact Spending time on social media tends to make users forget to have real social contacts. Associating with others in person, Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 249 transferring non-verbal signals, and having face-to-face communication is something difficult to do. So, most users prefer to speak on screen now (Raut & Patil, 2016). 4. Privacy Social media users have forgotten the urgency of filtering published information. They sometimes post every single thing they want. However, some potential employers and colleges use their social networking profiles to check their career or academic background. Therefore, Lad (2017) presented that most students may have negative consequences after not continuously filtering the uploaded content. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This study was survey research that aimed to collect data about social media platforms used by students in online learning. Therefore, two favorite high schools in Palembang were chosen as the place of research, namely SMAN 8 Palembang and SMAN 4 Palembang. These two schools are located in Plaju, Palembang, and South Sumatra. They were suitable for this research because (1) the students have the distribution of the same subject, such as Mathematic, Sports, Indonesian, English, and so on; (2) the students were learning from home at the same time due to the Covid-19 situation; and (3) they reported that they used almost the same kinds of social media for learning, such as WhatsApp (discussion platform), Zoom or Google Meet (virtual meeting platform), and Google Classroom (assignments' submissions platform). From both schools, 625 students were taken as the research population. Each of them had the same opportunities to be selected as research samples, known as the probability sampling technique. In this study, the writer referred to a statement from Arikunto (2010, p. 112) that a survey design could take 10%-15% of the population for sampling if the population is more than a hundred. Therefore, this study had 88 students (or 14% of the total population) as the research samples. Specifically, 44 students were taken from SMAN 4 Palembang and 44 students were taken from SMAN 8 Palembang. The samples were randomly selected. To collect the data, questionnaires and interviews were used. The questionnaire applied the Likert Scale as an item measurement, starting from 1 (strongly disagree) up to 5 (strongly agree). There were 31 questions to be answered by the research samples in this phase. All items were designed to seek students' preferences on social media users. Then, 10 250 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 interview questions were also distributed to the students to provide additional information for the study. Those items were mostly designed to know the reason for the student's preferences. Before administering the instruments, the writers checked the instruments' validity and reliability. Both questionnaires and interview questions were valid and reliable based on the tests done, which were content validity (89% of question items in the questionnaire and 83% of question items in the interview were very appropriate based on experts' judgment) and test-retest reliability (0.847 coefficient test result). The online questionnaires were distributed to students as students were still learning from home. Besides, the interviews were also conducted online through a virtual room. Last, the data from questionnaires were calculated by using the percentage formula. Then, the data from the interview were transcribed and used to compare participants’ responses in questionnaires. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The result of the Questionnaire From the findings displayed in Table 1, the following discussions were presented. First, more than half of the students liked to use social media for learning (44,3% agree and 21,6% strongly agree). Second, most of the students thought social media could help them study, 47,7% of students agree and 14,8% of students strongly agree. However, some students were still in doubt if social media suits their studying. For that reason, not many students felt social media could help them learn better, only 33% of students agree and 9,1% of students strongly agree. On the contrary, 43,2% of students even stated in a neutral position. They were in doubt about whether social media could help them learn better or not. Table 1. The result of the Questionnaire (Items 1-5) No Statement SD D N A SA % % % % % 1 I like using social media to learn. 1,1 2,3 30,7 44,3 21,6 2 Social media enable me to understand the lesson better. 4,5 6,8 26,1 47,7 14,8 Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 251 3 Using social media in the learning process suits me. 4,5 12,5 43,2 30,7 9,1 4 It is easy to use social media in an online learning classroom. 0 3,4 15,9 47,7 33 5 Using social media to support the online learning process is a good idea to do. 3,4 5,7 22,7 38,6 29,5 Note SD (Strongly Disagree), D (Disagree), N (Neutral), A (Agree), SA (Strongly Agree). Besides, most students agree that using social media in online learning is an easy thing to do, 47,7% (agree) and 33% (strongly agree). However, there were 3,4% (disagree) – 15,9% (neutral) of students who did not think that learning with social media was an easy task to do. The students also claimed that using social media to support the learning process is a good idea to do, 38,6% (agree) and 29,5%. (strongly disagree) As previously stated, the items listed in the questionnaire were intended to find out students' preferences on social media platforms used for online learning activities. Therefore, to have a deeper analysis, the writers also provided some items dealing with students' views on the communication process. The data were shown in Table 2 below. Table 2. The result of the Questionnaire (Items 6 - 8) No Statement SD D N A SA % % % % % 6 Online learning through social media helps me study even better. 4,5 10,2 43,2 33 9,1 7 Online learning facilitates me have better students teachers communication. 8 20,5 34,1 22,7 14,8 252 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 8 The Internet facilitates me to communicate with my friends. 2,3 8 20,5 31,8 37,5 From the findings, we can see that the internet and social media do support students' communication. However, students feel that the internet facilitates more student communication rather than student teachers communication. Dealing with assignments through social media, students did not feel disturbed at all. In contrast, they felt challenged to finish the tasks given by their teachers, 28,4% (agree) and 13,6% (strongly agree) of students. In addition, most of the students, or 43,2% said that they love to discuss their assignments through social media. The respondents also agreed that social media motivated them to do active learning (31,8% agree and 14,8% strongly agree), but not necessarily to focus on their lessons. As the result, many students were in doubt that they could improve their academic performance and have better grades with the help of social media. Table 3. The result of the Questionnaire (Items 9 - 12) No Statement SD D N A SA % % % % % 9 The use of social media distracts me from completing tasks. 10,2 35,2 36,4 14,8 3,4 10 I feel challenged to do the assigned tasks. 3,4 13,6 40,9 28,4 13,6 11 I enjoy using social media to discuss schoolwork. 2,3 10,2 34,1 43,2 10,2 12 Social media motivate me to study. 3,4 13,6 36,4 31,8 14,8 To check the students’ opinions about the impacts of social media on their academic performance, some question items were also given as follows. Table 4. Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 253 The result of the Questionnaire (Items 13 - 15) No Statement SD D N A SA % % % % % 13 Social media help me focus on my lesson. 8 19,3 46,6 22,7 3,4 14 Social media help me improve my academic achievement. 5,7 10,2 52,3 31,8 0 15 The use of social media in the teaching and learning process impacts my grades. 4,5 5,7 45,5 34,1 10,2 There were 52,3% and 45,5% of students were not sure about the impacts of social media on their learning achievement. Last, students showed negative responses toward the 16th and 17th statements. In online learning, they could not understand the material comprehensively and do the group assignment effectively. Table 5. The result of the Questionnaire (Items 16 - 17) No Statement SD D N A SA % % % % % 16 Online learning is very effective because I can understand the lesson well. 19,3 31,8 39,8 6,8 2,3 17 In online learning, group assignments can be done easily. 21,6 28,4 34,1 12,5 3,4 Next, the student's preferences on social media platforms in the questionnaire were also checked. The details were listed below. Table 6. The result of the Questionnaire (Items 18 - 22) No Statement Frequencies of Responses Yes No N % N % 254 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 18 I like to use Instagram as an online learning tool. 42 47,7 46 52,3 19 I like to use Facebook as an online learning tool. 3 3,4 85 96,6 20 I like to use Twitter as an online learning tool. 18 20,5 70 79,5 21 I like to use YouTube as an online learning tool. 79 89,8 9 10,2 22 I like to use Blogs as an online learning tool. 55 62,5 33 37,5 The question items dealing with the students’ preferences on the use of video conference platforms were also provided such as Google Classroom, Zoom Meeting, and Google Meet. Furthermore, students' preferences for the use of the instant messaging platform, such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Line, were also checked. Table 7. The result of the Questionnaire (Items 23 - 31) No Statement Frequencies of Responses Yes No N % N % 23 I like to use Telegram as an online learning tool. 29 33 59 67 24 I like to use WhatsApp as an online learning tool. 82 93,2 6 6,8 25 I like to use LINE as an online learning tool. 19 21,6 69 78,4 26 I like to use Google Classroom as an online learning tool. 86 97,7 2 2,3 27 I like to use Zoom meetings as an online learning tool. 75 85,2 13 14,8 28 I like to use Google Meet as an online learning tool. 70 79,5 18 20,5 29 The use of social 77 87,5 11 12,5 Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 255 media facilitates me to find learning materials. 30 I can find school assignment references easily using social media. 82 93,2 6 6,8 31 Social media facilitates Students-Teachers or Students-Students interaction. 59 67 29 33 The findings presented in Table 7 are discussing the students' preferences for social media that are commonly used for online learning. Seeing the result, most students prefer not to use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for learning. They felt that those platforms were not good enough to use in the comprehensive learning process. In contrast, the students agree that Google Classroom, YouTube, Blog, and WhatsApp are better platforms to use for online learning. However, the respondents also showed positive responses to the use of Zoom meetings and Google Meet for online learning. For the last three questionnaire items, we see that most students, or 87,5% of respondents can find learning materials easily with social media. Further, they (93,2% of participants) also claimed that it was not difficult to find references for school assignments when they use social media. There were many readings sources available online. Not only that, but social media also make interaction with friends and teachers became easier to do. The Result of the Interview To know the students’ reasons behind their social media references, the transcripts of interviews made must be analyzed too. Most of the questions were discussing the justification of "like" or "dislike" on social media as an online learning tool. However, the detailed transcripts will not be written in the discussion. We only describe what is most important to support questionnaire findings. 1) Students’ comfort and familiarity. The writers tried to find the students' initial knowledge about online learning with social media. Besides, the students were also asked about their feeling towards the use of social media as a learning tool, comfortable or uncomfortable. 256 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 Based on the data, the students answered it differently. There were students (for instance, Students 1, 50, 7, 15, and 5) described that they have known about social media used in online learning and they felt comfortable with it. However, several students did not feel comfortable, such as Students 54, 24, and 27. Some students felt moderate, he/she could feel both interchangeably, comfortable or uncomfortable, like Student 33. To conclude, all students have been familiar with the use of social media as an online learning tool. Then, the feeling toward the utilization of social media would depend on each respondent's personal views. Some said they felt comforted, meanwhile, others said uncomfortably. Then, the rest felt both. 2) What makes the respondents "like" or "dislike," Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for online learning activities? Many students agreed on using Instagram, but not Facebook and Twitter, for online learning. They (for instance Students 1 and 7) claimed that Instagram helped them learn efficiently and effectively. Further, Student 50 described that short caption used on Instagram is the reason why he/she thought Instagram is better than Facebook or Twitter. The shorter explanation could make them understand the material faster. Furthermore, Student 5 stated that Instagram could not be used to search for material like YouTube. Besides, the video was not displayed on full screen. The students also mentioned other reasons that were–there were some attractive pictures to see on Instagram so that they might not focus on learning. Last, two respondents (Students 24 & 27) said that they only used Instagram as a platform to submit tasks. For Student 15, Facebook was as good as Instagram because the material shared was easily accessed and understood. Those who disliked using Twitter or Facebook explained that they did not sign up for the accounts. 3) What makes the respondents "like" or "dislike" YouTube and blogs for online learning activities? YouTube and Blogs gained the highest "like" scores in this research. It was because students thought they are the two platforms that provided a comprehensive explanation of learning materials. However, detailed discussion, understandable references, extensive knowledge, flexible time and place, and interactive media were other reasons mentioned by respondents. 4) What makes the respondents "like" or "dislike" WhatsApp, LINE, and Telegram for online learning activities? Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 257 The data showed that WhatsApp got the highest scores compared to Telegram or LINE. The main reason was the one and only useful WhatsApp Groups. They could have intensive discussions with teachers or group members. Meanwhile, most of the students disliked LINE and Telegram as online learning tools because they could waste data usage due to bots. 5) What makes the respondents "like" or "dislike" Google Classroom for online learning activities? Google Classroom was the respondent’s daily use of online learning tools. Sharing materials, submitting assignments, and cloud storages feature were some positive reasons mentioned in the interview session. However, there were still students who disliked Google Classroom. For example, Student 27 said that teachers sometimes gave them unclear instructions and materials to read. The materials were not cropped well or the documents uploaded were blurred. 6) What makes the respondents "like" or "dislike" Google Meet and Zoom for online learning activities? The virtual conference was the most awaited session for students in online learning. Therefore, Google Meet and Zoom became students' favorites. Face-to-face interaction was not the only reason. There were other reasons, such as displayed presentation, offline classroom-like situation, small data usage, stable signal, and many others. 7) Social media motivated students in learning. Not all students agreed that social media could motivate users to learn. They claimed that social media tend to provide a monotonous learning process, like listening to teachers, writing down materials, and so on. 8) Social media was the most used. YouTube, Google Classroom, Zoom, Blog, WhatsApp, and Instagram were chosen as students' favorite online learning platforms. Although there were several students mentioned Google Meet, it was not significant. 9) Social media affects students’ grades. The findings for this item were varied. Some students said that they maintained their grades well. However, some others claimed their scores were not as good as before. 10) Other activities with social media, besides learning Expressing their ideas, communicating with family members or friends, entertaining themselves, searching random information, 258 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 reading success stories, watching movies, and having news updates were other interesting activities the students had. Discussion As it was stated previously, this study aimed to find out three research questions. First, how well the students knew about social media in learning. Second, what the students preferred to use as their online learning tool. Last, why the students liked or disliked the social media platforms? To answer all those three questions, two instruments were used, namely a questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire results showed that most of the respondents were familiar with social media in online learning activities. Besides, the data said that (1) 65,9% of students liked to use social media platforms; (2) 80,7% of students said that social media was not that difficult to use; (3) 34,1% and 37,5% of students agreed if social media made their interaction more effective and efficient. This was supported by Sakkir et al., (2016) that the internet and social media had been part of human lives and changed the people work, interact, get knowledge, and live. For tech-savvy generations, it is impossible to neglect or avoid technology, especially social media, in daily activities. Therefore, it is acceptable if the findings show the number of “like social media in online learning” is higher than “dislike social media in online learning”. When someone feels comfortable about something, there will be no significant difficulties happen. Therefore, a recent study found more than 80% of students felt social media was easy to operate. Another positive response was improving interaction among users. We knew that Covid-19 Pandemic had already created limited interaction all around the world. Teachers and students could not come to schools, workers were designed to work from home, travelers were not allowed to go out of town or countries, and many others. Fortunately, social media offered solutions for those mentioned problems. People could still see the world's updates from screens, phones, laptops, or tablets. Once they click on Instagram, they could know what is viral now. Besides, people can have meetings utilizing Zoom Meeting and Google Meet. Teachers can share materials with students from the Google Classroom platform. Then, the students can submit their assignments to the same platform too. These positive solutions happened because of the use of information technology, especially social media. So, it is reasonable if students thought social Hariswan Putera Jaya, et. al: A Survey on High School Students’ Preferences toward the Use of Social Media as Online Learning Tools 259 media made their interaction more effective and efficient. They are no longer limited by place and time. In addition to the questionnaire, the interview findings were also showing positive responses. Most of them agreed that social media help them better in learning. For example, WhatsApp helped them share references, books, and readings. Or, Google Classroom supports assignment submissions. Meanwhile, YouTube and Blog provided important information. People could watch videos on YouTube and read passages in Blogs. Though there are many options of document sharing tools, like email, Bluetooth, or others, WhatsApp might be the most popular platform to use. Users do not need to activate or sign in every time they need to use it. They just click on the WhatsApp icon and find to whom the files will be sent. Therefore, we could see people sharing e-books, readings sources, photos, videos, or other files easily now. This simplicity, of course, needs to be applied in the online classroom too. When offline classrooms were banned, teachers have Google Classroom as the alternative (if schools have not yet created their learning management system). In this cloud-storage classroom, teachers can manage the topics discussed, the assignments, the student's attendance, and even quizzes. Google Classroom is user- friendly so everyone must be fine with it. Not only for entertainment but YouTube and Blog can also be used to support the teaching and learning processes too. People upload hundreds of videos on YouTube every day now. Thus, it is easy to find learning materials on YouTube. The users just need to type keywords and click the "Find" button. Those who prefer to read text can opt for a Blog. The good thing is students or teachers can even try to be content creators or bloggers so that it can sharpen their soft skills for future benefits. Finally, it could be concluded that all social media applications provided users with different services, such as document sharing, interactive communication, classroom management, virtual conferences, etc. So, the users could find and use the one that suited their needs, professions, objectives, or others. CONCLUSION The result of the study shows that the respondents had all known or been familiar with social media as an online learning tool. Therefore, they had a positive response to the use of social media in online learning activities. They used the available platforms, such as 260 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2022 Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Blog, and so on, to have virtual interaction with teachers and friends. They communicated by video conferencing or messaging. Besides, they liked to use those platforms to find learning materials and supplementary references. Posting, sharing, and submitting assignments were also done through social media. The good things about these platforms were not only dealing with learning, but they also helped students entertain themselves, starting by watching films, reading celebrity updates, and many others. Furthermore, the data obtained showed that the respondents chose YouTube as the most preferred platform. Then, Google Classroom and WhatsApp were in second and third positions. The blog came after WhatsApp. Further, Zoom App took the fifth position. The last was for Google Meet. These preferences were clearly stated and described by respondents when they answered the questionnaire and interview session. Google Classroom, Zoom, Google Meet, and WhatsApp helped them study virtually. They could interact with teachers or friends on those platforms. They could share materials and assignments too. Meanwhile, the respondents agreed that YouTube and Blog provided different services to the previous platform mentioned. These two applications gave those unlimited videos and written materials to see. Therefore, they could understand the lesson well. REFERENCES Abe, P., & Jordan, N. A. (2013). Integrating social media into the classroom curriculum. About Campus, 8(1), 16-20. https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21107. Al-Sharqi, L., & Hashim, K. (2016). University students perceptions of social media as a learning tool. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 5(1), 65-88. Alamri, M. M. (2019). 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