State of the art

The greatest contribution of the Internet and ICTs to the field of education has been the promotion of teacher innovation. The logic and dynamics of digital technology itself have become natural allies of the new teaching model based on collaborative, autonomous and decentralized work. The scientific framework related to the positive effects of the introduction of technology in learning processes covers all types of scenarios, skills and procedures.

Experiences in the formal environment report advances in terms of methodologies such as flipped learning, which relies on the use of digital resources inside and outside the classroom (Serrano & Casanova, 2018), the usefulness of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) and gamification (Torres-Toukoumidis, Romero-Rodriguez & Pérez-Rodriguez,2018), from which an increased acquisition of skills is identified (Callaghan & Bower, 2012; López-Pérez, Pérez-López, & Rodríguez-Ariza, 2011).

The empirical verification of these experiences includes both formal and informal processes. Pereira, Fillol and Moura (2019) state that, despite the excessively institutionalized view of education, informal learning strategies contribute to the development of useful skills and competences from a school viewpoint. In fact, the skills acquired through the use of information technologies go beyond the cognitive realm to also cover the social and emotional realm (Tan& Pierce, 2011). Simply, the cross-sectional nature, ubiquity and versatility of virtual space makes it more "friendly" for young people, who also take advantage of it to learn without establishing differences.

The unlimited digital space does not respond to the stagnant logic of the pre-digital world, since "unlike other environments exclusively dedicated to learning (...) the opportunity for interactivity offered by social networks configures a completely hybrid space where it is not possible to distinguish when young people are sharing and when they are learning" (Arriaga, Marcellan-Baraze, & González-Vida, 2016: 213).

The existential journey of social networks also enables us to observe an evolution in their uses. Although in the beginning, a predominance of entertainment was detected, there has been an increase in their use for professional purposes since 2015 (Fundación Telefónica, 2016). Recently, the Internet Oxford Institute has detected a decrease in their use to stay informed in favor of the consumption of news via traditional media (Marchal, 2019). Piscitelli, Adaime and Binder (2010) talk about the potential of social networks to influence education through the collective intelligence of groups of prosumers (content producers and consumers).

Studygrammers offer freely (on Instagram) and for the entire virtual community, what students usually exchange via WhatsApp: notes, doubts and/or encouragement. The order and aesthetics in their publications, together with the humanization of the relationship, complete the contribution of this informal learning community headed by their leaders-coaches.

The pedagogical and cultural possibilities of YouTube have also produced valuable scientific literature (Gilroy, 2010; Burgess & Green, 2018), discovering figures such as, for example, the booktuber: a young Internet user who recommends books in vlog format (Vizcaíno-Verdú, Contreras-Pulido, & Guzmán-Franco, 2019).

The veteran and versatile nature of Facebook can also be seen in the scientific production generated (Selwyn, 2009; Piscitelli & al., 2010; Sánchez, Cortijo, & Javed, 2014) and, by extension, in the rest of platforms such as WhatsApp and Twitter (Abdullah & Darshak, 2015; Túñez & Sixto, 2012), the contributions of this epigraph have significance beyond the national scale, since they include populations from different places, such as: Portugal, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Turkey, Israel, Singapore and Indonesia.

The social network focus of this research, Instagram, is the most recent (2010), and continues to expand increasing in users, rating and notoriety (IAB, 2018).

In addition, it has been the object of several studies, which report the positive reception of students to the inclusion of Instagram as part of the learning methodology. Some of the results observed highlight the improvement in the presentation of papers through a flipped classroom model (Supiandi, Sari, & Subarkah, 2019), or the improvement of expression skills in the acquisition of a second language (Barbosa & al., 2017; Jalaludin, Abas, & Yunus, 2019).

However, the scope of this line of research has the following limitations: a) most existing references deal with the educational use of Instagram in a limited field known as SMILLA (social networks as an instrument of language learning); b) references are mostly concentrated in Asia; and c) studies are published extensively in the infamous "predator journals", which is why they are not referenced in this text. In contrast, there is not much scientific activity in the West. Moreover, most papers focus on docent view on this social platform, which justifies the relevance of undertaking a study focused on the academic activity of students, regardless of the institution.

Objectives and approach

This research addresses how Communication students use social networks outside the institutionalized educational environment, although directly linked to their higher education, with the aim of identifying new components and emerging learning processes. Within the heterogeneous digital ecosystem, attention is focused on a new actor: the studygrammer. A student who leads the #Studygram community of Instagram. The main purpose of the text is, therefore, to define and characterize his figure, while understanding the relationship and opinion of students in the Communication area about this phenomenon.

The analytical approach is comparative in relation to other networks or "influencers" of other fields, other degrees and other training stages. In this way, "Instagram use by Communication students" and "role played by the studygrammer" are established as dependent variables; and the independent variables are: "types of social network: Instagram or other", "purpose of learning: formal or informal", "field of knowledge: communication or other" and "education stage: university or earlier.”

Methodological design

The present design offers a triangulation of three techniques: questionnaires, participant observation and Philips 66 processed with Atlas.ti. The data on the academic uses in social networks and, in particular, from the #Studygrammer community, were obtained from 256 students from all the courses of the different degrees in Communication of a Spanish public university, both in person and online. The main collection instrument was an online questionnaire.

The innovative nature of the phenomenon initially posed a stumbling block to the development of sufficiently representative categories of variables. A pilot questionnaire was conducted that collected open-ended answers to those questions with less certainty about the possible options. The replication of responses to the pilot questionnaire facilitated the development of representative categories, which gave rise to manifest variables for analyzing behavior through closed options (many of them with a "multi-response" option).

During the participant observation, an appropriate technique to become acquainted with groups or communities outside the researcher (Gaitán & Piñuel, 1999), 15 random profiles (Spanish, English and Portuguese speaking) were followed for two weeks under the label #Studygram. This qualitative evaluation on the images and the associated "post" (the 10 top posts of each "hashtag" eliminating duplicates and posts not related to the object of study) allowed to characterize the figure of the studygrammer.

The methodological design was completed with the execution of a Philips 66, a conversational technique that is useful to organize the participation of large groups in limited times (Peñafiel, Torres, & Izquierdo, 2016). According to the protocol of the technique (Gaitán & Piñuel, 1999), 10 discussion groups were organized with a total of 56 participating subjects, all of them students of the double degree in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication.

The design of the groups did not determine homogeneity or heterogeneity variables, precisely because the first type (age, studies) adequately served the design of previously established independent variables. In addition, variables irrelevant to the ultimate purpose of the study were recognized, such as gender (which was randomly distributed and naturally annulled by the spontaneous group formation). Each group had a secretary who collected the main findings of the "group discourse" (Ibáñez, 2003) in writing. Alphanumeric coding was used to maintain the confidentiality and anonymity of the participants (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007), and a spokesperson exposed the data in a meeting where each group had two rounds of intervention.

The exploitation of the documents generated by the groups was carried out with the Atlas.ti program, following the method of "thematic analysis", which allows to identify, organize and provide patterns or themes for the understanding of the phenomenon (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The strategy of open, axial and selective coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) was also used to create and organize the codes through networks or flow diagrams that graphically represented the possible systems of relationships between categories and/or codes. That is to say, linking participants' concepts and opinions.

In order to increase validity, another Philips 66 was carried out, whose data were not processed, although it did enable the verification of the hermeneutic unit of analysis in which a previously formed group (a classroom of peers) was constituted, which did not produce group biases in the discourse produced. An external auditor's review of the codebook was also requested (Creswell, 2012). The data collected in this phase of the study responded to the objective of knowing the relationship and the opinion of Communication students on the studygrammer phenomenon.

Use of social media in informal learning

To contextualize the topic of learning in a peer community, one begins with the question: "habitually, what notes do you use to study?", where the answer "Those I take in class complemented with those of a colleague" obtained 70.07%.

Regarding the usefulness of the educational use of social networks (Figure 1), only WhatsApp and YouTube have a significant utility (represented by lighter tones in Figure 1), where Facebook is indicated as the least useful, followed by Instagram and Twitter.

In relation to specific features, WhatsApp stands out for "solving short and practical doubts.” It is the only platform that has been indicated as very useful for: "sharing notes", "sharing general information about the degree and/or the university", "obtaining diagrams and summaries", "receiving encouragement" and "reviewing in company" (although the last three in less intensity). YouTube is considered the most appropriate for "complete explanations of complex subjects", its usefulness was most recognized in previous stages of training. In this sense, the data relating to the authorship of the videos that are consumed as academic support stands out: in secondary education 50% of the videos were made by professional teachers, in higher education this figure dropped to 30%. "The possibility of stopping and repeating the explanation" (sample testimony) and "we did not know how to make our own websites, blogs or profiles" (sample testimony) are the arguments offered. Likewise, it is relevant for this study to emphasize that the option "none" was the option most frequently mentioned with respect to receiving "study and planning advice.”

In order to completely understand the assessment of the educational use of social networks, it is essential to underline that the adjective most commonly used is "collaborative" (indicated 70.6% of the time), followed by "fast" (63.25%), while adjectives such as "clear" and "organized" obtained low scores: 3.3% and 9.6% respectively. The assessment "reproduces errors" had a significant incidence of 35%. Another element detected as a barrier when associating social networks and study was identified as a danger of distraction. Despite the balance expressed, a door remained open for the manifest opinion: "these are still used sparingly, but they could be used more and better", which obtained 58.3% support.

The figure of the studygrammer

Studygrammers in Communication undergraduate programs: Perception and assessment

The most relevant data obtained both from the questionnaires and the discussion groups on the relationship (follow-up and opinion) of Communication Degree students with the studygrammer are the following: the students stated that they knew fewer studygrammers from their own degree program (4.4%) than from other fields (12.1%), among which they mentioned Medicine, Biology, Architecture, Fashion Design, Philosophy, Law, History, Engineering, Teaching, Physics and Mathematics. For 87.9%, the criteria for choosing to follow a studygrammer should be based on content, while for 12.1% on personality. However, to follow a generic influencer the personality does gain importance, increasing the degree of agreement to 58%. Considering the reasons to follow them, the most frequently mentioned is: "to complete notes" with 56.3%. Other reasons for deciding to be part of a studygrammer's community are: "for doubts" and "for advice" (both mentioned 37.6% of the time), followed by "for help to get organized" with 31.1%. These questions are reflected in the description that the reporting subjects make of their "ideal studygrammer" (Figure 2).

The variable "explains in his/her own way, with a language appropriate to our age" also stands out from this representation. Based on the economic question, 19.7% think that "having the activity of the studygrammers for educational purposes, they should not get any benefit. 48.7% think it is appropriate for them to "monetize their online community by selling their schemes and other content", and for 31.6% to do so "through collaborations with brands.” The fact that the economic variable comes into play in the #Studygram community does not seem to generate strong disagreement. A fact that may be explained by the opinion expressed regarding the reasons students consider that lead a person to become a studygrammer: "for helping" (50%), "for money" (43.8%) and "because they consider that they are good students" (37.5%). On the other hand, although 68% think it is a useful figure, 75% say they would not like to be a studygrammer. The reasons for this refusal are shown in Figure 3.