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Comunicar Journal 62: Learning ecologies in the digital age (Vol. 28 - 2020)
Studygrammers: Learning influencers
Patricia Izquierdo-Iranzo
Eliana-E. Gallardo-Echenique
Present learning ecologies are diverse and change quickly, which demands a similar observation of the phenomenon. This paper is focused on the youth emerging informal learning communities and the study’s object is to discover and characterize a new figure in this landscape, the Studygrammer. With surveys (N=256), focus groups carried out through the Philips 66 technique and analyze with Atlas ti software (thematic analysis) we analyze: practices of academic social media use amongst Communication students and apart of the institutional enviroment, plus their opinions regarding the #Studygram community, #Studygrammer profiles from different degrees are also analyzed. Main results help us to concrete a definition for Studygrammer: a student that performs a mentoring (coach-leader) role amongst peers using Instagram, not only sharing notes (highly performed) but also tips, inspiration and experiences. They have the DNA of an influencer using the same visual code and monetizating their practices but the academic goal adds some peculiarities: the visual code works as lingua franca between different knowledge areas (students of a certain degree follow studygrammers which study different degrees, because they are also interested on the know-how learning process) and in the followers’ adhesion criteria we find more rational than emotional reasons.
Keywords
Studygrammer, Instagram, influencer, informal learning, social media, learning communities, communication students, transmedia literacy