European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │ Issue 9 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.890967 A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION Arslan Bayrami Artvin Çoruh University, Turkey Abstract: The phenomenology design which is one of the qualitative research methods was employed in this research that aimed to reveal the contribution of educational administrators’ usage of social media to educational administration. The research is an explanatory study survey model. The study groups were selected using convenience sampling method. In-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview form consisting of three themes along with their subthemes that is developed by the researcher as the data collection tool. It is revealed that the social media has an effect on school administration and it should be used effectively implying that every school administrator should know how to use social media consciously. It can be asserted that some educational administrators can use social media tools effectively and in a manner that can contribute to educational administration. It is concluded that effective social media use should contribute to school administration, but school administrators rather use social media to share information with teachers, and also school administrators should exhibit instructional leadership to teachers and students through effective social media use, but school administrators do not have enough knowledge and experience of instructional leadership. It can be stated that school administrators do not have enough experience in creating a vision and bringing team spirit. Keywords: educational administration, social media, instructional leadership, change management, communication Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 456 Arslan Bayram “ QU“LIT“TIVE STUDY ON THE CONTRI”UTION OF EDUC“TION“L “DMINISTR“TORS’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 1. Introduction Today, technology develops more than ever. There is a need for administrators who can adapt to rapidly changing and developing technology. The need for teachers and school administrators to use social media effectively is growing. Because students use social media more often. Weinberg, (2009) defines social media as a field of application that places the world of the internet rapidly into our life and enables the sharing of information, different perspectives / thoughts and experiences through community oriented websites. The fact that the majority of social network users are composed of young people and students and that they offer a rich interaction with the user suggests the use of these networks for educational purposes. The fact that social networking sites have importance in the lives of students of all ages has attracted a great deal of interest among some educators (Selwyn ve Lyndsay, 2009). Data sharing by means of many social networking applications has become quite easy. Individuals with similar interests can learn from each other and contribute to the ever-evolving web-based information sources (Mazman, 2009). An environment in which both students and teachers can contribute to school management through social media can be created. The digital marketing agency We Are Social , which works all over the world in 2016, reports the statistics of internet and social media usage in 2016 with a report. The report based on the data gathered from 30 countries including Turkey covers important data such as the number of social media and internet users on mobile platforms. According to the report the number of people who has internet connection throughout the world is 3,419 billion while 2307 billion people use social media. The report shows that out of overall population of 79,4 million 46,3 million people are connected to Internet and out of 42 million social media users 36 million people use social media through mobile devices. In this case, it can be said that Turkey is very active in using social media and internet. According to the report of We are Social , 77 % of internet users in Turkey are online every day and 16% are online at least once a week. 51% of them access Internet by laptop and desktop computers, 46% by mobile phones and 3% by tablets. For downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1031 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 9 │ 2017 457