2.1. Meaning of Faculty Members in the Research Context

In the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 14 of 2005 concerning teachers and faculty members, faculty members are professional educators and scientists who carry out educational, research, and community service activities in order to develop science, technology, and arts (Presiden Republik Indonesia, 2005). Faculty members consist of lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors, and professors (Mendristek Dikti, 2019). Furthermore, faculty members who have obtained academic positions as associate professors and full professors are usually called senior lecturers, while young lecturers are lecturers and assistant professors. So in this study, faculty members are all educators and scientists who carry out educational, research, and community service activities in the higher education environment, including lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors, and professors.

2.2. The Utilization of Social Media in the Education Fields

Social media and other online platforms have an impact on educational programs that are supported by data-driven and platform-based media (van Dijck & Poell, 2018). Social media is considered to have the potential to be used in a learning environment, and is also believed to be able to improve communication between students and teachers. Teachers can increase participation and collaboration among students through social media, because the students are more comfortable in voicing opinions and expressing their creativity through social media (Faizi, Afia, & Chiheb, 2013). However, social media can also interfere with students’ focus on learning, and students can become too dependent on the application. In addition, on the one hand social media can be an alternative presence for learning management systems, but on the other hand social media makes some students lose the opportunity to communicate face to face. As another disadvantage, some students may get wrong information from social media, which can cause them to be confused (Orlanda-Ventayen & Ventayen, 2017; Raut & Patil, 2016).

In college, social media has become a part of learning media. A study shows that most academics have used social media in the process of learning, teaching, and interacting with their colleagues and students (Alsolamy, 2017). Willems, Adachi, Bussey, Doherty, and Huijser (2018) give some consideration in integrating social media in higher education, namely: the existence of clear social media use policies, the impact of late adaptation for institutions, the development of professional staff, digital literacy, and evaluating pedagogy (Willems et al., 2018). Facebook has become a very popular social media channel in educational activities. Facebook’s contribution to education includes positive contributions to communication and cooperation, support for learning, improvement of the education process, and increasing cooperation and performance related to learning styles and user personality, but is less related to organizational issues (Zachos, Paraskevopoulou-Kollia, & Anagnostopoulos, 2018).

2.3. Information Behavior on Social Media

Social media is designed as an Internet-based application that can be used to create and share content from and for other social media users (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Social media is a medium that has the strong potential to be used in various fields, including political campaigns, the entertainment industry, the education sector, and so on (Kaplan, 2015). An experiment shows that taking into account the difficulty and expertise of the reader, online news use has an effect on recognition and recall (Opgenhaffen & d’Haenens, 2011). Therefore, local news organizations in the United States use Twitter as an additional medium in disseminating information (Meyer & Tang, 2015).

Social media has been used by almost all circles for various purposes. Social media has also become a very sexy discussion topic for research. Most research on social media, including social networks, are published in the fields of psychology, communication, library and information science, health care, sociology, and several multidisciplinary journals. Research on social media is also widely discussed in legal, management, and tourism disciplines (Liu, Ho, & Lu, 2017). The growth of social media research is characterized by increasing collaboration, number of publications, and number of citations. Some keywords that can show trends in research are “Facebook,” “Twitter,” “communication,” “social networking sites,” “China,” “climate change,” “big data,” and “social support” (Li et al., 2017). Information science can show a contribution to understanding information behavior through social networking theory and social networking analysis to be able to connect with other fields of science (Schultz-Jones, 2009).

The use of social media in the learning process uses a combination of online and offline approaches. Faculty members create content, post, and comment on social media. Faculty members who use social media in the learning process usually seek information and try themselves to improve their skills in using social media effectively and efficiently (Seechaliao, 2015). Other studies show that social media plays an important role in supporting the information seeking behavior of international students. Social media becomes the main source of information related to information about education, health, culture, students, teachers, and institutions for international students. Social media has also helped international students connect with students from their host country. This helps them to understand the new culture, both the culture of learning or the culture of communicating with their teachers, and to overcome the longing for their country (Hamid, Bukhari, Ravana, Norman, & Ijab, 2016). Information or news that is shared on social media can be divided into three subcategories, namely the context of using online media, user characteristics, and user motivation in relation to news sharing behavior (Kümpel, Karnowski, & Keyling, 2015). Meanwhile, according to Gritt (2018), there are three models of information use on social media, namely the emergent model where social media is used to share information with the public; the augmented model, where social media is used to find information and support decision making; and the transformed model, in which social media produces collaborative information behavior.

In terms of finding information about job openings, Mowbray, Hall, Raeside, and Robertson (2017) explain that there are three things to consider, namely the implementation of social networking theory in informal channels during the period of job search; the role of networking behavior in job search; and the use of social media. Mowbray et al. (2017) further explain that the behavior information model, suitable for describing job search behavior, is the Wilson Behavior Information Model, where the information behavior is faced with the context of information needs, intervening variables, and information seeking behavior (Mowbray et al., 2017). In general, Khoo (2014) mentions that the dominant information behavior in social media includes asking for information, answering information, sharing information without being asked, and integrating information.

4.1. Information Needs of Indonesian Faculty Members

Information needs refer to the extent to which information is needed when there is information uncertainty for decision making (Krikelas, 1983), and expression of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with information obtained, through both formal and informal sources (Wilson, 1999). Information needs are influenced by many factors, including the individual’s characteristics, background, and motivation, and also professional orientation, social factors, culture, politics, economics, and law (Wilson, 2000). Based on the results of observations and interviews, it can be seen that faculty members join a number of faculty members groups on social media because of information needs. These information needs can be divided into categories of professional information needs, personal information needs, and general information needs. The information needs of Indonesian faculty members on social media can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1.

Indonesian faculty members’ information needs on social media

A senior lecturer who founded a faculty members group on Facebook said that he set it up to keep up with developments in cyberspace, because actually long before there was Facebook, he had created an Indonesian faculty members’ mailing list as a medium of communication and information dissemination related to research grants and community service from the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education of Indonesia (Kemenristek Dikti). Meanwhile, a young lecturer who founded many faculty members groups said that the reason he founded many new groups was to facilitate the information needs of young faculty members who did not understand much about the world of teaching. Based on his experience, questions from new lecturers in the faculty members group to senior lecturer members are often ignored, because it might be considered that this should be known by a faculty member. With the creation of a young faculty members group, these questions received many responses from new lecturers who had knowledge or experience in this matter. For example, basic questions included “What are the requirements to get National Faculty Members Registration Number?” and “How to pass a doctoral scholarship program?” In Facebook groups that young lecturers describe as a senior lecturer group, these questions do not get many comments from other Facebook users, but when similar questions are asked in a group established by a young lecturer, both on Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp groups, these questions have received many responses or comments. However, advanced questions or information received a significant response in a Facebook group that the young lecturer called a senior lecturer group. For example, on October 14, 2017 in the senior lecturers group, there was a faculty member who posted information about the number of faculty members who had National Faculty Members Registration Number on a campus who were dismissed with respect or disrespect. That information received 57 comments and 39 symbols of emotions.

Based on observations, what is meant by young lecturers as a group of senior lecturers is a group formed previously, not a group consisting of senior lecturers only. In the senior lecturer groups the basic questions do not get many responses because they have been discussed before. Meanwhile, what is meant by young lecturers as a group of young lecturers is a group formed more recently. The new members usually have not found the basic information or basic questions, so they are still eager to provide an explanation or comment on the questions or information. The membership for all groups is diverse, ranging from young lecturers to senior lecturers or full professors, both in senior groups and young lecturer groups.

Furthermore, as a response to needs that are more specific from the field of science or a subject, there are many more specific groups of faculty members established, such as the Scholarship Group to meet the information needs of faculty members about scholarships, both from domestic and abroad; the Faculty Members Certification Group to fulfill information needs regarding the conditions for obtaining and filling in the certification performance form; the Scopus Group, WOS, OSF to fulfill information needs about faculty members’ international publications, and so on; and the Research Grant and Community Services Program Group to meet the information needs of research and community services program grants from Kemenristek Dikti. For example, questions are posted like “Does anyone have an example of a proposal grants? Please share it here” or “When will the announcement of the grant proposal be funded by Kemenristek Dikti?” These questions are often asked in the “Research Grants and PKM” Telegram Group. Other questions are also asked, like “Please provide information about Scopus indexed journals on education,” “What is ethical clearance and how to get it?”, or “Whether journal ‘X’ is indexed by Scopus and whether it is a predatory journal or not?” These questions are often asked in the Scopus, WOS, OSF Telegram Group. Thus faculty members can choose to join groups that match their information needs.

Other issues that get a great deal of responses on social media both on Facebook, Telegram, or WhatsApp are related to the level of welfare of faculty members, accreditation of study programs, and higher education rankings.

4.2. Information Seeking Behavior of Indonesian Faculty Members

Information seeking behavior refers to fulfilling information needs that are influenced by the condition of the information seeker. These conditions include background, experience, information policy, availability of access to information, and trust in information sources that will affect the quality of information.

Information seeking behavior connects the information needs on the one hand and fulfills information needs on the other with active search strategies by humans, by using information retrieval systems. Information seeking behavior includes activities in recognizing, searching, rediscovering, and applying meaningful content from both formal and informal channels (Kingrey, 2002). On social media, people usually share their experiences and practical knowledge in everyday life (Khoo, 2014). This also influenced some faculty members to join a number of faculty members groups on social media. Almost all informants in this study argue that they choose social media like Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp as sources of information because they can get information from other people who already have experience in something they need. For example, when they need information about how to be able to pass the selection to get a scholarship, there are many who have succeeded in getting scholarships and sharing experiences about it. Another reason is that social media, especially WhatsApp, gives a more personal emotional touch compared to other information media, including Facebook and Telegram (Kurniasih & Riyadhsyah, 2018).

Information seeking behavior on social media starts from the selection of social media as a source of information and communication media. Based on the results of observations and interviews, there are faculty members who choose only one social media as a source of information; for example, the founder of the Indonesian Faculty Members Group founded the group and only joined the “Indonesian Faculty Members Group” on Facebook. Another example is faculty members who were only members of a faculty members group on WhatsApp. The reason for those who only choose one group on social media is to supplement other sources of information because usually most members and topics discussed in a number of groups are the same thing. Some other faculty members chose to join many groups, and there were even a number of faculty members who joined more than 20 faculty members groups. The reason is because the information needs are specific, so they need to join more specific groups.

The names of faculty members groups on social media usually indicate the themes that will be discussed in the group. However, a number of groups cannot define specific directions, so the themes discussed in the group become out of focus. The characteristics of Indonesian faculty members groups on social media can be divided into three categories, namely: first, groups that are active, directed, and focus on group goals; second, groups that are active but not directed, so that the flow of information in the group does not focus on a theme or group goals; and third, a passive category in the sense that the group is very quiet and rarely has interaction or sharing information. In more detail, the characteristic groups of Indonesian faculty members on social media can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2.

Characteristics of Indonesian faculty members groups on social media

In the membership, on average there are around 15% to 20% of the same members in most groups of faculty members with more general themes. In deciding to join a number of groups, some faculty members have chosen groups according to the group name at the beginning when deciding to join a group, some directly joined a number of groups without a group selection process, and some chose to join a number of groups first and then decide whether to continue or leave the group after knowing with certainty whether these groups are useful for them or not.

As to the characteristics of the Indonesian faculty members group members on social media, some are active and some are passive, but almost all informants stated that they read all the messages on the WhatsApp group even though they might be late reading them. This condition is different from the message in the Facebook and Telegram groups, where many group members do not read all messages that fall into the group.

Based on the results of interviews with several informants who are active in the groups, the reason they are active in various groups is that they want to share the latest information and increase knowledge by actively discussing, making the group more active and useful, and because they have time to participate in the group. When they have limited time, they only read messages in the groups. Meanwhile, a passive research informant in the groups stated that he was passive because he only wanted to know the latest information and he did not want to be involved in conflicts. He argued that sometimes discussions heated up and caused conflict between group members.

Information shared in Indonesian faculty members groups comes from official Kemenristek Dikti information sources and those of the Private High Education Coordinator (Kopertis), such as websites, tweets, or letters from Kemenristek Dikti and Kopertis which are sent to campuses; information received at a meeting such as a workshop, seminar, or training; information from mass media or other online information sources; information obtained from limited sources such as verbal information from trusted sources or close friends; information received from other social media groups followed by faculty members; and information or opinions directly from group members. The information that shared in the group is mostly the latest information. Only a small number of people share old or out of date information which is still relevant to current information needs. However, there are still a number of members who post messages that do not fit with the rules, who repeat posts, or who simply provide questions that have been discussed, or at least those where the user is able to find answers without asking other people and does not heed the warnings. This shows that information behavior will be highly related to the individual’s social-emotional dimension (Khoo, 2014).

4.3. Information Organizing Behavior of Indonesian Faculty Members

Information organizing behavior from Indonesian faculty members cannot be separated from the behavior of personal information. Processes in personal information organizing behavior include initiating activities, identifying, testing or comparing, selecting, modifying, and making information categories (Oh, 2013).

In the initiation process, some faculty members, especially the group administrators, share information, either from their search results or in forwarding information from other groups. They identify the information and then share it in the appropriate group. When there is a difference in the information, there is a discussion process within the group to get accurate information. The faculty members select the information that is in accordance with their needs. Some of them modify the information and then continue back to the other groups. There are several ways done by the faculty members in storing important information, such as not deleting the messages, storing them on Google Keep, and by creating special files for each category of information. An informant even mentioned that he kept all the information he obtained from faculty members groups in Microsoft Word, and gave titles and folders according to the information theme. This information will be read when needed. For example, when applying for a scholarship, he will open an information folder about scholarships.

4.4. Information Use Behavior of Indonesian Faculty Members

The behavior of using information will be different for everyone depending on the purpose. Usually the information used is an extension of previous information or knowledge. There are several factors that influence the use of information, such as the importance of learning assignments, different forms of knowledge representation, and time constraints (Chou & Lo, 2015).

Based on the results of interviews and observations, there are at least two characteristics of the use of information from social media by Indonesian faculty members, that is, those who store information and then use it when needed, and those who seek information or ask when they need the information.

4.5. Information Behavior Model of Indonesian Faculty Members on Social Media

Based on the explanation in the previous section, the information behavior model of Indonesian faculty members on social media can be seen in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Model of information behavior of Indonesian faculty members on social media.

From Fig. 1 it can be seen that the information behavior of Indonesian faculty members starts from the information needs, then chooses social media, whether Facebook, Telegram, or WhatsApps, then enters one or several groups. In the communication process in the group, there are active members and passive members. Active members share their information and experience, actively ask questions and answer, and actively participate in every discussion in the group. Passive members usually only read the information, and they rarely give comments or feedback. Both active and passive members store information, either in a separate file or by giving favorite tags to messages that are considered important; however, there are also those who ask questions when they need information when the information has been shared or discussed in the group. After using information, they usually share their experiences with other group members again.

4.6. Recommendations for Further Research

The Indonesian Faculty Members Information Behavior Model as can be seen in Fig. 1 can describe the information behavior of Indonesian faculty members in general. Future studies are expected to be able to map the characteristics and framework of each social media source more specifically. Previous research states that the framework of data analysis that can be discussed in examining information behavior on social media includes differences in the role of each social media and quality control, such as issues relating to information sources, information quality, and privacy (Mastromatteo, 2010). Another study shows that the information behavior that dominates in social media is asking, answering questions, sharing information, and integrating information (Khoo, 2014). Those types of information behavior are illustrated in the results of this study. Therefore, the results of research on the Model of Information Behavior of Indonesian Faculty Members in Social Media might be able to describe the information behavior of faculty members in social media for other countries in general through a more comprehensive study.