This paper makes a comparison between using social media or traditional Course Management System (CMS) discussion groups in a fully online Principles of Microeconomics course. Students were randomly assigned to a discussion forum in either Facebook or CMS to discern a difference in the level of engagement and learning outcomes. The popular hypothesis is that students using social media have greater engagement with the class and higher learning outcomes relative to students using a CMS platform. Reasons for the positive effect include the ease of use and student familiarity with social media, which allows them to make more connections and gain a deeper understanding of the course material through discussions with others. Contrary to the widely held view, the results of this study suggest that participation in the treatment Facebook group is associated with declining student engagement and a reduction in the semester course average of 3 to 5 points on a 100-point scale.

本文对使用完全在线的《微观经济学原理》课程中的社交媒体或传统课程管理系统（CMS）讨论组进行了比较。将学生随机分配到Facebook或CMS中的讨论论坛，以识别参与度和学习成果的差异。普遍的假设是，与使用CMS平台的学生相比，使用社交媒体的学生对课堂的参与度更高，学习成果更高。产生积极影响的原因包括易于使用和学生对社交媒体的熟悉，这使他们可以与他人建立更多的联系，并通过与他人的讨论来加深对课程材料的理解。与普遍持有的观点相反，