A framework to improve social media as a communication tool in technical vocational education and training colleges in South Africa: a case of twitter.

South Africa uses social media as a communication tool. The use of Twitter as a communication tool in Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges (TVET) in South Africa is a crucial factor for efficient and effective communication between TVET College administration and stakeholders such as prospective students, students, prospective employers, prospective employees and the Twitter community which follow various Twitter accounts. Literature has found that TVET Colleges use Twitter in a monologic manner which promotes one-way information flow. Twitter is also used in a limited fashion and within silos within TVET Colleges that have incorporated this social media platform into their communication strategy. The main purpose of this research study was to develop a framework to improve social media as a communication tool in TVET Colleges in South Africa. The Social Media-Integration- Theory-Model was used as the theoretical framework to evaluate the use of Twitter in TVET Colleges in South Africa, thus enabling the development of critical success factors to improve the use of social media as a communication tool. The Interpretivist paradigm and qualitative research approach was chosen for this study. Netnography was used to collect the online data from Twitter that was analysed in the study. Data was collected from 36 TVET Colleges in South Africa that have a Twitter account over a one-year period (April 2019 – March 2020). After the data collection, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse the date. The study developed a framework from the analyses of tweets which incorporated the four constructs from the Social-Media-Integration-Theory-Model. The study also developed five critical success factors, namely, procuring and maintaining of ICT infrastructure; implementing a policy that guide the use of social networks for communication purposes in TVET Colleges; raising awareness on the use of Twitter as a tool for communication; intensive training to manage administration of Twitter accounts and appointing champions to promote Twitter as a communication tool in TVET Colleges.Thesis (MCom) (Information Systems)-- University of Fort Hare, 202