Abstract:

Introduction:
Building on our previous findings from the 2024–2025 academic year, the Instagram creator account FarmTecTic-(@farmtectic) emerged as an educational platform for Pharmacy students. In 2025–2026, we decided to further integrate this account into our teaching practice to analyze the use of social media in higher education and better align teaching with the current digital reality of today's students. Consequently, the aim of this study was to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the impact of this tool on student engagement and learning outcomes.

Method:
The study was conducted during the academic years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 at the University of Valencia. It involved students enrolled in the 4th year of the Pharmacy degree and the Double degree in Pharmacy and Human Nutrition and Dietetics. A self-designed anonymous social networking questionnaire was used to gather data from a sample of 297 students. WOOCLAP, a digital platform, was utilized to collect insights from students’ opinions. In addition, views per reel/post, followers and total accounts reached were evaluated.

Results:
By the end of the 2024–2025 academic year, questionnaire results revealed strong student support for integrating social networks into the teaching process (mean score: 4.1/5), justifying the expansion of FarmTecTic into the 2025–2026 period. During this transition, the project’s Instagram account showed a marked increase in both engagement and audience reach. The followers count increased from 85 to 167, while total plays rose from 4,656 to 6,898. Consequently, the mean number of views per reel/post more than doubled, increasing from 221.7 to 459.9, while the overall reach expanded significantly from 706 to 3,102 total accounts. A substantial change was also observed in audience composition: in 2025–2026, non-followers accounted for 71% of viewers, compared to only 39.5% in the previous year, highlighting the project’s enhanced capacity for external visibility.

Conclusion:
These results indicate a strong improvement in post-performance and overall visibility. The increase in non-follower engagement with visual Pharmaceutical Technology content suggests that the account is reaching a broader audience beyond its existing follower base, reflecting enhanced discoverability and potential algorithmic promotion. Overall, the data show an upward trend in both the effectiveness and reach of the FarmTecTic (@farmtectic) account.

Keywords:

FarmTecTic, pharmacy students, higher education, teaching digital competence, engagement.