Abstract: This paper contributes to the understanding of instructor-student interaction practices, and social media adoption in higher education systems that are generally characterised by a formal quality, and that of Saudi Arabia in particular. The potential impact of social media, as it leaks into higher education practice globally, is of great concern and cannot be overlooked by research. Within a Saudi university, a mixed methods case study was employed to examine instructors’ conversations with students, via social networking applications, for any existing, informal, interpersonal texts and the ways in which they emerge over time. The statistical trend and content analysis reveals a discrepancy between instructors’ formal practices in a classroom context and their discursive practices within social media. All interpersonal behaviours that appeared to be restricted in a face-to-face context, such as humour, self-disclosure, reassurance and many more, are seen to be gradually released within a social media context. Thus, interaction through social media may set the conditions for revitalized relationships within such an educational ecology in both social media exchanges and face-to-face classrooms.