Social media - guide for researchers
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This is a basic overview of several social media platforms as well as specific guidance for creating or improving the visibility of your research profile. Created for the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow.
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Social media - guide for researchers
- 1. Social media - guide for researchers v.1.4, Jim Caryl
- 2. 1. Why bother with social media? 2. Platforms (blogging, twitter and other communications) - where, how, why, what 3. Your digital profile - getting your research out there, but anchoring it to you 4. Access to your University research profile 5. Other ways to network and share your research/data Social media
- 3. Social media Ultimate guide to social media for scientists: Oregon State University Superfund Research Program - pretty much all you need! See also: Bik & Goldstein (2013) An introduction to social media for scientists. PLoS Biology Osterrieder (2013) The value and use of social media as a communication tool in the plant sciences. Plant Methods 9: 26- Dunleavey (2014) Shorter, better, faster, free (2014) Writing for Research @write4research - a useful source of academic writing advice A-Z of social media for academia (a listing curated by Prof Andy Miah) Using Twitter in university research, teaching and impact - LSE’s Impact of Social Science blog Other reading: Hulme (2014) EDITORIAL: Bridging the knowing-doing gap: know-who, know-what, know-why, know-how and know-when. J Appl. Ecol. 51: 1131-1136 Bainbridge (2014) PRACTITIONER'S PERSPECTIVE: How can ecologists make conservation policy more evidence based? Ideas and examples from a devolved perspective J. Appl. Ecol. 51: 1153-1158
- 4. “No-one can make you post trivial things on social media.” - Matt Shipman, Communication Breakdown It’s not just about outreach Professional networking/community - With subject specialist peers - With partners in other disciplines - Immediate Engagement with stakeholders - The people that fund you - Those influenced (or interested) in your research Self promotion (and promotion of your research area or Institute) - New channels to amplify the dissemination of your findings - Gain perspective about how your research is consumed and by who “It’s not magic. You can’t simply create a Twitter account and expect the world to be on your doorstep. When you create a Twitter account you will have no-one on your doorstep.” Why bother? Social media
- 5. Social media Online collaborations: Scientists and the social network (2014) Nature
- 6. Social media Online collaborations: Scientists and the social network (2014) Nature Many platforms basically used as a web to catch people trying to get in contact with you. Interaction with Twitter is far more engaged – to follow discussions, comment on research, discover and share papers, and to discover and contact peers
- 7. Social media A sample of some key tools and networks scientists can use for their work: Social media (and networks for science): "Listening" tools: Altmetric.com ”Personal profiling" tools: Kudos, JournalMap, ResearcherID, ORCID Tools and networks for scientists Adapted from McCormick (2014) Social media for scientists - including the shy, overcommitted and unconvinced. Elsevier Connect Bik & Goldstein (2013) An introduction to social media for scientists. PLoS Biology
- 8. Discovering content online that is timely and relevant to my research and career Discovering (and being discovered by) potential collaborators Invitations to give research seminars and other talks, or to chair/moderate conference sessions, often involving free travel and honoraria Invitations to write book chapters Social media
- 9. Familiarity with disseminating the results of research to a broader audience using social media, which can help satisfy NSF's requirements for 'Broader Impacts' statements in grant proposals Job and consultancy offers Content for my CV to demonstrate communication skills and outreach savvy Direct access to important people in science and government Social media
- 10. Access to papers using #icanhazpdf (especially helpful now that I'm at a small non-profit research institution instead of a university department or large museum) Getting near-instantaneous answers to questions ranging from technical troubleshooting to polls Last but not least, an incredible amount of support and camaraderie, which has been especially helpful during my recent career transitions and a transatlantic, urban-to-rural move Social media
- 11. Social media
- 12. Social media • Improved dialogue with stakeholders and public • Add value to research by peers • Opportunities to network informally • Understanding how your research is consumed • Ability to communicate ideas effectively • Increase reach of existing impacts • Enable/share emergent best practice • Crowdsource support and data • etc. etc. SOCIAL NETWORKING There is inherent value to engaging with social media, beyond the expectation that using it will increase paper citations
- 13. What do you want to achieve with social media? Citations for your papers Attract promising grad students Identify funding opportunities Look attractive to funding agencies or employers Opportunities for academic collaboration Opportunities for external partnerships Social media Who is consuming social media? Potential students potential faculty Alumni Funders (Government, independent, charity, NGO) Policymakers (as above) Current and future small-large business partners General public
- 14. Social media If you have no profile or visibility online, it is very difficult to promote yourself …but worse, it makes it impossible for anyone else to champion you: Impossible to point to from a tweet Unlinked name in a seminar programme/external event Unknown quantity to an external stakeholder Your reputation (and Google presence) are left to chance/others
- 15. Social media There is a public engagement element - How can you present information to improve its consumption?
- 16. Social media There is a public engagement element - We are, after all, well known in this Institute at being great at cake presentation!
- 17. Twitter
- 18. Twitter Conclusion? People spend a great deal of time trying to understand how social media is consumed
- 19. As a tool: finding papers/resources/support The traditional strategy for scanning newly published papers until now has been: a) to pick papers based on the journal they were published in b) search strategies based on keywords, or c) personal recommendations Support and discussion has typically been limited to your local office/meeting spaces • Tweets linking to scholarly papers is now both popular and immediate • Tweets are personalised (you curate the people you follow, or search query) • Tweets can add value (+ve, -ve, rephrasing or concluding) • Twitter markedly increases the size of your office (#phdchat #ecrchat) Twitter
- 20. As a tool: conferences Traditionally conferences offered only abstract books, programmes and reference lists. No commentary (until months after), little file sharing, and rarely anything live • Use of #hashtags opens up conferences to wider audience • Also opens up backchannels for discussions by participants • Tweets offer criticism, review, extra resources to discussions • Helps you identify people to meet (and arrange to do so) • Large online citable databases can store conference media; Storify can store twitter conversations Twitter
- 21. As a tool: self-promotion Quite simply, tweet your paper - or find a prominent tweeter to do so for you. • Support the Institute Twitter (@IBAHCM) • Establishing a network of followers can promote sharing (also #hashtag) • Many NGOs and charities whom we work with are on Twitter and have audiences relevant to your work (target them to re-tweet papers) • A good approach: Twitter Tracking interest: altmetrics.com
- 22. Twitter 1. Get rid of the egg (the default avatar) makes you look like a spammer 2. Don't pick a Twitter name that is too long, or difficult to spell or remember 3. Tweet regularly (2-3 day - find out when others are active: https://followerwonk.com) 4. Don't ignore people who tweet at you (phone app useful) 5. Engage in conversation. “Broadcast-only” approaches are rarely popular 6. Learn the #hashtags for your subject field or topics of interest, and use them 7. Don't just make statements. Ask questions 8. Don't just post links to news articles - add your input 9. Do show your personality. Crack some jokes 10. Have fun, but be respectful (you’re in public) 10 rules to tweet by Adapted from post: Gulliver (2012) Chronicle of Higher Education
- 24. Twitter Curating the streams https://about.twitter.com/products/tweetdeck People mentioning you, RTs, favourites Your main feed Can have a column for #hashtag searches of keywords, e.g. rabies Create ‘lists’ to curate different groups of people, and thus content
- 25. Blogging
- 26. • Extend your influence and visibility (or that of the Institute) • Two-way communication that is more interactive than just website and emails • Easy to read, incisive and informal writing can demystify jargon and cut to the chase • Evidence that we can communicate beyond academic circles - too invested in your work to see who else might be interested • Feedback loops can identify new audiences, collaboration opportunities and media-interaction (op-eds, policy engagement) Blogging Why blog ?
- 27. What to blog (and tone) • Issues, not personalities – an professional Institute or group-blog should be less about personal diary entries of the users, and more about the hot topics for discussion • What’s the message? You’re not re-writing a paper - focus on what matters • Be clear, complete and concise • Stick to what you know and add value (i.e. your story, see next slide) • Give them somewhere to go - reference other related posts / sources of information if not blogging a paper • List of key points is useful • Use headings, especially if it’s a longer post • Use pictures if they help illustrate your point (check copyrights) • Be who you are – anonymity does nothing for your credibility or professional visibility • Respect your audience - avoid posting material that is obscene or defamatory, and if challenging other people/data – do so professionally • Caveat personal opinions – you can offer informed opinions, but posts on an Institute blog should state that this is what they are Blogging Adapted from ODI communications toolkit
- 28. What to blog Whether writing about a research paper or not, don’t forget: - You are part of the story - Your writing can emphasise your skills in logistics, overcoming struggles in the field - Communicate the process of science not just the findings - Where else can you record your activities with external stakeholders – useful for you, and useful for others to know that they could work with you too Blogging ‘When bridges in the jungle fail’ Chris Schmitt (@fuzzyatelin) Evopropinquitous blog (brilliant read)
- 29. Disseminating research is not just the tack on at the end; it can begin by opening a discussion with stakeholders about research questions you are proposing, and using feedback to refine your research programme. Likewise, stakeholders may be more interested in your approach to tackling research problems (i.e. your processes and methodologies) than the output of your research programme itself. Methodologies can be especially inaccessible to non-academic partners (e.g. NGOs), who may only hear a summary of findings, yet may value your experience in different field settings, logistics and research techniques. Blogging
- 30. Personal (your own blog) - Adv: your own space, your own rules, self-edited - Disadv: Responsible for everything Options: Wordpress.com (online hosted) and Wordpress.org (you download and find a host) Blogger.com Tumblr.com If you just want to post (without bother of a blog site) consider Medium Personal (Networked blog) - Adv: Greater visibility, community, audience - Disadv: Limited cosmetic input, some pressure to post, selective recruitment Options: SciLogs.com Blogging Where to blog
- 31. Collaborative blog - Adv: Pooled source of content, some editorial input (others read, blog post ideas discussed), can cover more topics at greater expertise, wider dissemination - Disadv: Some rules and selection Options: Institute blog (Naturally Speaking, or Boyd Orr blog) Research group blog - Recommend Academicblogs.co.uk hosted by University of Glasgow - contact: Laura.Tyler@glasgow.ac.uk Blogging Where to blog
- 32. Collaborative blog - Adv: Pooled source of content, some editorial input (others read, blog post ideas discussed), can cover more topics at greater expertise, wider dissemination - Disadv: Some rules and selection Blogging Where to blog http://endoflifestudies.academicblogs.co.uk/ Current Academic Blogs hosted by University of Glasgow – visit them to see the range and tone of posts
- 33. Collaborative blog - Adv: Pooled source of content, some editorial input (others read, blog post ideas discussed), can cover more topics at greater expertise, wider dissemination - Disadv: Some rules and selection Blogging Where to blog http://robertowencentre.academicblogs.co.uk/ Current Academic Blogs hosted by University of Glasgow – visit them to see the range and tone of posts
- 34. Guest blog - Adv: Nothing to set up, editorial focus, targetted or wide dissemination (built in audience), greater opportunity for wide feedback, often re-shared - Disadv: Selective (may need prior blog), more time required (but worthwhile) Options: Targetted guest blog, e.g. NGO, charity, society (e.g. BOU) – work out which groups are most aligned to your research and see if they have a blog – ask if they take posts Mass media blog, e.g. HuffPo, The Conversation, PLoS blogs – most will have contact pages with information on where to pitch an idea. May need to show past evidence of writing, but expertise will also count for something See also: British Ornithologist’s Union: The benefits of blogging about your research The Conversation: (e.g. Ebola, rabies) Huffington Post: Contact them to pitch a blog idea Blogging Where to blog
- 35. Blogging syndication: scientific Blogging Also general syndication: networkedblogs.com (NB an app within Facebook) http://researchblogging.org/static/index/page/help
- 36. Blogging Blogging syndication: specialist Syndication through websites that aggregate and organise blogs helps your posts to be found Some, such as ResearchBlogging, have some curation to ensure the posts are correctly categorised by research area. They also offer ‘Editor’s picks’ for good posts – improved visibility
- 37. Research profiles How to build your profile as a scientist – Friday 14th Nov 11.30 – 12.30 SpotOn London (twitter hashtag #solo14profile) - Some of the content from this session ‘Storifyed’ here: https://storify.com/BAHCM/creating-a-research-profile
- 40. Research profiles What sort of content? Who is looking at your profile? - Potential collaborators (including those outwith your field) - Potential students or postdocs - Funders and stakeholders (NGOs, charities, animal/vet/conservation industry, policymakers, journalists, film makers) Most will be after information on what you do, what you've done/found, who you work with. Especially useful if you can say what you've done in the context of what everyone else has done. Can punctuate projects with links to references (could consider Kudos pages) Include other works that help people understand your projects: Project websites, press releases, presentations, your own lay summaries, or research blog posts
- 41. Research profiles http://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/bahcm/staff/francescobaldini/ http://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/bahcm/staff/davidedominoni/ Examples using the new template
- 42. Research profiles http://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/bahcm/staff/ruedinager/ruedinager/ If you do the training on how to use the t4 web Content Management System, you can do a lot more with your profile However, for more extensive website it might also be easier to use an external website generator (More on this in two slides time)
- 43. Research profiles Postgraduate profiles Still working on getting a listing in here Postgraduates will have the option of a template, like staff
- 44. Research profiles Collaborative effort: SIGs If you’re struggling to fit all your activity in your profile, make it a group effort in a SIG SIGs provide a place to: record grants/publications in a project or theme record materials that help communicate more widely link to a group research blog that discusses new papers, reports from the field, other activities
- 45. Research profiles Keep it together! Don’t give people the run around, aggregate your media: about.me flavors.me These sites provide an attractive way to create a professional website that will pull the content from many different types of social media platforms (e.g. twitter, linkedIn, blogs, flickr etc) and incorporate it into the site. You can also create custom links to pages that can’t be aggregated You can also write pages of content, i.e. a bio, basic profile information etc.
- 46. Research profiles Personal pages http://www.squarespace.com/ Your own website can travel with you between jobs, but keep it up to date, and always link to it from your current University profile. University profiles ‘typically’ get ranked higher in Google, and are a professional association. Do include enough research content to be found with keywords other than your name. When writing content you want people to find, use keywords they are most likely to use. If not sure, use Google KeywordPlanner to find most common usage
- 47. Research profiles Personal pages https://sites.google.com/site/bartadr/home Provide a PDF or link to open access papers. Also provide clear-speak versions (blog posts, media, presentations) that help people understand your work and its context.
- 48. Research profiles Research project sites Websites for large projects can be funded on grants. They can be used as a repository for information, analysis, outputs and outcomes for a define project of work, acting as an ‘archive’ available and discoverable by external stakeholders. They need to be updated to include all outcome of the project.
- 50. Kudos (www.growkudos.com) Provides researchers with tools to optimally label, summarize, and propagate research publications across many online platforms including social media. Other sharing/networking tools Sign up Let it find your papers Work through the prompts to add: • a short title • say what you found • say why it’s important • extra resources Then share the pages it creates for each paper
- 51. Extra resources could include: Data (e.g. held in figshare) PDF (if permitted) URL Images Interview Press release Blog (or other media) post Project report You can then share this page, i.e. tweet, or link to it from your profile page etc. Other sharing/networking tools The pages look like this, providing access to your paper, your lay summaries, and extra resources
- 52. Other sharing/networking tools Extra resources could include: Data (e.g. held in figshare) PDF (if permitted) URL Images Interview Press release Blog (or other media) post Project report You can then share this page, i.e. tweet, or link to it from your profile page etc.
- 53. If you are looking for other material to include in your Kudos page (or elsewhere), you can track ‘interest’in the original papers with altmetrics.com. Easy way to do this is to install the bookmarklet. Alternatively, go to the publications in your profile, click the title to go to the University Enlighten entry and scroll down – altmetrics are there. Identifies media who have discussed work Identifies how (and where) it has gone You can see how people tweet it, i.e. do they rephrase the paper title? Do they do a better job than you of phrasing the core conclusion of the paper? Other sharing/networking tools
- 54. I mentioned figshare as a place to store data. So what is figshare? figshare (http://figshare.com/) Allows researchers to publish all of their research outputs (figures, datasets, media, papers, posters, presentations and filesets) of any format in seconds in an easily citable, sharable and discoverable manner. Useful resource to find otherwise undiscoverable reports and data on work related to your own, helping to identify potential pitfalls, data that have already been collected and contacts with whom you could collaborate. If people can get access to data from published papers, they’re more likely to cite those papers. Watch some of their information videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/FigShare Other sharing/networking tools
- 55. JournalMap is a scientific literature search agent that empowers you to find relevant research based on location and biophysical attributes combined with traditional keyword searches Adapted from materials here: http://wiki.journalmap.org/doku.php?id=presentations Other sharing/networking tools
- 56. JournalMap Adapted from materials here: http://wiki.journalmap.org/doku.php?id=presentations Other sharing/networking tools
- 57. JournalMap Use it to identify knowledge that can be applied between similar biomes, or to find people (in varied disciplines) doing fieldwork near you – potential for shared resources, knowledge, fixers or even collaboration Other sharing/networking tools
- 58. JournalMap Yet another personal profile – but they are also developing one that can be used to ‘collect’ the Institutes research locations and embed them on our website. Other sharing/networking tools
- 59. Traditional media – we haven’t focused on this, but efforts to disseminate research by social media will help drive interaction here. Those of you who saw the first edition of BIOSPHERE might also consider writing something for them. They are looking for scientists to contribute. Traditional media
- 60. end
- 61. Bernhardt et al. (2011): Dissemination 2.0: Closing the Gap Between Knowledge and Practice With New Media and Marketing, Journal of Health Communication, 16:sup1, 32-44
- 62. Research findings Journal articleBlog post Press release Institute/personal blog Targetted guest blog (e.g. NGO, charity, partner) Mass media blog (e.g. HuffPo, Nat Geo, SciAm) Media Mainstream (e.g. TV/Newspapers) Specialist (e.g. Business press, funders) Open access or £ Technical or comment piece? Twitter Facebook (amplifiers) Kudos Research process Covered in Editorial, f1000?
- 63. Common language for you, poorly understood by just about everyone else… Infectious Quarantine Endemic/epidemic/pandemic Viral load Shedding virus Surveillance Reservoir Vector-borne Elimination/eradication/control Stochastic Metapopulation Learning about what is and isn’t understood helps when you need to communicate meaningfully and impactfully with external agencies
- 64. Altmetrics Since 1990, the correlation between impact factor and paper citations has been diminishing; the highest cited papers don’t necessarily come from high impact factor journals. Nor does the greatest impact. Citations often take years to accrue so it’s difficult to get a measure of what types of work are interested in your paper (it also biases towards academic publication) Altmetrics (and in particular altmetrics.com) is a measure of interest, not quality The point is to move away from a single way of assessing a single type of impact (citations & influence on other articles) and to provide a variety of different options that give you a broader view of impact Provide a rapid assessment of who might be interested in your work within academia (Mendeley, CiteUlike, f1000) and beyond Interest a measure of: degree of translation/application; effectiveness at engaging on the research topic; quirkiness Other dissemination tools