Using social media as a researcher

Dr Anne OsterriederOxford Brookes University

EMC 2012@AnneOsterrieder #emc2012

Social Media

Principles of social media platforms

Public profileIndividual

Research GroupInstitution

ContentLinks to publicationsUpdates about talks

Live-tweeting from lectures, conferences, field trips…

Announcing staff changesPictures, micrographs

SubscribersOther researchers

Journalists, science communicatorsTeachers

“The Public”

Consume ContentRead

RespondFavourite/”like”

Share

(14 Sept 2012, www.alexa.com)

Principles of Twitter • People write “tweets”: messages with <140 characters.

• All tweets appear in a • linear timeline.

Principles of Twitter • If you want to read a person’s tweets, you “follow” him/her

by clicking on a button (= subscribe).

• If someone subscribes to your tweets, they “follow” you.

• If someone follows you, they do not automatically appear in your timeline – you have to follow them back!

Principles of Twitter • You will be known as “@your_username” • You can directly address people with “@their_username”• You can “re-tweet” tweets from other people, which means

that they are posted on your timeline with attribution to them.

What to tweet?• Links: use link-shortening websites such as www.bit.ly,

www.owly.com, www.tinyurl.com • Photos:

• Browser extensions: share websites/articles/papers with one click.

A little game…

Rule number one

Whatever you post, always imagine that it WILL be read by:

• Your boss• Your family• Your competitor

The four C’s of social media – find your own style

CONSUME

CONNECT

CURATE

CREATE

How to find interesting stuff??

Hashtags collect information• If you add a “hashtag” (#) before a word, Twitter collects all

tweets about this topic in one stream. #EMC2012

How to find interesting people?• Check out who your friends are following

• “Who to follow” suggestions (Twitter)

• Browse interesting hashtags – #phdchat– #ECRchat– #UGchat– #seemyscience– #iamscience

• Curated lists: https://twitter.com/#!/sciencebase/scientwitters/membershttps://twitter.com/#!/EU_Commission/realwomeninscience

http://genomebiology.com/2012/13/8/168

14th Sept 2012

http://www.youtube.com/plantendomembrane

http://occamstypewriter.org/athenedonald/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/athene-donald

General thoughts

• “Social media” is a tool

• Platforms might change, but social media is likely to stay.

• Learn how to use social media effectively and efficiently.

Resources

Twitter guide for academics:http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/29/twitter-guide

/

Social media for scientists: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2011/09/27/social-media-for-scientists-part-1-its-our-job

/

10 commandments of Twitter for academics: http://chronicle.com

/article/10-Commandments-of-Twitter-for/131813/