Tips on getting started with social media and feeling comfortable engaging online as an academic.

1. “WHAT ON EARTH
WILL I TWEET
ABOUT...?”
@MARK_CARRIGAN
WWW.MARKCARRIGAN.NET

2. "WHAT WILL I GET OUT OF
IT...?"
• Increased profile within academia
• Enhanced visibility outside the academy - journalists,
practitioners, policy makers
• Having an independent web presence
• Extending networks and finding collaborators
• Collective filtering - professional and otherwise
• Promoting events
• Zero-cost, instantaneous, practical online publishing
• Becoming more discoverable online - your digital
footprint....

3. “WHY DO YOU FIND TWITTER USEFUL AS A RESEARCHER?”
Quick answers to questions on things like .. where do I find this tool or that tool .. (@rjhogue)
We discuss concepts (@Annlytical)
There are people who are practicing what I’m researching academically and give me a reality check (@Annlytical)
Twitter is brilliant for keeping up with things, networking, finding new ideas, people’s blogs and publications (@BenGuilbaud)
meeting new people (in all disciplines), academic support, public engagement, increased visibility, filtered news (@Martin_Eve)
What Martin said. I think you already saw this but it’s the Prezi I made for grad students http://bit.ly/uK05VM (@qui_oui)
Also, I’ve found Twitter useful for augmenting F2F academic conferences, extending the conversations (@JessieNYC)
Twitter is incredibly useful 2 me as an academic 4 many reasons, perhaps chiefly curating the ideal academic dept (@JessieNYC)
Twitter’s unique advantage is that very quickly allows me to spread word of my work to non-academic audiences (@elebelfiore)
Keeps me up-to-the-minute with news in my field ie; policy issues, and connects me to conferences/other academics (@DonnaBramwell)
connects me to other delegates at conferences, allows me to interact with students in lectures, keeps me uptodate (@timpaa)
We trade references for research (@annlytical)
great source of information & resources wouldn’t have found otherwise (@nicklebygirl)
Twitter makes it possible for me to engage with global community even though I now live in Australia & am #altac (@katrinafee)
a PhD can be very isolated so I think twitter is a great way to meet people who can help and give advice (@CET47)
you can get very interesting literature advices or other sources you have not noticed yet (@Journey210)
Academic uses of twitter – links to blog posts, shared sense of community, shameless self-promotion…! (@KatieMcGettigan)
to invite community members to events and lectures on campus (@MegFrauts)
twitter is the best way to keep up to date with my subject, find useful resources and connect with others (@LGSMU)
Twitter makes it possible to follow conferences globally and get in touch with other academics for quick Q&A sessions (@Greg0rE)
joining twitter has helped remove the isolation of study through engagement with #phdchat - synch & asynchronous (@JaneDavis13)
twitter allows me to familiarize w current trends & edu tools for my students (tumblr & prezi are examples) (@DisModern)
it allows me to keep up to date with advancements in my field. I can also dicuss these things with the experts with ease (@CallumCohen)
keeps you in touch w development in your field n wider (@lace675468)

4. “WHY DO YOU FIND BLOGGING
USEFUL AS A RESEARCHER?”
William McGovern @will1mcgovern
its all about the networking and showing the willingness to be open to approaches whilst expressing an interest#intentional
Dr Karen McAulay @Karenmca
If blog read widely enough, get helpful comments in response. That apart, is useful marker to record progress.
Ian Milligan @ianmilligan1
Very welcome! Also, you can tell right away if a post worked or not, gives you good active/passive feedback to improve.
Terese @missing_words
blogging about a particular topic helps iron out my thoughts, which means i can articulate my ideas on topic better after
Elaine Aldred @EMAldred
I know what I say is going to be seen. Makes me think about how I use words. Making mental connections.
Dr Sarah Quinnell @sarahthesheepu
discipline for regular writing, public engagement I.e communicating beyond economy, thought forming, informal peer review
Eric Ritskes @eritskes
I find it helps break down my ideas/research into smaller, more accessible pieces & language for wider community engagement.
Christina Haralanova @ludost11
I like to use it as a journal — small findings, small peaces, to keep me updated on where I was, and where I am heading to.
Ian Milligan @ianmilligan1
Blogging distills my ideas down, leads me to accessible language- and my posts now grow into conference papers. V. positive!
Rachel R. Engler @rachelrengler
recently wrote up a magazine article/Writing style is VERY diff from academic wrk.Great lesson. Blogging could help w style.

5. • While use of social media is becoming increasingly
commonplace within academia, it is nonetheless a challenging
subject.
• The ‘digital footprint’ can often be a cause for concern.
• How do you maintain ownership of your ideas?
• These are questions of negotiating online identity.
• Sustaining a professional identity online is, in principle, no
different from offline but it does raise a series of practical
questions.

6. • Generalised fear about online space relatively common
• Beclear about your anxieties - what precisely are you concerned might
happen?
• What might you reveal about yourself at a conference?
• What might you reveal about yourself to students?
• What might you reveal about yourself to readers?
• Finding a level of engagement with which you are personally comfortable.
• Much as you would in any other sphere of life.
'ONLINE' IS NOT ALL THAT
DIFFERENT FROM 'OFFLINE'......

7. • Factoring these questions into your choice of platforms.
• Control and privacy options vary between platforms e.g. Google+
vs Twitter vs Academia.Edu
• Furthermore the internet is a BIG place.
• The people you’re most likely to interact with as an academic
online are other academics. Engaging for similar reasons to
yourself?
• Because social media is so new, common sense isn’t well
established.
• Butwith awareness of different platforms and your own level of
comfort, it is easy to develop an approach you are comfortable
with.

8. UNDERSTANDING THE TOOLS
THAT ARE AVAILABLE
Social
Blogging Sharing Other
Networking
Wordpress Twitter Scribd Prezi
Tumblr Facebook Slideshare Bundlr
Blogger Academia.Edu Soundcloud Storify
Edu Blogs Google+ YouTube RebelMouse

9. "WHAT ON EARTH WILL I
TWEET ABOUT?"
• New publications
• Conference presentations
• Progress of research projects
• Current affairs relevant to research
• Events you participate in
• Higher education issues
• Your self...?

10. SO WHAT ARE YOUR AIMS?
• building connections?
• promoting your work?
• raising your profile?
• collaborative projects?
• learning from others?
• attracting job offers?
• staying up to date?
• immediately publishing your ideas?
There are no 'right' and 'wrong' reasons for setting up
an online presence

11. GETTING STARTED
•Deciding on your aims
•Choosing your tools
•How could the tools fit together? E.g. promoting your blog on
twitter or embedding slideshare presentations in your blog.
•Getting started guides
•Letting people know you’re doing it!
•Connecting with others online

12. "BUT HOW AM I GOING TO
FIND THE TIME?"
• What are you already producing which you could share online?
• How could you integrate social media into your day to day
work flows?
• Perhapsit is something to approach collaboratively? Multi-
author vs single-author blogging
• The last few slides are examples to help get you started...