Raising your research profile

Using social media to increase the visibility of your research

Research Support Team

By the end of this session you should be able to:

• Identify a range of social media tools

• Consider the value of each media for the purposes of your research activity

• Learn how to curate your activities for maximum impact

• Reflect on your current practice

• And share good practice with your peers

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Before we start: what’s in your toolbox?

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Think about your current use of social media.

What are you using?

Any advice or experiences to share?

Why bother? The case for social media

• Increased downloads Increased citations Impact?

Brian Kelly of UKOLN says “having links to papers from posts published on WordPress.com or Blogspot.com may have a significant role to play in maximising the numbers of views

of peer-reviewed papers.” [UK Webfocus, 2012]

• But also to reach potential collaborators, funders, PhD students, attract media interest

• Advocacy from professional bodies– Vitae’s Handbook of Social Media for Researchers and Supervisors

• Advice from publishers – SAGE 10 ways to increase usage and citation of your article using social media– Elsevier’s Making the most of social media for authors

• Institutional encouragement– NTU’s Good Practice Guidelines advocates using social media as part of your

dissemination strategy

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What’s out there?

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Filesharinge.g.

DropBox, Google Docs

Microblogse.g. Twitter

Social networks

e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn

Academic networks e.g.

Academia.edu. ResearchGate

Blogs Video/photo/audio sharing

e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr,

iTunesU

Presentation sharing

e.gSlideShare

Data sharing e.g. FigShare

Social referencing/bookmarking

Mailing lists Search/TOC Alerts

Wikis OA Repositories

e.g. NTU Irep, PubMed Central

Online content curation

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And why is it useful?

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Filesharinge.g.

DropBox, Google Docs

Microblogse.g. Twitter

Social networks

Academic networks

Blogs Video/photo/audio sharing

e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr,

iTunesU

Presentation sharing

e.g. SlideShare

Data sharing e.g. FigShare

Social referencing/bookmarking

Mailing listsSearch/TOC

Alerts

Wikis OA

Repositories e.g. NTU Irep,

PubMed Central

Writing/ReadingMultimedia

(consuming/producing)

Networking Information Managemen

t

Online content curation

Academic blogging

• Individuals - http://drmarkgriffiths.wordpress.com/

• Research centres - http://blogs.ntu.ac.uk/van_geest/

• Academic blogsites - http://theconversation.com/uk

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Academic Tweeting

• Individual - https://twitter.com/DrMatthewAshton

• Research centre - @vanGeestCancer

• Hashtags - https://twitter.com/hashtag/twitterstorians

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Creating a digital identity: bringing it all together

• Consider a personal webhosting service – About.me

• Set up your blog or website to showcase your web presence

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Home About My Research Press Latest News

Vary your posts – can you use audio, video, images to tell your research story?

Link to your academic profile

Use Scoop.It to showcase your research interests

Link to your IRep record; SlideShare or FigShare accounts

Use Scoop.It to curate online reviews/coverage of your work

Embed your Twitter Feed

Managing your social media activity

• Steps to success– Social media activity: individual/project/discipline-based focus– Name and design: develop a consistent brand identity to maximise impact

across multiple platforms.– Admin: identify the person or people with responsibility for populating and

maintaining your social media presence. Identify tools to save time e.g. Hootsuite, If this then that to manage multiple social medial accounts and schedule content. Make your content more interesting/optimised for online delivery e.g. infographics

– Content: identify the types of content you want to share e.g. news updates, photos, papers. Which tools will best suit your purpose?

– Curating your social media activities: consolidate your activities by embedding your Twitter feed on your blog/website, linking to your academic profile site in the ‘about me’ section etc

– Measuring success and demonstrating impact: how will you do this? Site traffic, altmetrics, comments.

– Evaluate and evolve: if something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to stop and try something else. Close down your inactive accounts.

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Social media etiquette

• NTU Social Media Policy (available on eCentral)– Key message: think before you post!

• We suggest you keep personal and professional activity separate– Create a Twitter account or blog in your project’s name– Used closed groups on Facebook

• Copyright– Same rules apply as you are publishing online – 3rd part copyright, check

agreements governing your own work, protect yourself with Creative Commons licenses

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Quick wins

• Refresh your NTU staff profile, including an updated list of your publications

• Revise your email signature and business cards:– Add your recent publications– Link to your Twitter, blog, profile, website

• Join the dots – consolidate your activities for maximum impact

• Add your publications to IRep– Showcases research activity @ NTU– Feed your academic network – use IRep as the data source for Academia.edu etc

• See: I’m an academic and desperately need an online presence, where do I start?

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Your social media toolbox: what are you going to add?

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Further help

Finding social media tools

• The A-Z of Social Media for Academia – a comprehensive list of social media tools that can help you in your professional life. Why not sign up to the Social Media News email list?

• Top 5 Social Media Platforms for Research – a good starting point if you were overwhelmed by the previous list!

• Digital Scholarship Blog – University of York’s blog, highlights useful next-generation tools and has introductory guides to using Twitter and blogging for academic purposes.

• Collaborating and building your online presence – an online course from Imperial College with lots of information on getting started with social media.

Using social media

• LSE Impact Blog – not only for social scientists, this blog is essential reading for anyone interested in maximising the impact of their research. Advises on social media and much more.

• Vitae’s Handbook of Social Media for Researchers and Supervisors

• RIN Social media: a guide for researchers

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Further help

Should I be using social media?

• Don’t be afraid to share – THES article allaying academic fears about social media

• The anti-social scholar (and how not to become one)

• Sharing is a way of life for millions on Academia.edu – Interview with owner of Academia.edu.

Subject specific resources

• An introduction to social media for scientists

• AHRC Social Media Knowledge Exchange (SMKE)

• C21 Scholar – digital engagement in the arts and humanities

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Any questions?

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