Improve your Research Profile (6): The why and how of Social Media
The sixth in an 8-part series on improving your research profile, reputation and impact. Discusses the various social media platorms and the pros and cons of social media use.
This presentation is part of an 8-part series that I created in my role as Staff Development Lead at Middlesex University (see: Supportive, inclusive & collaborative research cultures). The series is comprised of three key parts:
- Introduction: Session 1 (why are research profiles so important?), Session 2 (what is impact and why should you care?)
- Metrics & citation impact: Session 3 (crash course data sources and metrics), Session 4 (citation analysis with Publish or Perish), Session 5 (how to get cited, ethically!).
- Social media: Session 6 (why and how of social media), Session 7 (7 steps to improved reputation and impact), Session 8 (tips for time poor academics).
Social media for academics
What do we mean when we talk about social media for academics? Broadly speaking there are five categories of online platforms that help academics to communicate with others and build their identity and reputation: researcher profiles, LinkedIn, paper repositories, text based sharing and visual sharing. This presentation briefly discusses each of these in turn and provides key recommendations. Watch it to find out more.
I have also written up a very extensive 8-part blogpost series about this, covering the why of social media, an overview of the key options and their respective strengths, as well as five dedicated posts for Google Scholar Profiles, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, Twitter, and blogging. In a final post I also explain how these five options work together, both as a source for professional and academic information and as a way to share news about your research.
Why (not) use Social Media?
There are at least four key reasons to use social media:
- to publicize your work and to generate impact, whether that is academic impact or wider societal impact,
- to build your academic network and collaborations,
- to build public engagement by interacting with people outside academia,
- to stay current in the field.
In sum, all of these platforms help you to build a professional identity and reputation. Watch the presentation to find out more.
But academics also mention lots of reasons why they do not want to use social media. They are summarized in the next two slides, where I also include recommendations to deal with each of these concerns. Watch the presentation to find out more.
Other posts in this series
- Improve your Research Profile (1): Why is it so important?
- Improve your Research Profile (2): What is impact and why should you care?
- Improve your Research Profile (3): Getting savvy about data sources & metrics
- Improve your Research Profile (4): Citation analysis in the PoP software
- Improve your Research Profile (5): The 4Cs of getting cited
- Improve your Research Profile (6): The why and how of Social Media
- Improve your Research Profile (7): Follow the 7 steps for impact
- Improve your Research Profile (8): Tips for time poor academics
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Copyright © 2024 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Sun 14 Jan 2024 16:40
Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.
