Wednesday 17th September heather.parsonage@ntu.ac.uk sharon.potter@ntu.ac.uk victoria.boskett@ntu.ac.uk

1. Raising your research profile
Using social media to increase the
visibility of your research
Research Support Team

2. 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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3. 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?

4. 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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Filesharing
e.g.
DropBox,
Google Docs
Microblogs
e.g. Twitter
Blogs Video/photo/audio
Social
networks
e.g.
Facebook,
LinkedIn
Academic
networks e.g.
Academia.edu.
ResearchGate
sharing
e.g. YouTube,
Vimeo, Flickr,
iTunesU
Presentation
sharing
e.gSlideShare
Data sharing
e.g. FigShare
Social
Wikis OA
referencing/
bookmarking
Mailing lists Search/TOC
Alerts
Repositories
e.g. NTU Irep,
PubMed
Central
Online content
curation

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And why is it useful?

8. Writing/Reading
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Filesharing
e.g.
DropBox,
Google Docs
Microblogs
e.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 lists
Search/TOC
Alerts
Wikis
OA
Repositories
e.g. NTU Irep,
PubMed
Central
Multimedia
(consuming/
producing)
Networking Information
Management
Online content
curation

9. 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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10. Academic Tweeting
•Individual - https://twitter.com/DrMatthewAshton
•Research centre - @vanGeestCancer
•Hashtags - https://twitter.com/hashtag/twitterstorians
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11. 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/cove
rage of your
work
Embed your
Twitter Feed

12. 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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13. 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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14. 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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15. Your social media toolbox: what are you
going to add?
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16. 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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17. 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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18. Any questions?
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