Social media seminar

Reflections on Personal Experience Regan Forrest, PhD CandidateUniversity of Queensland School of Tourism

The Social Media Landscape What social media tools are out there? What do you currently use? What tools are useful for RHD students?Source: http://www.acewebdesign.com.au/blog/2012/05/05/so cial-media-stats-infographic-april-2012/

Picking from the Social MediaSmorgasbord . . . Social media for networking - purposes, pros and cons of:  Facebook  LinkedIn  Twitter  Blogging Social media as a participant recruitment tool

Facebook: “closed” networking Connect and Friends communicate with a defined group Lots of people using it already Facebook BUT - limited chance of serendipitous encounters Colleagues Family with new people

LinkedIn: “strategic” networking Keep in touch with current and former colleagues Maintain professional Groups connections – an ‘electronic business card’ Join groups for discussions, Colleagues job postings, posting requests Linked In BUT – be selective and manage settings to avoid email deluge

Twitter: “open” networking Find new people with shared interests Real-time ‘#hashtag’ discussions – often with international reach Multiple Twitter Interests Follow and share conferences BUT it can take time to build up a useful network Web version is inferior to Twitter apps (free apps are available)

Finding Fellow-travellers on TwitterBelieve it ornot I’m notthe only one “Museum”-basedhere!!! workers & researchers PhD Students at Adelaide Qld-based Dwellers institutions

Twitter to vent and share:#phdchat Monthly real-time discussions (Australia) Useful tips and links posted all the time See who else is in the same boat or has some words of wisdom to share

Suggested follows @thesiswhisperer – owner of the very useful blog by the same name @litreviewhq – tips and links to blog posts about getting your literature review done Fellow students, academics and others interested in topics related to your research: #tourism #environment #museums #whatever PhD students in unrelated fields – moral support and a different perspective

Blogging: networking throughsharing• Opportunity to “roadtest” new ideas•A place to discusssecondary concepts thatwon’t make your thesis•Helps in maintaining thewriting habit• Establish a reputation bydemonstrating yourexpertise•Tie in with other socialmedia use – post links toyour blog•Consider guest blogging orblog sharing

Blogging has helped me . . . Get more confidence in my ideas Reach an international audience Help me organise my thoughts after conferences Gain work!

Recruiting Research Participantsthrough social media: what I did Goal: find ~20 people willing an able to spend about an hour visiting the South Australian Museum Aim to find as varied a sample as possible across gender, age, museum visit habits and knowledge of subject matter Generate online survey – partly filter, partly to raise interest Post link on Twitter, Adelaide-based LinkedIn groups, Facebook, email to SAM staff Around 200 responses received, with about half willing to participate in museum visit. Participants selected and 12 accompanied visits conducted May 2012 Anectodally, Twitter and LinkedIn were most fruitful

General tips based on myexperience Ideal for online surveys – people are just a click away Twitter retweets are the ultimate snowball technique – you can reach potentially thousands of people this way LinkedIn groups are a great way to reach targeted audiences BUT – don’t leave it to just one posting Be aware that response rate is an unknown quantity

Integrating social media intoresearch life Be genuine, but tailor your persona to the platform Be a good social citizen – create, share, communicate Be strategic – what are you trying to achieve and why? Learn by watching and by doing Be visible –post regularly But say no to automatic cross-posting!!! Take time to learn the different platforms, tools and settings and change them to suit you The line between useful research network building and online procrastination is nebulous – engage in social media reflectively

Continue the Conversation! Facebook: facebook.com/regan.forrest LinkedIn: (search for Regan Forrest) Twitter: @interactivate Blog: reganforrest.com This presentation will be uploaded to my Slideshare page: http://www.slideshare.net/ReganForrest

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Social media seminar

by Regan Forrest on Jul 18, 2012

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