This document discusses evaluating the impact of disseminating research via social media. It provides examples from a project called FP7 'The Evolving concept of Security' that used various social media and digital channels to disseminate research findings. Metrics like website traffic, audience demographics, social media engagement are presented to measure the reach and influence of dissemination activities. The importance of developing specific, measurable impact objectives and collecting both quantitative and qualitative data is emphasized for demonstrating research impact to funding bodies.

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Evaluating the impact of
dissemination via social media
Dr Ksenia Chmutina
Dr Andrea Bundon

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Research Councils UK (RCUK) defines impact as ‘the
demonstrable contribution that research makes to
society and the economy’
Academic impact - significant advances in
understanding, method, theory and application
Economic and social impact - of benefit to
individuals, organisations and nations

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Most funding sources require ‘Pathways to Impact’
Quantitative data (how many did you engage via
social media, websites, etc.?)
Qualitative data (examples and context of
engagement with audiences and stakeholders)
Observational data (how did people engage with your
website and digital content?)

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Developing SMART Impact Objectives
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound

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FP7 ‘The Evolving concept of
Security’ project
• Dissemination as a separate work package
• Report on dissemination activities every 6 months

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Web-site
Overview of EvoCS website audience (based on Google Analytics data).
Sessions 1,082
Users 526
Pageviews 4,029
Pages / Session 3.72
Avg. Session Duration 00:02:58
Bounce Rate 43.25%
% New Sessions 48.52%
Country Sessions Percentage of Total
1. Bulgaria 329 30.41%
2. Italy 181 16.73%
3. Germany 93 8.60%
4. Poland 74 6.84%
5. Netherlands 68 6.28%
6. Russia 58 5.36%
7. United
Kingdom
49 4.53%
8. Spain 31 2.87%
9. Belgium 22 2.03%
10. Armenia 15 1.39%
11. Greece 15 1.39%
12. Austria 14 1.29%
13. France 13 1.20%
14. Kosovo 13 1.20%
15. India 11 1.02%
16. Mexico 10 0.92%
17. United States 10 0.92%
18. Serbia 9 0.83%
19. Hungary 5 0.46%
20. Malta 5 0.46%
21. Ukraine 5 0.46%
22. Canada 4 0.37%
23. Kyrgyzstan 4 0.37%
24. Montenegro 4 0.37%
25. Romania 4 0.37%
Table 2 Geographical coverage of website visitors (Top 25, based on Google Analytics data).
Page Title Pagevie
ws
%
Pageview
s
1. Evolving concept of European security - research
& policy guidelines
1,068 26.51%
2. Consortium | Evocs 336 8.34%
3. Researchers | Evocs 194 4.82%
4. Topics | Evocs 162 4.02%
5. EvoCS in Brief | Evocs 160 3.97%
6. Work packages | Evocs 105 2.61%
7. Advisory Board | Evocs 89 2.21%
8. Key Facts | Evocs 81 2.01%
9. Project Objectives | Evocs 76 1.89%
10. Presentations | Evocs 74 1.84%
Table 3. Users’ behaviour (based on Google Analytics data).

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Social media
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
Sessions Percentage of Total
1. Facebook 33 67.35%
2. LinkedIn 11 22.45%
3. Twitter 4 8.16%
4. Google+ 1 2.04%
Social refferals to the EvoCS website

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• 14 months
• 34 posts
• 10 guest authors
• 9,700+ visits
• 339 comments
• 90+ countries

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Only counts
if you
capture it!!!