This document provides tips for researchers on promoting their online presence through social media. It discusses motives for engaging online such as networking, research impact and publicity. Popular arenas for online engagement include academic profiles, social networking sites and content sharing platforms. Specific tips are given for profiling oneself, networking and collaborating, and sharing research materials online. The document encourages researchers to explore social media guides, establish an online presence, find and engage with colleagues, and manage their online readership.

1. Advocating the Scientific-self
– Tips for Promoting a Researcher's
Online Presence!
Petro Poutanen, researcher, Phd candidate
Media and Communication Studies,
University of Helsinki

2. (DIGITAL) ME!

3. AGENDA!
MOTIVES
ARENAS
DOING

4. MOTIVES!

5. FROM MONOLOGUE TO DIALOGUE!
Communication is what scientists do –
within the boundaries of the scientific
community.
Is it time to break down the walls?

6. WEB 2.0 IS TRANSFORMING THE WAYS
SCIENCE IS BEING DONE!

7. ALMOST EVERYBODY IS ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_Social_networking_sites_update.pdf!

8. SOCIAL MEDIA IS ABOUT – SOCIALIZING!
!
http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2011/Why%20Americans%20Use%20Social%20Media.pdf

9. Goodier & Czerniewicz (2012)

10. SOME MORE REASONS FOR
ENGAGING ONLINE!
Personal motives – networking,
presence, brand, learning…
Common motives – research impact,
openness & integrity, publicity,
demythologization…

11. ARENAS!

12. “Online social media tools can be some
of the most rewarding and informative
resources for scientists—IF you know
how to use them.”
– Bik & Goldstein, Plos Biol 11(4), (2013)

14. DOING!

15. 1. Profiling
2. Networking and Collaborating
3. Sharing

16. PROFILING!
Putting up your academic profile and telling
about facts, results, and opinions.

18. NETWORKING & COLLABORATING!
Connecting and collaborating with colleagues
and building audiences.

21. SHARING!
Sharing your data and research, lecture slides,
and learning materials.

23. Work load
Bad publicity
Academic reputation Unpredictability
Stealing Loss of authority
Unvoluntary participation
Good reputaion Dissemination
Self-development & Learning
Fast Direct
Openess Easy Networking
Precence
Feedback & Quality assurance

24. HOW TO START?
(Bik & Goldstein, 2013)
!
1. Explore guides to social media*
2. Establish a professional site
3. Find people and do network
4. Manage your readings
5. Engage and be open-minded
6. Find your audience
*see the list of links at the end of this presentation!

25. The prevailing contract between science and society
was set up to sustain the production of 'reliable
knowledge'; a new one must ensure the production
of 'socially robust knowledge‘ … the authority of
science will need to be legitimated again and again.
– Michael Gibbons, Nature 402, C81 (1999)

26. THANK YOU!!

27. References!
Bik HM, Goldstein MC (2013) An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists. PLoS Biol 11(4):
e1001535. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001535
Gibbon, Michael (1999) Science’s new social contract with society. Nature 402, C81
http://www7.inra.fr/internet/Projets/scientific-transaction.old/bibliotheque/Michael_Gibbons.pdf?
PHPSESSID=63d8b9c95b517c8ed7d47d116fe93e7b
Goodier & Czerniewicz (2012) Academics’ online presence: A four-step guide to taking control of
your visibility. OpenUCT Initiative. University of Cape Town.
http://openuct.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/Online%20Visibility%20Guidelines.pdf
Poutanen, Petro (2012) Unwilling self-marketers – a small media guide for scientists. A blog post.
http://blogs.helsinki.fi/pkpoutan/unwilling-self-marketers-a-small-media-guide-for-scientists/
Wilcox, Christie (2012) Guest Editorial: It's Time To e-Volve: Taking Responsibility for Science
Communication in a Digital Age. Biol. Bull. April 1, 2012 vol. 222 no. 2 85-87.
Wilcox, Christie (2011) Social Media for Scientists. Scientific America.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2011/09/27/social-media-for-scientists-part-1-its-our-
job/

28. Important sites!
Academic Profiles
! Google Scholar, Mendeley, LinkedIn,
Academia.edu, Blogs, your institution’s home page
Social Networking & Collaborating
!Facebook, Twitter, Academia.edu, Research Gate
Content Sharing
! arXiv, Social Science Research Resources
Network, CiteULike, Academia.edu, Youtube,
Slideshare, Prezi, Scribd, Scivee, Mendeley

29. Additional links and resources!
eBiz/MBA – The 15 most popular science sites derived from the web traffic ranks.
http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/science-websites
Social media for scientists –article series on Scientific American.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2011/09/27/social-media-for-scientists-part-1-its-our-
job/
Science blogging communities. http://www.science20.com/ and http://scienceblogs.com/
Research Blogging – News about peer-reviewed scientific papers. http://researchblogging.org/
SciVee – Science “youtube”. http://www.scivee.tv/
Wiki on social networking tools for scientists.
http://socialnetworkingforscientists.wikispaces.com/General
Social media: A guide for researchers.
http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-disseminating-research/social-media-guide-researchers
Shipman, Matt (2012) Scientists: Social Media Is Not Necessarily a Waste of Time.
http://www.scilogs.com/communication_breakdown/social-media-not-waste-of-time/