These are the slides from a professional development lecture I gave to University of Sydney post-graduate students at Westmead Research Hub in August 2016. The aim of this lecture was to showcase some of the ways I use social media as a researcher and public health advocate. The presentation touches on issues such as engagement with the community and mass media, increasing exposure of published research and gathering data to use for grant applications. For more on my use of social media, visit my blog https://cameronwebb.wordpress.com/

1. Can social media help with
your post-graduate studies
(and career beyond)
Dr Cameron Webb
Medical Entomology
University of Sydney & NSW Health Pathology
Email: Cameron.webb@health.nsw.gov.au
Twitter: @mozziebites

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Social media and post-graduate study
• Social media is a useful tool but it isn’t absolutely
necessary for successful completion of your studies
• Perhaps you work in a controversial field?
• Perhaps you work in a strongly commercial field?
• Perhaps your personality isn’t suited to social media?
• At the moment, “academic” social media isn’t given
the weight of other activities (e.g. papers/teaching)
• It requires “time out” from your studies
 But that “time out” can be productive
• It can be a distraction (a productive distraction?)
Social media isn’t for everyone!

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• Connection with colleagues (international)
• Connection with institution (awareness)
• Connection with community (public health advocacy)
• Identify collaborators (participants & specimens)
• Assist funding applications
• Enhance crowdsourcing for research projects
• Networking at conferences (actual & virtual)
• Create voice of authority (mass & social media)
How can social media help me as a student?
Social media and post-graduate study

4. Social media and post-graduate study
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Video sharing & comments
Channels
Technical considerations
Fast growing reference source
Some technical requirements a
barrier to getting started and may
be time consuming
What is social media? Youtube
Social media and post-graduate study

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What is social media? Instagram
Picture sharing & comments
Growing popularity
Smartphone specific (mostly)
“Networking” limited opportunities
More broadcast, less conversation
Easily integrated into other
platforms
Social media and post-graduate study

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Centers for Disease Control [@cdcgov]
Social media and post-graduate study

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What is social media? Facebook
Most used social media platform
Growing diversity of users
Highly interactive
Mostly “personal” focus
“Stay in touch with family”
Professional “groups”
Lots of cat videos….
Social media and post-graduate study

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Social media and post-graduate study
 Network of users that send short
public messages
 Growing popularity amongst
academics and journalists
 Increasingly integrated into mass
media
 Free and available on many
platforms (mobile/desktop etc)
 Available online without joining
What is social media? Twitter

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Social media and post-graduate study
Twitter v. Facebook for academics
van Noorden (2014) Online collaboration: Scientists and the social network. Nature 512: 126–129
Twitter Facebook

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• Started using “social media” for public health
advocacy around 2005
• Twitter account 2010
• Instagram, Tumblr, Wordpress, Periscope
• Not Facebook, Snapchat (yet)
• Twitter an effective way to connect many
“social media” platforms
• Mass media activity
• Non-academic writing and The Conversation
• Future: YouTube & podcasts?
Social media and post-graduate study
How did I get started?

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Social media and post-graduate study

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Social media and post-graduate study

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Social media and post-graduate study

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Social media and post-graduate study
New avenues to explore useful resources!

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Image: Cameron Webb
Social media and post-graduate study

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Social media and post-graduate study
Benefits of ‘non-academic’ writing

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Blog post article
Publication
date
Views
Do mosquito repellent wrist bands work? 25 Nov 2013 125,400
Testing the claims of new mosquito repellents 25 July 2013 24,457
Busting five myths of mosquito repellents 22 July 2013 29,130
Are mosquito coils making us sick? 26 Apr 2015 18,455
Should we mix mosquito repellents and
sunscreens?
27 July 2014 8,547
Mosquito Repellent Guidelines 10 Jan 2013 5,566
Why don’t mosquitoes spread Ebola? 20 Oct 2014 3,304
Access to my blog posts far outweighs access to my
published scientific literature
Social media and public health advocacy

19. 19
Social media and post-graduate study
Writing for The Conversation provides many opportunities!

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The Conversation article
Publication
date
Views
Why mosquitoes seem to bite some people more 26 Jan 2015 1.34M
Should I throw away food once a fly has landed on it? 24 Dec 2015 670,600
Despite ‘barely there’ trends, pubic lice are here to stay 11 Feb 2016 94,233
Here’s how you beat ‘indestructible’ head lice 5 Aug 2016 35,884
A user’s guide to repellents 4 Jan 2013 49,585
Taking the ouch and itch out of insect bites 19 Apr 2012 37,506
Does Zika virus pose a threat to Australia 26 Jan 2016 23,105
Tackling the tricky task of tick removal 21 May 2014 22,284
Social media and post-graduate study

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Does social media increase access to your papers?
Social media and post-graduate study

22. Social media and post-graduate study
Webb (2013) Can social media increase the exposure of newly published research?
https://cameronwebb.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/can-social-media-increase-the-exposure-of-newly-
published-research/

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Social media and post-graduate study
Using social media in grant applications?
•How do you demonstrate “research translation”?
•How do you demonstrate community engagement?
•Social and mass media metrics provide quantitative
values to include in grant applications
•My social media and mass media statistics have been
used for (successful) NHMRC grants and have been
selected for showcasing by NSW Health

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Social media and post-graduate study

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• Be patient and persistent (it won’t all happen at once)
• Engage with “like-minded” people and hashtags
• A huge following helps but isn’t essential
• Share a little (but not too much) about yourself
• You don’t need to tweet a lot but tweet consistently
• More than just your “followers” will read your tweets
• Don’t embarrass yourself or your boss (take a breath)
Social media and post-graduate study
My tips and tricks to using social media

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You’re in the public
domain, take a moment
to think about what
you’re tweeting/posting
and how it will be
perceived!
What would your
supervisor say if they
saw your tweet?
Social media and post-graduate study

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Contact me:
Dr Cameron Webb
Medical Entomology
Email: cameron.webb@health.nsw.gov.au
Phone: 9845 7548
Twitter: @mozziebites
Blog: cameronwebb
Social media and post-graduate study