This document discusses using Twitter for research purposes. It provides information on Twitter such as its launch in 2006, current user numbers, and popularity. It asks key questions about the opportunities and pitfalls of using social media for research. Twitter can help researchers connect with others, share information, recruit for and promote events, and disseminate research findings. Studies show tweets can help make articles more cited. The document discusses challenges of using Twitter and provides strategies for using it effectively in research.

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Please go to:
www.twitter.com/@susie_mac

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SOCIAL MEDIA AND RESEARCH
SUSIE MACFARLANE
E-LEARNING EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPER
SCHOOL OF EXERCISE & NUTRITION SCIENCES
FACULTY OF HEALTH, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY
Centre for Mental Health & Wellbeing 2013
#cmhwr
@susie_mac

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Twitter
• Launched in 2006
• Users send messages of up to 140 characters
• 500m users in 2012
- 340m tweets /day
- 1.6b search queries / day
• In the top 10 most visited websites

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Social media and research
KEY QUESTIONS
Is it worthwhile to engage in Social Media?
What are the opportunities and how do we go
about it?
What are the pitfalls and how to avoid them?

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Impact

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Reach

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Types of Tweets

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Research centres on
Twitter

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Research centres on Twitter

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Research centres on Twitter

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Research centres on Twitter

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Research centres on Twitter

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Research centres on Twitter

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Health networks

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Translation

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Researcher #1 use of Twitter
Follow key researchers in my field
Follow key journals in my field
Follow important granting bodies who tweet important news
before it is disseminated
Set up a Twitter account for a SIG I run
Tweet papers to others who may be interested
Tweet live conference updates
Retweet to share interesting findings and events; also builds
networks
Support others starting in Twitter with mentions and RTs

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Researcher #2 use of Twitter
• “From the choice of people and organisations I follow,
Twitter has now become a primary research gathering tool
for me.
• What has surprised me the most is the relationships you
can build through interactions with people, so Twitter is
now expanding my professional network.”

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Twitter basics

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# - hashtag
Categorise tweets by keyword

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@ - mention
Mention other’s twitter name

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RT: retweet
Reposting of someone else’s tweet

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Twitter handle or username
MessageHashtagsURL to resourceMention

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Research activities
in Twitter

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Connecting

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Information sharing

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Recruitment and engagement

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Collaboration + recognition

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Event promotion

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Research dissemination

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eMentoring

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Conference tweeting

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Citations

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Study 1
• Journal of Medical Internet research
• 3208 tweets cited 286 articles between 2008 - 2011
• Most tweets were posted in first 2 days after publication
Findings:
Highly tweeted articles were 11 times more likely to be
highly cited than less-tweeted articles
• 9/12 of highly tweeted articles were highly cited
• 3/43 of less tweeted articles were highly cited
(Eyesenbach, 2013)

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Key questions
What is research impact?
How do you discover the impact of your work?
Who are your stakeholders and what communication
channels will reach them?
Who do you need to engage and communicate with
each stages of your research to maximise impact?

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Social media in research
KEY QUESTIONS
What forms of engagement and
communication does each stage of the
research involve?

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Engagement and communication
Dissemination
Data collection
Recruitment or
Stakeholder
engagement
Support and
Funding
Research planning
Determining
findings
What is important (for us to
research)?
This work needs
support.
Can we work with
you?
Help us (or help us find those we
need)
What does this mean?
This is what we think (you
should do).

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Social media in research
KEY QUESTIONS
Who are our key stakeholders and
communities, and what are their preferred
communication channels?

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Social media in research
KEY QUESTIONS
What is our social media strategy?

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Include social media expertise in your team

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Challenges of
Twitter

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Twitter fears
"I don’t have time”
“There’s too much information”
The breakfast problem
“People will think I am an idiot / narcissistic / not working”
“I don’t want to tell the world what I am doing”
“What if I make a mistake?”
“I don’t understand all this RT @ # business”
… others?

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Twitter strategies
1. Jump in and learn for a while

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Learn the ropes – acknowledge others

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Twitter strategies
1. Jump in and learn for a while
2. Follow people who interest you
3. Share and be kind
4. Use social media mindfully
5. Use the right tools

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Tweetdeck

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6. Use your voice
Build partnerships
Mentor others
Lead thinking
Demand action
Celebrate and encourage change

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Researchgate

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Researchgate
Dissemination
• Immediately share your papers,
conference presentations
• Publish results and ideas for feedback

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Researchgate
Discover
• Follow others’ research: findings + trends

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Researchgate
Collaboration and networking
• Verify skills - yours and endorse others
• Comment on others’ work
• Collaboration opportunities

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