"Social media as a research and collaboration tool" - social media tips for PhD students presented at the University of Queensland School of Tourism, 18th July 2012

1. Reflections on Personal Experience
Regan Forrest, PhD Candidate
University of Queensland School of Tourism

2. 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/

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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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)

7. Finding Fellow-travellers on Twitter
Believe it or
not I’m not
the only one “Museum”-based
here!!! workers &
researchers
PhD Students at
Adelaide
Qld-based
Dwellers
institutions

8. 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

9. 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

10. Blogging: networking through
sharing
• Opportunity to “road
test” new ideas
•A place to discuss
secondary concepts that
won’t make your thesis
•Helps in maintaining the
writing habit
• Establish a reputation by
demonstrating your
expertise
•Tie in with other social
media use – post links to
your blog
•Consider guest blogging or
blog sharing

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

12. Recruiting Research Participants
through 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

13. General tips based on my
experience
 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

14. Integrating social media into
research 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

15. 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