These slides outline how you can harness social media to boost your professional profile, collaboration, information gathering, and public outreach. Practical information includes how to establish an online presence, effectively use Twitter and other useful platforms (e.g., blogs, Linkedin), and best manage the deluge of online information. First presented at NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, University of Oslo on the 8th of October, 2014

1. Using social media to develop
your scientific career
Daniel S. Quintana - @dsquintana
NORMENT, KG Jebsen centre for psychosis research, University of Oslo

2. There are two approaches
for the scientist on social
media
‣ Talking to other scientists"
‣ Engaging the public"

3. As scientists, we’re losing the
public relations battle.

4. “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not
where it has been”
- Wayne Gretzky (via his Dad)

5. While science outreach is
crucial, here we’re going
to focus on
communication with other
scientists & interested
stakeholders.

6. I’m not pretending to be a
expert here, this is about
my personal experience -
with some data thrown in

7. “We don’t have a choice on
social media. The choice is
how well we do it.”
Erik Qualman, author of ‘Socialnomics’"

8. People are
already talking
about your
research online,
don’t miss the
chance to be a
part of that
conversation.

10. People will
google your
name, what will
they find?

11. 35% of academics
don’t exist online.
Bastow et al., (2014) The Impact of the Social Sciences

12. Can people easily find
your publications? Your
CV? Your area of
expertise?

13. Research will
always need to
be disseminated,
social media is a
just new a
means of
distributing your
ideas.

14. Darwin’s voyage,
if he had a
smartphone

15. In an another lab, almost
10,000 people ‘liked’ a
news story about their
research that a local TV
station posted on their
Facebook page.
They only realised this sometime later, when it was
too late - stories have a VERY short half-life online.

16. Five reasons why social
media is worth your time
1. Exposure"
2. Collaboration"
3. Source of information"
4. Shift from impact factors to social media metrics"
5. Peer support

17. 1. Social media boosts
your exposure
‣ Traditionally, you had to rely on journal
publications (slow) or conferences
(infrequent/expensive)"
‣ Social media helps level the playing field "
‣ Good ideas are spread, exponentially "
‣ Less time between ‘publications’, you can
continually add to the conversation"

18. Twitter
mentions
boost PDF
downloads
& citations
Shuai et al., (2012) PloS One 7(11)"

19. 2. Social media can
facilitate collaboration
‣ Someone out there is in need of your
expertise, now they can find you"
‣ The distance between disciplines become
much smaller"
‣ Pre-conference ice breaker"
‣ Twitter collaborations are now becoming
more commonplace"

20. Let’s say as a psychophysiologist, I’m interested
in exercise physiology…

21. Social media cuts out the middleman
between research areas
HRV 3.0.
Social media
psycho-physiology
exercise
physiology
Physical
activity in
psychiatric
disorders

22. 3. Social media provides a
great source of information
‣ Can’t access a paywalled article? No
problems with #ICanHazPdf"
‣ You can eavesdrop on thousands of ‘water
cooler’ conversations"
‣ Unsure about some code? Just tweet the
developer!"
‣ Want to get better at writing? Lots of great
blogs on becoming a better writer

23. #iCanHazPDF?"
!
Ask and you shall
receive (most of
the time).

24. Bayesian
statistics or
frequentist
statistics? Let’s
listen in…"
!

25. A twitter
conversion with the
developer of an R
package"
!

26. 4. The shift from impact
factors to altmetrics
‣ Altmetrics = alternative metrics"
‣ More journals are emphasising altmetrics
(e.g., Frontiers, PLoS)"
‣ Also a shift to post-publication review (e.g.,
Pubmed commons)"
!
!

27. 5. Social media provides
peer support
‣ Communities have come together to form
ad-hoc peer support"
‣ #PhDchat & #ECRchat"
‣ #ShutUpAndWrite"
‣ #Rstats"
!

28. Common objections
I don’t have the time for that
I need to learn a new ‘language’
People in my field don’t use social media

29. I don’t have the time for that
You get what you put in
I need to learn a new ‘language’
No ‘wrong’ way, be natural
People in my field don’t use social media
Great opportunity for you

30. What are some social
media platforms that can
you use?
‣ Twitter"
‣ Blogging"
‣ academia.edu/Researchgate.net"
‣ Linkedin/Facebook"
‣ Slideshare/Figshare

31. Twitter
‣ No barrier for entry, just sign up at
twitter.com"
‣ Huge community of researchers"
‣ Unlike Facebook, majority of profiles
are public"
‣ Easy to add links and images"
!

32. Blogging
‣ There are a number of blogging
platforms, you can get started in
minutes"
‣ Roadtest your ideas - many posts have
evolved into papers and books"
‣ No matter how niche, there’s an
audience"
‣ Good writing practice"
!

33. Facebook !
‣ Best suited for scientific outreach
and groups"
‣ Some scientists use this as a
communication tool with others but
many keep Facebook for family/
friends "
‣ Less ‘open’ than twitter"
‣ Facebook chooses what your
followers see (twitter doesn’t)"
!

34. Do you want to keep your private
life and work life separate?

35. Facebook for outreach
!
‣ Groups can have a number of
administrators that can share the
load "
‣ You can set up notifications so you
don’t miss posts"
‣ Always interesting content to share"
!

36. Linkedin
‣ Linkedin profiles rank high when
your name is googled"
‣ Engage with industry"
‣ List your publications "
‣ Universities and industry post jobs
here"
!
!

37. academia.edu/researchgate
‣ Both perform similar functions, good
means of highlighting your research"
‣ “Facebook” for academia"
‣ Can add your CV and publications"
!

38. Getting your own online webpage
HRV 3.0.
How can this
knowledge
Uni webpage profile
inform
Wordpress/Tumblr/Blogger
prevention &
treatment?
Flexibility
Ease of use
Personal website

39. Some twitter tips
‣ Change the default profile picture (doesn’t
have to be a profile shot but could help for
conferences etc…)"
‣ Write an informative bio"
‣ In bio, link to website "
‣ Make ‘lists’ to turn down the noise"
‣ Search and save #hashtags (great for
conferences)

40. Some twitter tips
It’s not a just oneway
conversation…
Engage with others!

41. How to get started on
twitter
‣ Have a look at who other people are
following"
‣ Share some links, if you’ve come across
an interesting paper your followers would
find that interesting too"
‣ Have fun! Doesn’t have to all be about
work"
!

42. How to keep an eye on
trends
‣ Set up article, author and keyword alerts
on Google Scholar"
‣ Google news alerts with names or
keywords"
!
!

43. With social media, you
can access data on how
you’re doing

44. Information provided by
twitter analytics
‣ How many people see your posts?"
‣ Are people actually engaging with these
posts?"
‣ Where do my followers live (i.e., when
will they be most active on twitter?)"
‣ Easy to set up at analytics.twitter.com"

45. People that have seen the tweet
Number of ‘engagements’
“This link is interesting”
“I’m going to read this later”
“Others may find this interesting”
“Who is this person?”

46. Information provided by
google analytics
‣ How do people reach your website?"
‣ Where are they from?"
‣ What percentage are using smartphones?"
‣ Not as straightforward to set up but there are
plenty of guides online"

47. Case study:"
!
How I discovered people
from a separate field are
interested in my
research.

48. Analytics = data
HRV 3.0.
Spike in traffic to one post
How can this
knowledge
inform
What’s the source?
prevention &
treatment?
New audience for research

49. Social media cuts out the middleman
between research areas
HRV 3.0.
Social media
psycho-physiology
exercise
physiology
Physical
activity in
psychiatric
disorders

50. Social media cuts out the middleman
between research areas
HRV 3.0.
Social media
psycho-physiology
exercise
physiology
Physical
activity in
psychiatric
disorders

51. Ok, I’m not quite ready
to dive into social media
now but what should I
do at the minimum?

52. Bare minimum for the
scientist on social media
‣ Set up a twitter account"
‣ Complete your Google Scholar, Linkedin
and Researchgate profiles"
‣ Purchase your domain name (no need to
set up a webpage, yet)"

53. Any questions?
Just ask (or tweet @dsquintana)