Deborah Lupton discusses her research into academics' use of social media. Her survey found that Twitter, LinkedIn and Academia.edu are the most commonly used, while Twitter is considered the most useful. Benefits include networking, sharing resources, and professional support, while drawbacks include loss of privacy and negative attitudes. She explores implications such as changes to academic identities, work practices, and the influence of metrics and commercialization on higher education. More research is still needed, especially ethnographic studies of academics' social media practices.
Sociological sensibility and the politics of digital engagement
1. D E B O R A H L U P T O N , F A C U L T Y O F A R T S &
D E S I G N , U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A N B E R R A
Sociological sensibility and the
politics of digital engagement
2. Digital media & tools I have used
Personal blog (‘This Sociological Life’)
Twitter (@DALupton)
Pinterest
University e-repository
LinkedIn, Academia.edu, ResearchGate
Scoop.it, Bundlr, Delicious, Pearltrees
Facebook
Google Scholar (personal profile)
Wikipedia
Storify
YouTube & podcasts
SlideShare
Prismatic
Mendeley
3. My online survey: what social media do academics use for
professional purposes?
90% Twitter
60 % LinkedIn
49% Academia.edu
42% Facebook
33% ResearchGate
32% personal blog
25% YouTube
4. My survey: what do academics find most useful?
83% Twitter
23% Academia.edu
16% personal blog
14% Facebook
14% LinkedIn
11% online referencing tools
10% YouTube
5. My survey: benefits of social media use
Connecting/networking:
- serendipitous connections
- wide & global scale of networks
- horizontal networks
Sharing resources
Enhancing teaching
Communicating with research participants
Keeping up-to-date with new publications, events
Professional support for ECRs & postgrads
Self-promotion
6. My survey: drawbacks to using social media
Possibility of exposure/ threats to reputation
Need to be careful what you say to keep/get an
academic job
Loss of privacy
Blurring of personal/professional boundaries
Time constraints
Becoming a target
Ideas stolen
Too much self-promotion by others
Other academics’ negative attitudes to SM use
7. Implications for academics
The digital configuration of academic identities
Practices of professional self-formation
Changes to work practices – research & teaching
8. Implications for academics
Metric assemblages (Burrows)
Audit culture (Holmwood)
Neoliberalism & commercialisation of higher ed
Hidden injuries of time pressures (Gill)
Gaming academic performance: winners & losers
9. Implications for academics
The open source academic (Carrigan) – thinking
aloud in public
Performative scholarship (Hall)
The academic gift economy – participatory
democracy (Hall)
Digital public engagement as activism
10. Where to from here?
More research!
Specifically …. ethnographies of practice
Interviews & observations of both academic users
and non-users