a presentation at European conference on Social Media at University of Brighton, 10 July 2014 #ECSM2014

1. Seeking and sharing research information
on social media: A 2013 survey of scholarly
communication
A presentation at
European Conference on Social Media ECSM 2014,
University of Brighton, 10-11 July 2014
Yimei Zhu
4th year PhD Student
Sociology & Social Statistics
University of Manchester
Yimie.zhu@manchester.ac.uk
Twitter: @yimeizhu
http://yimeizhueresearch.wordpress.com
 Supervisor: Martin Everett & Kingsley Purdam

2. ‘Oh dear, I benefit but don't
contribute. Oops.’ (survey respondent)
• Do you seek research information on the
social media?
• Do you share? Why and why not?

3. Background
 My PhD thesis:
 Are the new forms of scholarly
communication the pathway to open
science?
 Open Science:
 1. Open access to publication
 2. Share research data
 3. Using social media to communicate research

4. Research Questions
• a. To what extent do UK academics seek and
share research information on social media?
• b. Are there disciplinary disparities?
• c. Are there age disparities?
• d. Are there gender disparities?

5. Mixed-methods
• Scoping studies
• Pilot interviews (13 interviews, May 2012-March
2013)
• Started my own blog, Twitter and Facebook Page.
• Internet Survey
• 1829 respondents from 12 Russell group
universities at June- July 2013

6. Summary of demographic characteristics (N=1829)
Variables N % N %
Gender female 836 46% Discipline medical, biological & human
sciences
635 35%
male 977 54% Areas natural science & engineering 415 23%
other 6 0% business, law & social sciences 490 27%
Total 1819 100% humanities & cultural studies 279 15%
Total 1819 100%
Age group under 25 72 4%
25-35 561 31% Grade professor 313 17%
35-44 475 26% reader 101 6%
45-54 390 21% senior lecturer 232 13%
55-64 233 13% senior researcher 50 3%
65 and over 89 5% lecturer 342 19%
Total 1820 100% research fellow/post-doc 318 17%
phd candidate 260 14%
Research 1-5 years 441 24% research assistant 72 4%
Experience 6-10 years 399 22% Mphil/MSc/MA student 16 1%
11-20 years 476 26% other 117 6%
over 21 years 481 26% Total 1821 100%
N/A 32 2%
Total 1829 100%

7. Frequency of gathering & sharing research information on
blogs, Twitter, SNS & Wiki
8%
1%
2%
3%
4%
4%
3%
28%
1%
51%
20%
12%
11%
11%
16%
15%
44%
15%
39%
78%
84%
85%
84%
80%
81%
23%
84%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
read research blog
comment on research blog
post research updates on blog
gather research info on Twitter
post research updates on Twitter
gather research info on SNS
post research updates on SNS
read a public wiki
contribute to a public wiki
always
often
sometimes
never

8. Use of Twitter & Wiki by Discipline Areas
Post updates on Twitter (p<0.01) Contribute to wiki (p<0.001)
88% 86%
79% 78%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
medical sciences natural science social sciences humanities
always
often
sometimes
never
87%
76%
87%
82%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
medical sciences natural science social sciences humanities

9. Use of Twitter & Wiki by Age
• Post updates on Twitter (p<0.001) Contribute to wiki (p=0.493)
84% 82% 84% 87%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
under 35 35-44 45-54 55 and over
78% 79%
89%
96%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
under 35 35-44 45-54 55 and over
always
often
sometimes
never

10. Use of Twitter & Wiki by Gender
• Post updates on Twitter (p<0.05) Contribute to wiki (p<0.001)
90%
79%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
female male
81%
86%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
female male
always
often
sometimes
never

11. Conclusion
• The vast majority of respondents have not yet adopted social media tools to share
their research work since contribution of scholarly work on social media has not
been recognised by academic reward system.
• However, the new digital technology has changed the way people seek information.
The majority of respondents have had experiences gathering research information
through public wikis and research blogs.
• There was also an increase in the use of Twitter in research work in the past three
years. The percentage of academics who reported using Twitter in their research
work increased from 10% to 21% compared to Procter et al’s (2010) survey findings
conducted in 2009.
• Respondents in Humanities and Social Sciences were more likely to seek and share
research information on social media than those in Sciences disciplines. However,
respondents in Natural Sciences were more likely to read and contribute to public
wikis in their research work than those in Medical Sciences, Social Sciences and
Humanities.

12. • Age disparities were confirmed in this study as
respondents’ reported experiences with gathering and
sharing research information decreased with age.
• Women appeared to be more likely to adopt Twitter to
share research updates as well as gather research
information. On the other hand, men seemed to be more
likely to contribute to public wikis in their research work.
• However, these gender disparity patterns were not the
same for those in different discipline areas or job grades.
For example, gender disparities for adopting Twitter were
only significant for those in Natural Sciences disciplines. For
wiki contributors, the gender disparities were only
significant for early to mid career researchers and
respondents in Medical Sciences, Natural Sciences and
Social Sciences.

13. • Users of Twitter and Social Networking Sites to gather
research information were also likely to share research
work on those platforms.
• However, the majority of those who gathered
information on blogs and wikis rarely contributed on
these platforms and were merely observers of blogs
and wikis.
• Twitter and Social Networking sites such as Facebook
and Academia.edu are more interactive and require
users to register, create a profile, and to connect with
others. While blogs and wikis are more straightforward
without having to register or creating profiles in order
to find useful resources.

14. Future plans
• Further research would be carried out using
logistic regression analysis to explore whether
personal, social and technical factors influence
the likelihood of using social media in research.
• Independent variables: gender, age, job grades,
Discipline areas, use of smart phone & tablet
computer, SM training, institution
encouragement, peer recommendation, attitudes
towards the benefit and risks in using SM, use of
SM for leisure.

15. • Reference
• Procter, R., Williams, R., Stewart, J., Poschen, M., Snee, H., Voss, A. & Asgari-Targhi,
M. (2010). Adoption and use of Web 2.0 in scholarly communications.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 368(1926).