How researchers use social media as a tool for communications and personal branding? What are the benefits and challenges of social media for researchers? Presentation at the NUAS Communication Conference on 26 January, 2019.

1. RESEARCHERS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Anu Valkeajärvi
Social Media Specialist
NUAS COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE 2019
#NUASKOM2019
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2. THE STUDY
• A survey on how researchers in Finland use social media as part of their work.
• The target groups of the survey were doctoral and postdoctoral candidates in Finland.
• The survey was conducted in January and February 2018. Answers were received from
357 researchers, 14 universities in Finland.
• The results of the survey were published in May 2018.
• Master’s thesis: Researchers on Social Media. The Importance of Social Media in
Communications and Networking for Finnish Researchers. Metropolia University of
Applied Sciences.
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3. HOW RESEARCHERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA AS A
TOOL FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND PERSONAL
BRANDING?
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4. MOST USED SOCIAL MEDIA
SERVICES FOR RESEARCHERS
• 73% of researchers use social media weekly
in their work
• Twitter and Facebook are clearly the most
frequently used services
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0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Twitter Facebook Google
Scholar
WhatsApp LinkedIn
Daily use of social media

5. MOST USEFUL SOCIAL MEDIA
SERVICES FOR RESEARCHERS
• 88% of researches consider social media
useful in their work
• Twitter is valued twice as useful when
compared to Facebook
• Academic social media (e.g. Academia.edu,
ResearchGate) services are used less
frequently but are deemed important
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0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Twitter Facebook
Most useful social media servide = very useful

6. MOST COMMON PURPOSES
FOR SOCIAL MEDIA
• Following news and discussions in the field of research
• Networking with other researchers
• Sharing publications
• Building personal brand as a researcher
• Sharing news in the field of research
• Communicating research to the public
• Co-working with other researhers
• Networking with people outside of research
• Getting ideas for research
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7. THE BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
FOR RESEARCHERS
• 88% of researchers had experienced
some benefits with social media
• Twitter is good for open networking
and staying up to date with research
news
• Facebook is good for discussion in
groups and reaching a wide audience
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8. NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL
MEDIA FOR RESEARCHERS
• 31% of researchers had experienced
negative effects
• 39% had made changes in their social
media use due to the negative effects
• Most common negative effects were
time issues (social media takes too
much time or no time for social media),
negative feedback and discussions
staying in a filter bubble.
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9. RESEARCHERS NOT USING
SOCIAL MEDIA
• 9% of researchers do not use social media
at all in their work
• Some use social media in their freetime
• Most common reasons for not using social
media are lack of interest or inability to
find any benefits from its use
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10. CONCLUSIONS
• Researchers most often use social media as a source of information, for networking, for
sharing and following research publications and to discuss topics related to research.
• Researchers are quite cautious of using social media for personal branding and their use
of social media is most often not planned.
• Researchers estimate that the role of social media will become more important in their
work in the next few years.
• Researchers are vary of the negative effects of social media
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11. HOW TO SUPPORT RESEARCHERS
IN SOCIAL MEDIA?
• Support researchers in becoming more strategic in their use of social media
• Offer training in all stages of the research career
• Help with creating a personal social media plan
• Create a platform for peer-to-peer training and sharing best practices
• Create a process or a crisis plan: what to do if a researcher is harassed or attacked in
social media
• Train researchers also on how to react to negative feedback
• Offer support for researcher who is under attack
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12. CONTACT
Anu Valkeajärvi, MA Culture and Arts
Social Media Specialist
University of Helsinki
anu.valkeajarvi@helsinki.fi
Twitter: @valkeajarvi
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/valkeajarvi/
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