1. Tweeting from a research
perspective
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

2. “Be visible or vanish”
Bigger picture > Reputation of the university
• Research output
• Rankings
Policy and communication: strategy and tools
Smaller picture > Reputation of the researcher
• Research community
• Digital footprint

3. OVER TO YOU…
Communication strategy
of Ghent University
• Help form strategy and policy by
being an active part of the
research community at Ghent
University
• Use the participatory culture
• Keep Biblio up-to-date
• Fill out your research
discipline in Apollo
• Submit awards and prizes
via website
• Be an example for the junior
researchers in your research
group
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

4. • Know what’s out there
• Subscribe to electronic newsletter Berichten over Onderzoek
• Follow @ResearchUGent (incl. list of researchers) and @ugent
• Make use of available PR material: brochures and graphs (website)
• Create contacts at the Research Department
• Contact them or Press Office about your research breakthrough:
• include a link to the relevant publication
• also address ‘the common man’
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

5. Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

6. THE IMPORTANCE OF A DIGITAL FOOTPRINT
or 8 reasons to invest in your online reputation
1. Connect with a community of people who care about the same thing that
you do
2. Allow people to get to know you better (and find you more easily)
3. Improve your writing skills
4. Refine ideas, collect intelligence and collaborate
5. Build a permanent platform from which you promote your work
6. Increase the number of times your articles are cited
7. Explore your life as a public intellectual
8. Erode the power that academic publishers have over your reputation
Cf. Jo Hawkins – www.historypunk.com

7. The Digital Academic
LinkedIn
Academia.edu
Research Gate
Mendeley
Zotero
Google Scholar
Blog
Wikipedia
Storify
Tumblr
YouTube
SlideShare
WARNING – No time?: to
succeed, it has to be
something you believe in
and enjoy doing.
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

8. HOW TO START?
• Start small: maybe blogging is too big a step? So start your online presence
on Twitter (see next slide). Use social media to engage with communities
and contribute to conversations.
• Integrate collaboration into the research project itself.
• Maybe join an online researcher profile website (see next slide).
• (Write for media outlets that have been specifically created for academic
engagement with public audiences)
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

9. “Academic social network sites give scholars
the ability to publicize their research outputs
and connect with each other. With millions
of users, these are a significant addition to
the scholarly communication and academic
information-seeking eco-structure.”
Cf. Academia.edu: Social network or academic network.
Thelwall and Kousha, 2013
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

10. RESEARCH
- Finding jobs
- Generating ideas/questions
- Funding opportunities
- Creating involvement
- Recruiting participants
- Collecting data
- Dissemination
- Conferences
- Media engagement
- Professional development
- Reputation management
- Connect with peers and society
- Impact
TEACHING
- Up to date sources
- Reliable sources
- Boost engagement
- Improve student writing
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

11. But at least…
• Put your journal articles into the
institutional repository (Biblio) to make
them available on open access
Open Access = Impact ↑
• Open access extends the reach of research
beyond its immediate academic circle.
• Open access speeds research progress,
productivity, and knowledge translation.
• Every researcher in the world can read an article,
not just those whose library
can afford to subscribe to the particular journal in
which it appears.
• Research funding agencies and universities want
to ensure that the research
they fund and support in various ways has the
greatest possible research impact.
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

12. “The nature of academic life has
become in many ways surrounded
by online and mobile media culture
as much as there continue to be
patterns of engagement and
activity that resemble previous
eras of scholarship.”
Cf. The academic online, K. Barbour and D. Marshall, 2012
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014

13. Thank you!
Esther De Smet
Social media from a research perspective – Esther De Smet – January 2014