Are you an academic who uses Twitter? What do you Tweet about? Who are your Tweeps? Amy Mollett and the LSE Impact team are seeking your tips and advice on the merits of academic tweeting to include in a new ‘how-to’ guide for newcomers.
We’ve recently covered some of the ways that blogging can increase the impact of academic research, with excellent blog posts from Professor Stephen Curry and Geoff Maslen. Sites such as WordPress and Blogger allow users to create blogs for free or on a small budget, which many academics are taking advantage of. But what do other forms of social media have to offer?
Twitter, the real-time information network that connects users to the latest information about what they find interesting, has over 200million users worldwide. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets, each up to 140 characters in length. Each Tweet is connected to a details pane that provides additional information, deeper context and embedded media. Like the trend for academic blogging, academic tweeting is becoming increasingly popular across all subject areas as academics and researchers use it to communicate.
As part of our ‘How-to’ Guides series of blog posts, we’re putting together a new online guide on the merits of academic tweeting. We’d love to include your tips, advice, and experiences with using Twitter as part of public engagement, networking… or just plain tweeting. Contributions will be fully credited and are welcome in a variety of formats: in Tweet form, in bullet points, or as a couple of paragraphs, and can be sent to us via impactofsocialsciences@lse.ac.uk. We’re looking forward to hearing from you soon!
I’ve got lots, i will email you. I have launched my new project http://www.networkedresearcher.com today. Follow us on twitter @networkedres I also run courses on social media usage for research and researcher development at KCL.
The main thing to remember is dont tweet / blog anything you don’t want everyone and anyone to read
Thanks Sarah – the new site looks great. If you’d like to promote it with a blog post for the Impact blog here then that would be very welcome too! – Amy
I’m venturing into this area, and in so doing have attracted the attention of the Teaching and Learning enhancement people at Newcastle. All sorts of issues are raised by this nascent practice, and I’d be happy to be involved in your research.
Try this introduction to Twitter from scientist Dorothy Bishop:
http://deevybee.blogspot.com/2011/06/gentle-introduction-to-twitter-for.html
I’ve also emailed you.
Danah Boyd has been gathering “Bibliography of Research on Twitter & Microblogging” here: http://www.danah.org/researchBibs/twitter.php
Cheers.