The use of social media is exponentially growing in the present climate. The term “ Social” is a bit miss leading as social media platforms are often used for professional purposes. Professional social media use consists of fashion retailers marking clothing sales to presidential candidates advertising campaign platforms. These various users understand the importance of meeting viewers where they are and utilizing various platforms to communicate with constituents, consumers, and other stakeholders.
The question before me today is how university faculty used social media to promote their scholarship? In a three part article published in Inside Higher Ed author Kristen Weiss spells out the effective uses of social media to promote academic research. In order for social media to be effective in promoting research one must plan ahead, consider the audience, remain informative yet brief, and create aesthetically pleasing content (Weiss, 2020b).
That last part is counter intuitive as researchers are traditionally discouraged from editorializing their work. Research particularly in the natural sciences is encouraged to be light on imagery and focus on being “precise and concise.” This style of writing actually lends itself to Twitter which is limited to 280 characters and is not focused around images (Weiss, 2020b).
On the flip side, more artistic faculty members like those in fine arts may lend their scholarship toward Instagram which is a visually focused platform (Weiss, 2020b).
Utilization of social media to promote research requires prep-work, effective execution, and follow up (Weiss, 2020c). A crucial part of the use of social media is staying engaged with the content. It is not enough to post and then never revisit that post to read the comments or engage with viewer suggestions (Weiss, 2020c). Keep the conversation going and be mindful of analytical data. Collecting and using feedback will assist the research in getting their connect out to their intended audience (Weiss, 2020c).
In conclusion, social media had become an integral part of information sharing (Weiss, 2020a). If faculty and researchers wanted to get their information in front of new readers then they must put that information where it will be visible to new viewership. Though it may seem uncomfortable at first, social media is the new listserv and will replace traditional forms of communication in the 21st century.
References
Weiss, K. (2020a, September 11). Planning: Without the Bread, It All Falls Apart | Inside
Higher Ed. Www.Insidehighered.Com.
bread-it-all-falls-apart#.X5L8lzT3XEI.link
Weiss, K. (2020b, September 16). Execution: The Main Course of the Social Media
Sandwich | Inside Higher Ed. Www.Insidehighered.Com.
course-social-media-sandwich#.X5LukPsLQng.link
Weiss, K. (2020c, September 23). Evaluation: The Key Seasoning of the Social Media
Sandwich | Inside Higher Ed. Www.Insidehighered.Com.
seasoning-social-media-sandwich#.X5L55f70kaQ.link