February 2011 Social Media: A guide for researchers

This guide has been produced by Alan Cann of the Department of Biology at the University of Leicester, and Konstantia Dimitriou and Tristram Hooley of the International Centre for Guidance Studies, and published by the Research Information Network, to provide researchers with an understanding of social media, and its possible uses within the research process. The International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Leicester and the RIN wish to thank the peer reviewers involved with this publication Christina Mendes-Da-Costa, Neil Witt and Martin Hawksey. Acknowledgements

Social media: A guide for researchers Links to all services mentioned in this guide are available on the RIN website at www.rin.ac.uk/social-media-guide Contents 1. Introduction: Why pick up this guide? Page 5 2. What are social media? Page 7 What social tools are available? Page 7 Consuming social media Page 9 Producing social media Page 10 Criticisms of social media Page 11 Answering the criticisms Page 12 3. What do social media mean for researchers? Page 15 Identification of knowledge Page 17 Creation of knowledge Page 18 Quality assurance of knowledge Page 19 Dissemination of knowledge Page 21 4. Social media tools for researchers Page 23 Social and professional networking tools Page 23 Social bookmarking Page 25 Tools for social-citation sharing Page 26 Blogging Page 27 Microblogging Page 28 Research and writing collaboration tools Page 29 Project management, meeting and collaboration tools Page 31 5. Managing information overload Page 35 Approaches to reading Page 35 Tools for filtering Page 36 Creating the right network Page 37 6. Final thoughts Page 40 7. Further reading Page 41 8. References Page 42 Web materials 1: Links and Resources Page 43 Web materials 2: Researcher case studies Page 43 9. Glossary of key terms Page 44

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Social media: A guide for researchers This guide will show you how you can use social media to help your research and your career. Social media have big implications for how researchers (and people in general) communicate and collaborate. Researchers have much to gain from engaging with social media in various aspects of their work. This guide will provide you with information to make an informed decision about using social media and enable you to select wisely from the vast range of tools that are available. Given the buzz in the media, you may feel that social media are aimed at teenagers and mainly used to discuss celebrity culture. But this guide will show you how social media offer researchers an opportunity to improve the way they work. One of the most important things that researchers do is to find, use and disseminate information, and social media offer a range of tools which can facilitate these activities. The guide discusses the use of social media for research and academic purposes, rather than the many other uses that they are put to across society. This guide will show how social media can change the ways in which you undertake research, and open up new forms of communication and dissemination. The researchers we interviewed in the development of this guide are using social media to bridge disciplinary boundaries, to engage in knowledge exchange with industry and policy makers, and to provide a channel for the public communication of their research. 1. Introduction: Why pick up this guide? 5 The guide is rooted in the practical experience of its authors and of the ten social media users we interviewed as part of the project. We are not trying to present social media as the answer to every problem a researcher might experience rather, we want to give a ���warts and all��� picture. Social media have downsides as well as upsides, but on balance we hope that you will agree with us that there is real value for researchers.