Archaeologists on Social Media and Its Benefits for the Profession. The Results and Lessons Learnt from a Questionnaire

Abstract

In the past few years, social media has become an integral part of many of our lives. We keep in touch with our friends, find out about the events taking place, follow the news or our favourite celebrities on various social media platforms. In addition to the aforementioned, we can also follow scientific institutions and blogs that expand one’s knowledge in small bites and share interesting facts and news. More and more archaeologists and institutions involved in archaeology (e.g. museums, universities) are discovering this opportunity for scientific communication and are using it with more or less success. Yet, how effectively are these pages able to reach their target audience? What are the most important aspects when creating a successful post, and what are the most interesting topics for non-professionals? Does online scientific communication influence the appreciation of the profession? If so, can its effect be measured at all? Finally, whether we can turn online followers into active participants in offline programs. I had these questions in mind when I launched the questionnaire titled “The effects of social media and online knowledge dissemination on the social perception of archaeology” (in short: SMArch) in July 2022. Overall, it was filled out by more than 200 people in less than 2 weeks. Although some of the questions were specifically aimed at investigating the situation in Hungary, the results of the questionnaire may also be enlightening to archaeologists from other countries and backgrounds.