blogging & twitter tips

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Philip H. Mai, M.A., J.D. Research & Communications Manager (@phmai) Dalhousie Social Media Lab Projects & Communications Manager Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship Knowledge Translation in the Age of Social Media: How to Build and Maintain an Effective Scholarly & Professional Presence

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Blogging & Twitter Tips for Researchers and other Professionals

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  • 1. Philip H. Mai, M.A., J.D. Research & Communications Manager (@phmai) Dalhousie Social Media Lab Projects & Communications Manager Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship Knowledge Translation in the Age of Social Media: How to Build and Maintain an Effective Scholarly & Professional Presence
  • 2. Outline Reasons Why Scholars & Other Professionals Use Social Media How to Use Twitter How to set up a Twitter profile Who to follow What to tweet about? Some Common Twitter Questions Blogging How to set up your own blog? What to blog about Why you should consider blogging? Things to keep in mind
  • 3. Twitter: @phmai SocialMediaLab.ca * Based on 315 respondents 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Discovering new funding Garnering mass media attention Publishing findings Maintaining professional image Soliciting advice from peers Collaborating with other Making new research contacts Promoting current work/research Discovering new ideas or Following other researchers' work Keeping up to date with topics Wired Academia: Social Media and Scholars SSHRC Funded Project 2010-2013 (Select) Research Questions Why are some scholars using social media? What are the perceived utility with using social media among scholarly users?
  • 4. Twitter: @phmai Recap: Top 3 Reasons Why Scholars Use Social Media 1. Information gathering, 2. A mixture of information dissemination and social benefits People who tend to use social media to promote their research are also likely to use it to make new research & professional contacts. 3. Collaboration
  • 5. Outline Reasons Why Scholars & Other Professionals Use Social Media How to Use Twitter How to set up a Twitter profile Who to follow What to tweet about? Some Common Twitter Questions Blogging How to set up your own blog? What to blog about Why you should consider blogging? Things to keep in mind
  • 6. Go to twitter.com to set up an account
  • 7. What to put in my profile? Your picture Use a pic that is clear, smiling, welcoming, no sun glasses Your areas of expertise Are you a medical expert? Do you have a professional degree? List them. Inject your personality It is what makes you unique and set you apart Include your interests - Hobbies and experiences. Listing them will most likely attract followers who share the same interests. Embrace adjectives Instead of researcher say senior researcher, experienced researcher, etc Keep it short You only have 160 characters. Use short phrases, not full sentences. Add a link or 2 Add your personal website and/or your work website
  • 8. Twitter Profile Example #1 Why it works: Its witty and humorous. Hillary needs no introduction. But modifiers like pantsuit aficionado allows us to see a new side of Hillary. It made her sounds funny and human.
  • 9. Twitter Profile Example #2 Why it works: WYSIWYG - What you see is what you get!
  • 10. Twitter Profile Example #3 Why it works: Keywords-friendly!
  • 11. Who to follow? Who you follow determines what you will see in your twitter information stream! @CMAJ_News - Canadian Medical Association Journal @Pharmacy_Today - The monthly patient care magazine of the American Pharmacists Association. @PharmacyPodcast - Podcast Dedicated to #Pharmacist & #Pharmacy Profession. @UFCWRx - The #UFCW Professional Division serves UFCW #Pharmacists @OntPharmacists - The Ontario Pharmacists Association @FIPCongress - This is the official International Pharmaceutical Federation @bmj_latest - BMJ - British Medical Journal @harvardmed - Harvard Medical School @BrighamWomens - Brigham and Women's Hospital @BCMedicalJrnl - The BC Medical Journal @SunnybrookHSC - Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre @nytimeswell NYT Health Reporter Tara Parker-Pope Official NYT Acc. @taraparkerpope - NYT Health Reporter Tara Parker-Pope Personal Acc. @CarlaKJohnson - AP Health Care & Medical Research Reporter @AKECassels - Researcher/ Journalist focusing on pharmaceuticals, medical screening @DougSalzwedel UBC Medical Research Librarian
  • 12. What to tweet about? A useful link/resource youve found - news article, an upcoming event, a new resource. If your followers find it useful they might pass it on, introducing you to more followers. Reply/respond to another persons tweet - Twitter is a social medium. Develop relationships with people & have a real conversation. Retweet - share interesting tweets from other people to your followers Tweet a photo -show something interesting you have seen Tweet a live event conference, seminars etc Tweet a quote - someone elses or one of your own. Heard/read/thought of something interesting or profound ? Tweet it! Ask a question/take an impromptu survey crowdsourcing the solution. Somebody out there has the answer! Initiate a call to action - Twitter is great for organizing events and causes. (ex. Egypt! Ukraines, Tweet about your new blog post
  • 13. Some Common Twitter Questions What is the best time to tweet? 7-10 am- Commute 1-3 pm - After lunch 4-6pm - Before going home 8-10pm - After dinner 11-12am Before bed Use twitter analytic tools like follwerwonk.com or socialbro Is it OK to unfollow someone? (Twitter = weak ties) When should I block someone? What is a # (hashtag)? (ex. #Pharmacists, #immunizations)
  • 14. Outline Reasons Why Scholars & Other Professionals Use Social Media How to Use Twitter How to set up a Twitter profile Who to follow What to tweet about? Some Common Twitter Questions Blogging How to set up your own blog? What to blog about Why you should consider blogging? Things to keep in mind
  • 15. Go to wordpress.com to create your own personal blog/website
  • 16. Get Started on wordpress.com
  • 17. Create a Wordpress website(s) with GoDaddy Website Builder
  • 18. Other Blog Publishing Services to Consider Ghost Typepad Tumblr Blogger
  • 19. What to blog about? React to current developments in your field Describe and reflect your own research or area of interest Publicise your own publications and those of your peers Inform your community about an upcoming event/talk and other activities Create a profile of people and researchers in your own group Talk about an upcoming conference you are attending
  • 20. Why you should consider blogging? Increase your engagement with your subject area / academic peers Build personal reputation Gain global impact Help you to reflect Provides you with a centralise place to record and share your work and those of your collaborators Help to demystify what you do: Why do you do what you do? Why does it matter to you? Why should it matter to anyone else? Funders are increasingly mandating a knowledge mobilization plan as part of your work
  • 21. Things to keep in mind if you do decide to blog Be clear about what your blog is for Regular updates are important Multi-authors blogs are OK Blog from a first person perspective 500-1500 words in length Casual in tone Use Twitter, Facebook LinkIn to drive traffic to your blog Include pictures, videos and audios Interactive comments should be encouraged but moderated Decide how controversial do you want to be Most importantly: Blog because YOU want to!
  • 22. Philip H. Mai, M.A., J.D. Research & Communications Manager Dalhousie Social Media Lab Projects & Communications Manager Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship Knowledge Translation in the Age of Social Media: How to Build and Maintain an Effective Scholarly & Professional Presence @phmai Thank you! Questions?
  • 23. Twitter: @phmai Wired Academia Project: Recent publications Gruzd, A., & Goertzen, M. (2013). Wired Academia: Why Social Science Scholars Are Using Social Media. The 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS): 3332-3341, DOI: 10.1109/HICSS.2013.614 Gruzd, A., Staves, K., Wilk, A. (2012). Connected Scholars: Examining the Role of Social Media in Research Practices of Faculty using the UTAUT model. Computers in Human Behavior 28 (6), 2340-2350, DOI: j.chb.2012.07.004 Gruzd, A., Staves, K., and Wilk, A. (2011). Tenure and Promotion in the Age of Online Social Media. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Conference, October 9-13, 2011, New Orleans, LA, USA. DOI: 10.1002/meet.2011.14504801154 SocialMediaLab.ca