Using SoMe within research
Dr Leslie Robinson@LeslieRob10
• 72% of UK adults have SoMe Profile (Ofcom 2015)• SoMe now widely used for professional networking
– connecting professionals, researchers• SoMe can also be used as a research tool for
undertaking research activity• Range of platforms can be used: their strengths
and limitations should be matched to the research activity
• Create a SoMe communication strategy• For brevity here: Twitter, Facebook, Researchgate,
Wordpress• By example – WOMMeN project
Example of WOMMeN SoMe communication strategyPurpose Platform Examples Communication strategyPromotion of project, participant recruitment
Twitter Tweet about things we’ve done, blogs to read, invitations to join project
Informal but professional
Facebook open page
Reporting activity of user design group to the wider breast screening community,
Informal but professional
Wordpress blog Short overviews of focussed aspects of the project
Informal but professional, adapt to suit audience (e.g. for practitioners or service users)
Researchgate Published papers/presentations Formal, peer reviewTeam ideas and resource sharing
Facebook private page project team
Links to web sites, reports and resources we might find useful. Discussions about project activity and progress
Informal
Research data collection Facebook closed page User Design Group
Ultimately to get opinions related to three key research questions
Need to develop a community through ‘social’ means first.
Quick communication to whole group
Email Meeting rooms, forwarding emails that can’t be uploaded easily to the Facebook project team page
Informal but professional (mindful of NHS firewalls)
Project organisation, storage of documents
Blackboard Minutes, meeting dates, ethical approval, project proposals and bids, consent forms
Initiate/ConceptEstablishing
collaborators
Exploring current field, people not just
literature
Recruiting participants, users as
researchers
On-line data collection
Communities & focus groups
Data analysis
Collaborative authorship of
outcomes
Sharing findings
Output:
‘Open’ publicity
‘Open’ publicity
‘Closed’ User Design Team (participants)
Core project team communicate through ‘private’ FB throughout
‘Closed’ User Design Team (participants)
https://mammographybreastscreening.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BreastScreeningProject
Researchgate metrics
Facebook open site metrics
WOMMeN Blog
metrics
Symplur for Health-related Twitter metrics
WOMMeN project 8th in list of worldwide mammogram
influencers
Symplur Healthcare Hashtag Project (think MeSH!)
Will SoMe impact become part of formal citation
metrics?
