How to Use Social Media in Academic Research

Whether we click to comment on Facebook posts or Tweets about an interesting article, social media open up our opinions to a larger audience. These media are also having an impact on academic communication.

There is a whole range of other Web 2.0 tools besides Facebook and Twitter that are particularly conducive to communicating in knowledge networks. Academia.edu, for example, is a social networking site specially designed for academics and has over three million registered users worldwide. These users can share documents with one another on the site, monitor the impact of these publications, and view the latest research developments for specific topics.

The reference management program Mendeley is a useful tool for an academic PC’s workstation and for exchanging information online. It manages documents and enables users to organize, share and cite academic articles and PDF documents. The integrated web interface allows academics to manage their libraries online, access statistics and discuss common topics with other academics.

Social media offer further benefits to the academic community, such as the provision of information about relevant online training courses and opportunities to take part in projects. Daniel Michelis, Professor of Marketing and Communication at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, has identified four areas in which social media use can be particularly beneficial to international academic partnerships: communication with partner institutions, communication with students who are working temporarily at a host university, communication with alumni, and information-sharing among students themselves.

Once a suitable medium for academic communication is found, it is then a case of ensuring that information is shared effectively in knowledge networks. Interacting respectfully with colleagues and maintaining personal privacy are prerequisites for effective information-sharing. The main problems posed by this are encouraging idea theft on the one hand, and on the other hand it would be easy for information to be reported incorrectly. Consequently, the same rules that apply to the academic community in general apply to social media: make it clear when you are citing somebody else and respect people’s privacy.

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