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SOCIAL MEDIA AND RESEARCHERS

My presentation will provide an overview of a recent phenomenon -

the use of social media by researchers as part of their work

processes.

Josipa Crnic josipa.crnic@deakin.edu.au

Research Librarian

Deakin University

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Outline

•Presentation topic•Reports•Internet statistics and trends

–Web 2.0•Social Media

–Tools and usage statistics•Reports – findings

–Social media and researchers•Librarians

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Questions I will be addressing

• Are researchers using social media as part of their work processes?

• What motivates researchers to use social media as part of their work?

• How are they using social media?

• How do they learn about social media?

• How can library be a part of this space?

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Key reports• If you build it, will they come? How researchers perceive and use web 2.0. Report

published by RIN, 2010. http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-disseminating-research/use-and-relevance-web-20-researchers

• Social Media and research workflow. Report by CIBER, UCL and Emerald, 2010. http://ciber-research.eu/download/20101111-social-media-report.pdf

• Social media: A guide for researchers. Report published by RIN, 2011. http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-disseminating-research/social-media-guide-researchers

• Social networking sites and their role in scholarly communication. A study for the Centre for Research Communications, University of Nottingham, 2011. http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/projects/rcs/Social_Networking_Report-Duke&Jordan.pdf

• Handbook of social media for researchers and supervisors: Digital technologies for research dialogues. Report published by Vitae and Open University, 2012. http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/Vitae_Innovate_Open_University_Social_Media_Handbook_2012.pdf

• Researchers of Tomorrow: the research behaviour of Generation Y doctoral students, Report by JISC and British Library, 2012. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2012/researchers-of-tomorrow.aspx

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“Two enabling factors drive the Internet of things: the ubiquity of networks and increasingly lower prices for communications modules. These allow increasing numbers of devices to be equipped with Internet capabilities.”(OECD Internet Economy Outlook 2012 - pg. 23 http://www.oecd.org/sti/interneteconomy/ieoutlook.htm)

The internet in our lives

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Global internet usage survey 2012

• Survey of more than 10,000 users across 20 counties. By the Internet Society

• “More than 90 percent of Internet users surveyed globally indicated they use social media, with a majority (60 percent) using it daily, an increase of 10 percent over 2011.”

https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/GUIS-2012-Infographic.pdf

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Technology trends for 2013

•The trend is towards the tablet as the leading device – beyond that?

Fred Cavazza, http://blogs.forbes.com/fredcavazza/

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Social media landscape 2012http://www.fredcavazza.net/2012/02/22/social-media-landscape-2012/

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Typical web pageMay display one or more of these features that we’ve come to expect - in and around the content

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Social media usage – general stats

Collated stats indicating a ranking of most popular sites around the world.

* Note rise of Chinese sites:

www.qq.com, http://qzone.qq.com/ and www.weibo.com(posted 1/2/13 at: http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/)

• “China’s Social Media Market: Nearly a Billion Users — Mostly on Mobile”

• “China Has Many 100 million+ User Social Networks For Many Purposes”

• “Facebook and Twitter Will Never Dominate in China (Even If They Were Allowed There)”

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/10/25/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-chinese-social-media/)

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Trends in social media usage: Nielsen report 2012

Drivers of social media growth:Increase in mobile device uptake: “more people are using smartphones and tablets to access social media”Proliferation of social media options: “new social media sites continue to emerge and catch-on”

Figures are for the US but are still of value as they show a 12 month comparison – July 11 and July 12.

US Social Media Survey 2012(http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports-downloads/2012/state-of-the-media-the-social-media-report-2012.html)

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The reports

Now we come to the reports themselves.

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Summary of findings:If you build it, will they come? How researchers perceive and use web 2.0. 2010

Study > 1300 researchers (UK) – attitudes and patterns of adoption of web 2.0 tools re. scholarly communication practices

•Most researchers make at least occasional use of one or more web 2.0 tools

•Frequent or intensive use is rare•Uptake depends on:

–Fitting in with established services/practices

–Not a substitute for established communication channels

–Seen as having specific purposes and for particular stages of

research

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Summary of findings:Social media and research workflow. 2010

Survey of > 4000 responses across all disciplines - worldwideWanted to find out, amongst other things if and how social media are impacting upon the workflows of researchers

•Researchers use more than one tool•Most popular tools support: collaborative authoring; conferencing;

scheduling and meeting tools•Age poor predictor of uptake – used Rogers’ categories of

adopters•Perceived benefits - communication internationally; faster

dissemination of information; make connections outside their institution and with wider population

•Greatest barriers to uptake - lack of time; problems of authority and trust; unclear benefits

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Summary of findings: Social media: A guide for researchers. 2011

Created as a guide – advice and case studies to highlight how social media tools can inform and support every part of the research process

•Researchers as consumers and creators of information•Finding information > greater channels (following key people

(twitter/blogs/); join groups – create groups)•Information comes to you – idea of ‘pull’ and ‘you get more when

you give’ (participant not just a consumer)•Develop networks – filter information•Choose dissemination channels wisely – pick your social tools to fit

the context–Disseminating wisely can have an impact (Eysenbach, 2011 -

“Can Tweets Predict Citations?”)

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Summary of findings: Social networking sites and their role in scholarly communication. 2011

Survey of 117 researchers (UK) - looked specifically at social networking sites for academics including attitudes to open access .

•Sites aren’t stable – they come and go•Usage is determined by need/context, i.e. email still dominates;•Researchers find out about these sites from each other – from their

already existing networks - join by invitation•Registering to multiple sites is common• Poor overall awareness of repositories and their purpose amongst

research students•Recommendation that repositories do more work to promote

persistent locations to research output

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Summary of findings: Researchers of tomorrow: the research behaviour of generation Y doctoral students. 2012

Study focusing on the information-seeking and research behaviour of over 17,000 students over a 3 year period.

•Gen Y - ‘digital natives’ but not ‘early adopters’ of social media•Have ‘traditional and conservative’ research working practices•Share work mainly with their peers or work colleagues•Key influences are supervisors and other academic colleagues•Widespread lack of understanding and uncertainty about open

access and self-archived resources•Tools that help in finding and managing information are used most•Tools for collaboration and communication are least used•Fellow students and peers are the major influence on whether or not

Gen-Y PhD students decide to use a technology application and are their main source of hands-on help

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Summary of findings: Handbook of social media for researchers and supervisors: digital technologies for research dialogues. 2012

The authors conducted surveys in 2011-2012 of over 105 researchers (postgrad and ECR) and over 45 supervisorsFocus was on investigating “whether and how researchers are using social media in their research dialogues”

•a very comprehensive overview of current tools and the purposes for which they can be employed

•guidelines for evaluating and choosing appropriate tools that are fit-for-purpose

•resources/guidelines to develop a social media strategy taking into account how researchers communicate

•an overview of issues and concerns that act as a barrier to wider adoption of the tools

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Summary of findings: Handbook of social media for researchers and supervisors: digital technologies for research dialogues. 2012

•Value direct communication with their supervisors, colleagues, peers, etc…–Email stands out as a key tool

•Will adopt technologies when convinced of the value to their work•They take their cues from their peers•Register with multiple tools and use them for different purposes•Recognise the importance of creating a professional profile/presence •Greater uptake by part-time and geographically distant researchers•Have concerns about copyright and long term archiving of their work•Concerned about time needed to maintain their presence on all sites•Concerned about security of material shared across social tools/cloud

tools

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Key to successful application of technology in research dialogues is fitness-for-purpose.

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What I’ve learnt from the reports

•Researchers have shown to be cautious when adopting social media as part of their work•Their key criteria for adoption are utility, not time consuming,

and must fit in with the way they work currently•They learn from and take cues from their peers•It’s not helpful to assume gen-y are going to jump on the social

media bandwagon•Need help with open access/repository issues

–Need advice where to archive their work

–Need help with copyright/IP issues

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Assistance for librarians

•The Vitae guide is a standout example of a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide to social media use for academics and researchers

•There are many more valuable resources on the web, e.g.– LSE blog: Impact of the Social Sciences

• includes Impact handbook and Twitter guide

•Examples of ‘23 things for researchers’ training modules–Warwick: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/rex23phd11

–Oxford: http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/23things/all-about-23-things/

–Huddersfield: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/11279/1/stone_collins_25_Research_Things.pdf