Social Media and Research16th January 2013

Jenny ForemanMorag Higgison

Scottish Government

What is social media used for?

collect and organise information share information find people talk to people collaborate (internally and externally)

Source: Steph Gray. Pieces of the Digital Engagement Puzzle

Negatives

• Where do I start? • Information overload• Too time consuming – yet another thing to do• Too personal• Irrelevant information• Why make mistakes in public?

Positives• Researchers already network in organisations,

at conferences, via email• Researchers have always exchanged and

disseminated information (though often not until published format)

• Provides feedback during research• Can help build your academic reputation

• There are a great many social media tools which are free, easy to use and are just another means to do the same thing that you have already been doing collaborating, engaging with others, sharing ideas and information

Research Information Network

JISC

What technologies are used:generation Y research students born 1982 - 1994

JISC / BL report – Researchers of Tomorrow

1. Identification of knowledge

http://www.netvibes.com/sglibraryservices

Netvibes Newsfeeds SG Health and Community Care

Email newsfeeds

Blogs

#phdchat

Slideshare

http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?as_ylo=2009&as_yhi=2012&q=allintitle:+%22cultural+diplomacy%22+OR+%22soft+power%22&hl=en&as_sdt=1,5

http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Search?query=%22cultural%20diplomacy%22%20year%3E=2009

http://addictomatic.com/topic/%22scottish+government%22

http://inboxlistening.com/app/index.php?q=social+media+monitoring

2. Creation of knowledge

http://soundcloud.com/scotgov

3. Quality assurance of knowledge

http://www.netvouz.com/sglibrary/

http://www.delicious.com/irissorg

http://www.diigo.com/list/lelil_/poverty-resources

Academia.edu

4. Dissemination of knowledge

Knowledge Hub Sharepoint Huddle Yammer Idea Street

Online collaborative spaces used by Scottish Government

Yammer

Pinterest

Google +

http://www.citeulike.org/search/all?q=(%22cultural+diplomacy%22+OR+%22soft+power%22)

http://www.mendeley.com/research-papers/search/?query=%22cultural+diplomacy%22+OR+%22soft+power%22

Data Collection and Analysis

• Most social media tools have their own free analytics tools

• Corporate organisations often purchase data collection tools

• Cross platform analysis is in infancy

• “An Introduction to Social Media Analytics” http://vimeo.com/57241964

Digital identity

Personal

Professional

Official

http://www.helpfultechnology.com/disclaimer/

University of Glasgow Social Media Policy

http://www.gla.ac.uk/about/interact/terms

University of Glasgow Social Media Guidance

http://www.gla.ac.uk/staff/communicationstoolkit/guidetosocialmedia/

Summary• Choose the best tools for you and experiment• Don’t get hung up on the technology• Find out what your colleagues use • Decide if and how you want to collate and

analyse your data• Remember your digital identity• Don’t forget to follow your organisation’s social

media guidance and policy • Don’t say anything on social media that you

wouldn’t say in public

Add picture on desktop

• It doesn’t matter how many resources you have if you don’t know how to use them it will never be enough.

Jenny Foreman

Jenny.Foreman@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Morag Higgison

Morag.Higgison@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Scottish Government Library Blog

http://sglibraryservices.wordpress.com/

University of Glasgow Library Social Media Contact

Heather.Worlledge-Andrew@glasgow.ac.uk