–Using Social Media to Disseminate Research

March 28, 2012

Krista JensenKnowledge Mobilization OfficerYork University

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Agenda

1. What is Social Media or Web 2.0?

2. An Overview of Select Tools

3. Developing a Social Media Strategy

4. “Gone Phishing” and Other Dangers

5. Top tips for Using Social Media

6. Resources

7. Q and A

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Social Media- Some Definitions

• “A group of Internet based applications that build on the ideological and

technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange

of user-generated content”

• “Includes web-based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into

interactive dialogue”

• “Online communications in which individuals shift fluidly and flexibly between

the role of audience and author. To do this, they use social software that

enables anyone without knowledge of coding, to post, comment on, share or

mash up content and to form communities around shared interests.”

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010).Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons,53(1), 59-68

Social media. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

Thornley, J. (2008, April 8). What is “social media?”. Retrieved January 10, 2012 from ProPR blog http://propr.ca/2008/what-is-social-media/

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Social Media: Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0

http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/08/18/web-10-vs-web-20-the-visual-difference/

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Social Media and Knowledge Mobilization

Why use social media for KMb?

Social media provides the tools to help support the process of KMb• Disseminate knowledge and

research in an iterative and interactive way

• Build communities for partnerships, collaboration and sharing

• Get academic research into the hands of people who can use it

Image adapted from http://webbiquity.com/social-media-marketing/the-four-cs-of-social-media-marketing/

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Social Media Landscape

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Social Media Tools for Collaboration

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Blogging with Wordpress

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Blogging with Wordpress

Highlights• Allows you to share stories and information with

wider audience• Way to promote your services, events and activities• Wordpress.com is free, web accessible and easy to

use

Tips:• Information you would put into a newsletter can go

into a blog• Aim for at least one post a week

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Microblogging with twitter

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Microblogging with twitter

Highlights• Send out short (140 character) messages called tweets• Allows you to share updates, opinions, resources and

information with followers• Good way to connect with other people with shared interests

and build communities of practice

Tips:• Use a URL shorten like bitly.com to save on characters in

your tweets and track who clicks on your links• Back up your tweets regularly with TweetBackup• Aim for at least one tweet a day

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Collaborative Online Platform othree.ca

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Collaborative Online Platform othree.ca

Highlights• Suite of social media tools including:

• Free for researchers and their partners• Software developed by Canadian company (IGLOO), so data

is stored in Canada

Tip:• A collaborative platform like this great for collaborative

research projects

• Document sharing• Wikis• Blogs

• Member profiles• Forums• Events Calendar

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Connecting with facebook

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Connecting with facebook

Highlights• A fan page allows you to share updates, links, resources and

have discussions• People can follow your updates and activities and post

questions or comments on your wall• Includes facebook Insights which gives you some analytics

so you can see who is visiting your page

Tips:• Once you have 25 fans you can set up a vanity URL

www.facebook.com/projectnamehere• Set up a fan page and post updates there to keep it separate

from your personal facebook page

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Presentation Sharing with SlideShare

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Presentation Sharing with SlideShare

Highlights• Easy way to store and share your presentations• Makes them accessible from any computer with an internet

connection• Share your presentations with others on your website or blog

by embedding • People can get notified when you upload a new presentation

by following you

Tip:• Instead of emailing your presentation to people, upload it

onto SlideShare and email the link to the presentation online

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Social Bookmarking with delicious

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Social Bookmarking with delicious

Highlights• Allows you to save and tag your favourite websites• Makes your favourites accessible on any computer• Uses tagging to categorize and organize • Share your favourites with others, on your website or blog

through RSS or by embedding • Can be used to create a library of online resources

Tip:• Other similar sites are http://www.stumbleupon.com ;

http://digg.com ; http://www.reddit.com/

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Developing a Social Media Strategy

• Develop a social media strategy to help guide you and avoid “shiny object” syndrome

• Think about which tools you will use for various purposes, eg. Wordpress for blogging, delicious for sharing resources, eventbrite to manage events, linkedin to connect with professionals

• Don’t feel that you have to use every tool, especially at the beginning. Start by picking a few tools that suit your goals and use them well

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Social Media Strategy Worksheet

• Team: Identify the person or persons who will have primary responsibility for populating, maintaining and monitoring your site. Ensure they have the time and enthusiasm to devote to this project. List the team members.

• Primary Goals: Are you trying to communicate research results, find partners to collaborate with, generally promote your work? Define your goal for your social media presence.

• Measuring Success: Determine how you will measure the success, or lack of success, of your site. Increased traffic to your Web site? Better communication with prospective partners? A new network of colleagues? List how you plan to measure the site’s success, and the tools you’ll use to track that success.

• Audiences: Identifying your audiences will help you tailor your content and also choose the right tool. List your primary audiences.

• Current Conversation: This is when the listening begins. Survey the social media landscape for the “thought leaders” in your field. What are people already saying? What are people saying about you? Who is saying it? List the topics, people and sites that are leading the conversations that are relevant to you.

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Social Media Strategy Worksheet

• Content: Identify the content you have to share. Is it primarily news updates, research developments, or networking information? Photographs? Video? List the content you will be sharing via social media.

• Name and Design: Identify a simple and descriptive name for your profile that clearly identifies your affiliation with your university or organization.

• Evaluation: Set a timeline for when you will conduct an evaluation of your site’s success, using the goals and measures identified above. At that time, be prepared to realign your site’s content. Ongoing evaluation should also be part of your strategy. Define your timeline.

Adapted from Social Media Strategy Worksheet. (n.d.). In Social Media Handbook. Retrieved January 10, 2012 from http://web.vanderbilt.edu/resources/social-media-handbook/appendix-a/

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“Gone Phishing” and Other Dangers

• Choose a strong password

• Be careful of scams and phishing- look for suspicious links and make sure you are on the correct webpage

• Don’t give out your username and password

• Keep your computer and browser up to date and use anti-virus software

Safety: Keeping your account secure. (n.d.). In Twitter Help Centre. Retrieved January 10, 2012 from http://support.twitter.com/articles/76036-safety-keeping-your-account-secure

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Top tips for Using Social Media

• Develop a social media strategy

• Try to use the same username across various tools and sites and develop a common look and feel

• Think about how you are going to measure and evaluate success before you start

• Remember that this does take time and resources

• Have fun with it!

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Resources

10 Ways Researchers Can Use Twitter http://www.networkedresearcher.co.uk/2011/08/03/10-ways-researchers-can-use-twitter/

Bit.ly http://bit.ly• URL shortener that lets you track who clicked on your links and creates a

QR code for your shortened link that you can add to print materials

Cambridge Community Television www.slideshare.net/cctvcambridge• Good presentations on how to develop a social media strategy

The Conversation Prism www.theconversationprism.com • Visual of many social media tools for various purposes

HOW TO: Set up a facebook Page http://mashable.com/2011/05/22/how-to-facebook-page/ • Includes step by step instructions to set up a fan page

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Resources

LSE Guide to Using twitter in University Research, Teaching and Impact Activites http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/09/29/twitter-guide

NameChk http://namechk.com/ • Let’s you see if your username is available on social networking sites

Online Database of Social Media Policies http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

• Links to over 175 social media policies and guidelines in use by various organizations, including many universities

SlideShare www.slideshare.net • Post your presentations online and allows you to embed them on your

website

TweetBackup http://tweetbackup.com • Twitter doesn’t archive tweets but you can backup your tweets and export

them to Excel with this tool

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Resources

TweetChat http://tweetchat.com/• Allows you to have a tweetup, a kind of twitter “conference call”, using

hashtags. This tool with show only conversations with your chosen hashtag

TweetStats http://tweetstats.com • Show some statistics and analytics on your tweets. Also can create a

word cloud of all the words you tweet

Twuffer http://twuffer.com/ • Allows to you schedule in tweets for a later time. Good to use if you are

going to be away or plan to tweet daily about a resource, eg. ResearchSnapshots

Twitter Help Center http://support.twitter.com/ • Articles to get you started, as well as information about solving common

problems and how to report a violation

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Resources

Using Twitter for Research https://www.martineve.com/2011/05/23/using-twitter-for-research/

• A Prezi presentation outlining ways to use twitter aimed at researchers

Vanderbilt University Social Media Handbook http://web.vanderbilt.edu/resources/social-media-handbook/

• Very good resources on how to create a social media strategy and how to start using various tools

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Questions?

Krista JensenKnowledge Mobilization Officerkejensen@yorku.ca x 88847

www.researchimpact.ca Website

researchimpact.othree.ca O3 Space

Mobilize This! Blogresearchimpact.wordpress.com

Deliciousdelicious.com/researchimpact

twitter.com/researchimpact

Twittertwitter.com/KMbYork

SlideSharewww.slideshare.net/KMbYork

YouTubewww.slideshare.net/KMbYork