Share Academic Work on Social Media

November is Academic Writing Month #AcWriMo at Methodspace! The theme of week four is: Share Your Work.Academics share the ups and downs of the research experience, build networks, and link to findings or other online resources with social media. You might have discovered this post through a link on a social networking site! Some academics embrace social media, while others are trying to decide whether and how to proceed.Dr. Katie Linder observes, “I’ve found that sharing out my progress on social media really helps to hold me accountable to regular writing, especially during multi-day retreats. Sharing my writing progress with a larger community has also had the added benefit of creating a record of my writing process that I can go back and review for inspiration and affirmation when I’m struggling with my writing.” In addition to active Twitter and Linked In accounts, Katie shares her social media collections on a YouTube Channel and Google+ profile and hosts a Research in Action Podcast series.Keeping up with multiple social media accounts, while also sharing more substantial work on a blog, can be very time consuming. Few of us can do it all, and still have time to keep our day jobs, conduct research, and write articles and books. Being strategic about our digital presence on social media is essential.Which social media sites will help you to achieve your goals? Are you trying to build a trusted community of fellow scholars in your field, with whom you can exchange resources and solicit informed feedback? Or, are you trying to attract new readers for your posts or articles? Do you want a social networking site that encourages posts of visual materials or video, audio podcasts, one that allows for short posts or longer-form writing?

Here are some resources to help you explore options and develop a strategy that works for you:

Academic Digital IdentityAcademic Digital Identity worksheet Developing Your Digital Identity: a Webinar With The Professor Is In (open access with site registration on Chronicle Vitae.)Hildebrandt, Katia; Couros, Alec. Digital Selves, digital Scholars: Theorising academic identity in online spaces. Journal of Applied Social Theory, [S.l.], v. 1, n. 1, june 2016. ISSN ISSN 2398-5836. Open accessWhat does the Internet Say About You? Creating Your Academic Digital IdentityAcademic Writing and Social MediaArticles:Meishar-Tal, H., & Pieterse, E. (2017). Why Do Academics Use Academic Social Networking Sites?. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distributed Learning, 18(1). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i1.2643Williams, M. L., Burnap, P., & Sloan, L. Towards an ethical framework for publishing twitter data in social research: Taking into account users’ views, online context and algorithmic estimation. Sociology, 0(0), 0038038517708140. doi:10.1177/0038038517708140SAGE Connection post and open access articleBooks with Resources:Social Media for Academics by Mark CarriganFree chapter: Chapter 2: Using Social Media to Publicise Your Work and companion site.  Related posts: Social Media Is Scholarship and Social Science & Social Futures: Fast Scholarship, Emerging Technologies & The Future of InquirySocial Media in Academia: Networked Scholars by Dr. George Veletsianos. Related podcast on Sharing Research Online Listen/Show NotesAcademic Podcasts:How to get started as an academic podcaster with Mark CarriganDr. Katie Linder on Networking with Other Researchers: Listen/Show NotesKevin Anselmo on Sharing Your Research in Traditional and Digital Media: Listen/Show NotesMore Tips and Examples:5 Must-use social media tools for academicsAPA: Academic social networking websitesHow can social media be used to communicate research?How To Market Your Academic Journal ArticleThe A to Z of social media for academia: Your definitive guide to using social media as an academicSocial Media or Social Web?